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Thread: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought

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  1. A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    Hi - first post after the brief intro. Very recently got my wife a 2010 A3 Cab to replace Saab 9.3 Aero. I like it lots, but since day one there's been an issue that so far has defeated the (non franchised) dealer I got it from. Simply - lots of water appearing in spare wheel well. I've soaked the thing for hours & not a drop coming from above, but take it out on a wet day & there's anything up to 1/2 pint in the spare wheel well.

    The dealer has re-sealed some blanking plugs behind the NSR light cluster, but that's not fixed it. I think it's coming from spray in the wheel arch - simply wet roads don't seem to cause much, but drive through standing water or puddles and it gathers a lot.

    The spare wheel itself has no rust so I think this a "new" fault. The dealership is on a site with much construction work going on, so a visit means it looks like you've been on a rally cross & I thought it could perhaps be a blocked drain somewhere behind the wheel arch liner.

    I've seen quite a few posts reporting the same sort of leaks, but most are inconclusive, ie did the fault get fixed & how?

    So a plea for help please. It's going back in next week for round 2 but I'd really like to be able to quote a similar fault with cause & fix to save time & frustration!

    Have only had the car 4 weeks or so, so I obviously have some options if they can't fix it, but I really like it & would much prefer to get this sorted & keep it.

    Many thanks in advance for any suggestions

    David
     
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  2. Re: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    Hi DRMW

    I have had the same issue had my car about a year before I noticed the water in the spare wheel bay looked at all the post's only one had the same issue as me I thought that I not have the experience to deal with the issue so booked my car in to Audi they said cost £70-00 to diagnose the issue, they would then give me a price to fix well they conformed that I had a leak but they would weed need to strip the back of the car to look into it further at a cot of £680-00 and that just to let me know what is needed to fix the issue, so blank check job which I could not afford so took the car away only good part they did not charge me the £70-00.

    I sourced a full workshop manual with exploded part views which gave me some information to work on but did a lot or reading various issues relating to water into the boot you seem to have an issue with water entering when driving so spray causing ingress of water I have seen several post:-

    In the boot area at the side there are flap vents allowing air out when you close the boot, some have reported that the springs on these flaps become week and allow water in when driving.

    There is also the drain from the hood which is at the top of the wheel arch this is tube about inch in diameter and has a flap in it to stop spray coming up and only allow water out the seating on this tube is not that clever and is just resting on the top of the wheel arch which could allow water in I am still in the process of doing this as initially I striped the boot out only to find the hood motor in the way so I could not see the area.

    Just a few thoughts will keep you posted on how I get on.
     
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  3. Re: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    Hi Westo - many thanks for the reply. I have to admit I was wondering after 3 weeks and so many views if I was alone!! Good info - all seems to be pointing to this drain at the top of the wheel arch. I did notice that the sound deadening that is stuck to the inside (the boot) of the wheel arch was wet, so that tends to add evidence. The dealer is getting it back for a week next week so I'll pass your info across - apart from this it's really nice but this has been a poor intro to Audi for my wife (it's her car - I've got an SL63 AMG so understand about ingress!!!!!). I'll report back in a week or two.
     
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  4. Re: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    take off the light holder for the rear number plate and seal it with flexible silicon

    do the same for the rear lights or buy new seals

    you could also take off the trim on the tailgate , and get someone to hose the rear of the car from the top
    VW POLO 2002 1.2 12v , Audi A6 2006 2.0 TDi SE , Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDi

    All 3 cars in the current fleet
     
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  5. Re: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    Quote Originally Posted by niall campbell View Post
    take off the light holder for the rear number plate and seal it with flexible silicon

    do the same for the rear lights or buy new seals

    you could also take off the trim on the tailgate , and get someone to hose the rear of the car from the top
    Thanks Niall, but I know water is entering in the nsr quarter so it's not on the boot lid (it's a cabriolet). I did the light removal thing - they are sealed only where the single threaded boit goes into the boot area & where the wires go through - both sound
    Cheers
    David
     
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  6. Re: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    I removed the wheel and took off the wheel arch liner whichhad 12 screws holding it on at the top of the wheel arch there is indeed adrain for the hood which runs out onto the wheel arch cover, all this area wascovered in derby this drain Had a flap valve in it which I assume is there to allowwater out but not in this was all gummed up with sludge so this could be causing my problem, I also noticed that this drain was not sealed around theedges where it goes through the body work so could allow water to enter ? as it is rubber I am a bit wary about sealing it with silicone as it might with time effect the rubber, I am also going to look at the other side to see if asimilar arrangement exists there, will keep you posted on my progress. You also cannot see the drainage arrangement of the hood from the inside I tried the camera with the hood partly open with no luck it must be quite complex arrangement as if you put a hose on the hood it comes out of the drain tube in the wheel arch and drain holes by the door, I have yet to complete this investigation, but cannot believe that this one drain hole takes the water for the hood, so my next job is the other side to see if there is one there as well as there seems to be water running out of the wheel arches that side but much less than the other. Might be ? that there are two drains and with just one partly working which is not capable of dealing with the amount of water hence the problem, but will have to see. Slow job as we have rain at the moment and the car has a cover on it to keep it dry, and yes they are great cars every time I go for a drive it put a big smile on my face, my wife calls it my baby.
     
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  7. Talking Re: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    Quote Originally Posted by Westo View Post
    I removed the wheel and took off the wheel arch liner whichhad 12 screws holding it on at the top of the wheel arch there is indeed adrain for the hood which runs out onto the wheel arch cover, all this area wascovered in derby this drain Had a flap valve in it which I assume is there to allowwater out but not in this was all gummed up with sludge so this could be causing my problem, I also noticed that this drain was not sealed around theedges where it goes through the body work so could allow water to enter ? as it is rubber I am a bit wary about sealing it with silicone as it might with time effect the rubber, I am also going to look at the other side to see if asimilar arrangement exists there, will keep you posted on my progress. You also cannot see the drainage arrangement of the hood from the inside I tried the camera with the hood partly open with no luck it must be quite complex arrangement as if you put a hose on the hood it comes out of the drain tube in the wheel arch and drain holes by the door, I have yet to complete this investigation, but cannot believe that this one drain hole takes the water for the hood, so my next job is the other side to see if there is one there as well as there seems to be water running out of the wheel arches that side but much less than the other. Might be ? that there are two drains and with just one partly working which is not capable of dealing with the amount of water hence the problem, but will have to see. Slow job as we have rain at the moment and the car has a cover on it to keep it dry, and yes they are great cars every time I go for a drive it put a big smile on my face, my wife calls it my baby.
    Update

    Had good weather to-day so started to look at this again. Before I cleaned out the passenger side drain tube in the wheel arch I soaked the hood with house pipe so some water came in which left the sound deadening felt on the wheel arch wet, so when I cleaned out the drain tube and flap valve and tried it again the felt did not get wetter ! so really needed to do this again when it was dry.

    I ran a house pipe on the hood and channel in that area for seven minutes full belt and no water in, sound deadening felt dry as a bone, took the wheel off and refitted the inner wheel arch liner then went to the other side removed the wheel took off the wheel arch liner , and yes the same arrangement there with a drain tube and flap valve, but this was behind the fuel tank filler tubes not easy to see or get at.

    I have attached two pictures of these drain tube taken with USB episcope camera.



    Snap_001.jpg

    Snap_034.jpg


    General Picture both Sides


    DSCN1489.jpgDSCN1506.jpg


    Passenger Side Rear Wheel arch Drivers Side Rear Wheel Arch Obstructed by Fuel Filler Pipes
    .
    I have more photographs one shot in side the drain tube on the passenger side which shows what appears to be some sort of derby guard looks a bit like, down pipe leaf guard.

    Hope this helps any one who might have a similar issue, only time will tell if sludge in the drain pipe was the culprit but it looks promising that there was no water in after soaking the area for seven minutes with the hosepipe.


    Also you will be able to notice in the pictures that the drain tube has a seal on it where it enters the wheel arch, it appears that spray from the drain tube or any spray that might come from the road wheels, should not be able to get to the inner surface of the wheel arch.

    It's not my luck that it will be as simple as muck in the drain tube.

    I will post again to let you know if this fix was successful.
    Last edited by Westo; 02-03-2017 at 09:47 PM.
     
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  8. Re: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    Another update.

    Thought I would share some of the other photographs with you.

    Pictures taken inside the Passenger side rear quarter drain tube :-

    Snap_011.jpgSnap_009.jpg

    Sorry about the quality as holding camerawith one hand and pressing the capture icon on the computer with the other.


    These two shots taken inside the drain tube that shows what appears to be some sort of derby guard ? like theleaf guard to a rainwater down pipe there also appears to be a hole in the membrane at the side of the drainage channel, saw evidence of this membrane with thehood partly closed from the outside of the car you could see this as it appeared ? to form a barrier betweenthe hood and the channel that takes the water, difficult to see could not get the camera in there to see and its quite small camera which has variable LED lights in it. Anyone have any thoughts with regard to this.


     
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  9. Re: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    Up-date

    Washed the car to-day and had a very small amount of water in just enough to wet a small are of tissue, this time just at the very bottom of the wheel arch where it joins the body the sound dampening felt dry so not coming from the top of the wheel arch now. It looked so promising after putting everything back with no leak when hosing it down. So back to the drawing board.
     
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  10. Re: A3 Cab water ingress to boot - experience & fixes sought 
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    Quote Originally Posted by drmw View Post
    Hi Westo - many thanks for the reply. I have to admit I was wondering after 3 weeks and so many views if I was alone!! Good info - all seems to be pointing to this drain at the top of the wheel arch. I did notice that the sound deadening that is stuck to the inside (the boot) of the wheel arch was wet, so that tends to add evidence. The dealer is getting it back for a week next week so I'll pass your info across - apart from this it's really nice but this has been a poor intro to Audi for my wife (it's her car - I've got an SL63 AMG so understand about ingress!!!!!). I'll report back in a week or two.

    Did you get the problem sorted out by the dealer if you look at my update it was not totally successful the fix I outline. But it has greatly improved as the sound deadening felt no longer get's wet, there a small split in the epoxy used to fill the void between the two skins which meet at that point the lower wheel arch so will take some photographs so could be responsible for water at the junction between side panel and lower wheel arch.
     
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