Door Carrier Seals - water getting through to bottom of door card / door sills - misting windows

[Cliveski]

I'm guessing the B6 A4 suffers with perished door carrier seals? some of the tell tale signs:

Trapped water gushing (slight exaggeration) onto the floor when a door is opened.
Water evident on the door sill when door is opened.
Wet door card underneath where it abuts the metal of the door.
Interior misting up.

I did a search but couldn't find any posts but I'm familiar with this issue from my last car - 2004 Seat Leon 130 TDI.
Thankfully the A4 doesn't seem to suffer with water making its way into the footwells like it does in the Leon (an absoloute nightmare) but I reckon it does cause misting problems as water has got into the 'inside' of the car.

Basically behind the door cards there is a similar sized (smaller obviously) metal door carrier where various components are attached / located. If it's like the Leon the metal door carrier is bolted in place with a foam seal around it. Any rain water that gets in via the window seals is supposed to be directed through the interior of the door and out the bottom of the door drainage holes to the outside. When the foam seal around the door carrier perishes instead of water being directed to the drainage holes and the outside it can make it's way into the bottom of the door card and onto the door sill. These are 'interior' parts of the car hence why misting may occur. In the Leon the water makes it's way into the footwells and causes real problems but thankfully the sill design on the A4 appears to keep the water on the sill and out of the footwells.

Can anyone confirm my suspicions or direct me to advice on how to remove a door card to take a look?
Fixing the Leon was straightforward - remove door card, remove all the bolts that attach the door carrier to the door except the top two (loosen them instead) to enable the door carrier to be pulled away from the door enough for the old foam seal to be removed and replaced with a butyl strip.

[Google44]

To remove the card is very easy. A few screws at the bottom and around the handle. It should pull of then. I would be interested if you fix this as mine is doing the same.

[rhencullen1989]

All A4 B6's trap water in the rear door seals, so when the rear doors are opened you (or the wife) will get wet feet. Good design eh.

[maccayzf]

mine does exactly the same b6 s4 avant

[GeorgeE]

I replied to another thread on this subject, watch out, mine built up enough on the passenger side back door that it found a gap in a panel seal and let water into the B pillar, where it rotted out the airbag sensor.

I have now notched the bottom of the outer door seal to let the water out before it gets a chance to build up.

[Google44]

would it be better to drill a hole at the bottom of the door?

[GeorgeE]

The water builds up between the door and the sill, between the inner and outer door seal. Drilling a hole in the door won't help as it will be above the water....

[Cliveski]

I replied to another thread on this subject, watch out, mine built up enough on the passenger side back door that it found a gap in a panel seal and let water into the B pillar, where it rotted out the airbag sensor.

Would you adam and eve it - my airbag light is on and the fault code was 01221 - crash sensor side airbag (g179).

I had a feeling I might have got the same problem as you mentioned and sure enough when I removed the B Pillar trim I found the sensor at the bottom of the B pillar resting on a wet piece of sponge/sound-proofing. I removed the sponge (part of it was stuck to the sensor) and it was damp/wet as was the bottom of the space it occupied. Will eventually fix the water coming in but meantime I need to source a replacement sensor . . .

[GeorgeE]

Its an airbag sensor, as safety related parts go it is right up there. I wouldn't mess about with anything other than genuine from a proper source - you don't want any of that stuff going off unless it needs to!

Dealer (or TPS if you have an account) will get you one next day if it isn't in stock.