2013 Allroad condensation in car

[lynalldiscovery]

Car is a 2013 A6 3.0 tdi model which is my good ladies car, shes been off last few weeks and bloody car had frozen on the inside!
So bit of reading/searching and have checked what I can move/lift etc, no water present that I can see or feel, obviously its hard to be 100 percnet as the air is so damp.

What I have done so far
Boot/spare wheel well is dry
Under all rubber floor mats is dry
Plenum is dry, grommets removed 2 years ago
Tailgate grommets removed today, couple of egg cupfuls of water came out
All door drains clear
Back lights did have some water droplets in them a few months ago, which I removed and dried out, all seals appeared to be okay, again no water on inside of car

Luckily I have access to a dehumidifier, which has been in there all night on clothes dryer mode, and to my surprise there was a whole litre of water in the catch tank this morning!

Climate is always on, and this got me thinking does anyone know if you can access the drains from inside the car?
Or if anyone has any other ideas I would love to hear them.

Edited to add no sunroof fitted!

[dean warren]

My 2012 has had a lot of condensation in side the last few weeks, just the time of year for it I thought.


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[lynalldiscovery]

It could be, but I still think a whole litre is a lot of condensation, though to be fair my discovery is also suffering, but this is the first year in the six I have owned it that it has done it.

[Elansear]

If it’s just sat there for a while then the moist air will have found it’s way in, if you can on dryer days leave the windows open for a few hours to get the air inside moving around.

[lynalldiscovery]

A/C drains removed and checked all clear, will have to wait and see how much more moisture the dehumidifier removes today.

[johnsimcox]

Early C7s had an issue with the seals around the speakers in the front doors causing water to enter the car rather than be diverted out through the drain holes, leading to damp carpets etc. There was a fix for this, would worth seeing if your car was affected and/or had the fix. Certainly was a problem on my C7 first registered in summer or 2012

This post may help you Water leaking through front door trims

[lynalldiscovery]

Early C7s had an issue with the seals around the speakers in the front doors causing water to enter the car rather than be diverted out through the drain holes, leading to damp carpets etc. There was a fix for this, would worth seeing if your car was affected and/or had the fix. Certainly was a problem on my C7 first registered in summer or 2012

This post may help you Water leaking through front door trims

Thank you, will have a read now.

[OmegaV6]

Unless you actively seal every vent and hole, as well as every door shut, wiring grommet, external push button etc etc etc then all your dehumidifier is doing is trying to dry out the worlds atmosphere !! No matter what you do, the act of running the dehumidifier will suck in air from the outside, which at this time of year is extremely moist .... thats why it is foggy and misty !!!

[lynalldiscovery]

Unless you actively seal every vent and hole, as well as every door shut, wiring grommet, external push button etc etc etc then all your dehumidifier is doing is trying to dry out the worlds atmosphere !! No matter what you do, the act of running the dehumidifier will suck in air from the outside, which at this time of year is extremely moist .... thats why it is foggy and misty !!!

That is bit of a myth by people who do not use them, I normally run the dehumidifier on a boat, no d/h = slightly damp boat with mould spores growing.
A modern car should be getting on for a pretty well sealed environment, after all my 30 year old defender does not have as much damp inside, and this only gets used a handful of times a year.

Removed dehumidifier just now, and there was another 3/4 litre of water in the tank, but more importantly compared to this morning I could feel the car was bone dry inside.

So there is either a leak, or as has been suggested time of year plus lack of use = air laden moisture in the car.

[Elansear]

A damp environment indicates a lack of ventilation. If it’s being used regularly then the air inside gets cycled by the climate control system and the opening and closing of doors and windows. If it’s not been used for a while then the moisture in the air inside will condense in cold weather onto the interior surfaces. Damp air from outside will also get in making it worse, if every seal on the car was perfect you would experience problems just closing the door, the pressure created has to go somewhere when you close the door, usually via the holes in the door seals at the bottom of the door. Not saying you may not also have a water leak but at this time if year I would expect it to be a lack of ventilation due to lack of use.