Wet Passenger Footwell

**jbcook** · 08-02-2017,04:06 PM

Hi All,

I've got a 2011 B7 that I've owned for about 18 months with water in the front left (passenger) footwell. Frustratingly, all the guidance I can find about water leaks into this footwell is for b5.5 or before!

I've had a local garage clear out the two plenum drains at the bottom of the windscreen but it still continues. With the carpet pulled up, I can reach my hand behind the glove box and it seems to be coming from the left ish side of the glove box.

Windscreen seals seem okay, seems to be an original VW screen so shouldn't be that.
Door is draining freely out of the bottom
No sunroof so isn't the drains.
Happens regardless of aircon, so isn't the drain from that.

Something I have noticed is if I open the passenger door, there is some foam in the hinge area which is really quite wet, the drivers side is wet at the bottom, but the passenger side is soaked a good way up. I've also got a cracked wheel arch liner on the passenger front wheel but every garage I've spoken to seems to think this cannot be the cause of the wet footwell.

I've pretty much tried everything I can think of at this point, Main Dealer wants £290 to take a look and source the leak and wants to keep the car for a good few days, which will not work with commuting etc!

Does anybody have any idea what else I could try? Going Mad!

**NOSNI** · 13-02-2017,04:08 PM

Cracked wheel arch sounds to be a possibility.

**niall campbell** · 14-02-2017,08:24 AM

lift the cover for the plenum area and put a hose in there, gently run water to fill this area up with water

then go under car and look for the water drains.

I don't know in your car where they are, but you should have two, going by the VAG group in general

I take the rubber drains out, as they go hard over time and are less pliable ............................. and to me they are too narrow, easily blocking up

with a hose gently flowing, water should not be able to puddle much up.

try and wash the area out gently, lifting cables to get the dirt trapped underneath out of that area

it is at your own risk to take out the rubber drains, incase it causes rust etc ................................. but I have no qualms in doing it with my own cars

the cracked wheel arch, could be a red herring, but maybe the car has been damaged before and they just stuck the original wheel arch back on ?

**xb25436** · 17-02-2017,08:22 PM

I know you have problems in the passenger side so this might not help but I had pools of water in the drivers side that was eventually traced to the rubber grommet for the bonnet release cable that goes through the bulkhead.It had popped out so allowing water in the scuttle to leak into the footwell.Hope this helps.

**UMEL** · 18-02-2017,08:27 AM

Originally Posted by xb25436

I know you have problems in the passenger side so this might not help but I had pools of water in the drivers side that was eventually traced to the rubber grommet for the bonnet release cable that goes through the bulkhead.It had popped out so allowing water in the scuttle to leak into the footwell.Hope this helps.

Maybe the shells are manufactured ambidextrous so there could well be a plugged hole that is leaking.

**jbcook** · 20-02-2017,04:01 PM

Thanks all,

I've just been and had a careful look/comparison between the "water deflector strip" (Volkswagen Passat/Variant (2011 - 2015) - inscriptions/lettering. water deflector. > VAG ETKA Online > Nemiga.com) that runs down the side of the windscreen.

On the side which doesn't leak, the strip is quite close to the windscreen and the seal aspect goes under the glass all the way up.

On the side which leaks, the strip is a bit further away from the glass and the seal sits on top of the glass all the way up - apart from a couple of sections where it is under the glass.

I'm wondering if this is the source of the leak, however I'm not sure which of the two seals above is correct! Any ideas? I'd assume it's supposed to be as it is on my dry side. I can tuck the seal back under fairly easily, so hopefully it will just be that!

Failing that I'll have a dig around for the bonnet grommet.

**Rob69** · 20-02-2017,04:18 PM

If your screen is ok check the door inner skin gasket. This might be leaking even though your door drains are clear. I've just had to reseal mine on my B5 after tracing an elusive leak. Pop the bottom of the door card and wedge it open enough to see the bottom edge of the inner panel. I then removed the lower panel bolts, eased open the inner skin, dried the gasket with a hairdryer and ran a bead of sikaflex along the gasket then bolted back up.

**niall campbell** · 20-02-2017,08:39 PM

I would tape a hose to the windscreen and let it run for a good 10 minutes and then check to see if its dripping down, on a dry day

can you take off the inner trim at the door pillar, beside the windscreen to see if you can see a drip going down ?

**jbcook** · 22-03-2017,11:42 AM

Sorted this in the end, had to take it to main dealer. Dash had to come out, and the front wing too. Turned out to be a split seam at the bottom of the windscreen/wing area. This was allowing water into the box section below the windscreen on the interior, from there it was flowing down behind the blower motor and into the footwell. Seam has been sealed and re-tested. Had a good few rainy days so far and seems to be dry. Expensive, but doubt an independent would have been able to find the cause.

Photo below shows the area of the split seam.
carleak.jpg

This photo shows where it was coming in on the inside.
carleak1.jpg