Footwell Leak & AC Drain Clip Help

[dav32]

Hi all

I noticed a bit of dampness in my rear passenger side carpet. Checked both doors and front drains under the scuttle and all looked ok. Lifted the carpet a bit to see if I could dry it out but the foam was actually holding a lot more water than I expected, so I removed the entire carpet so could get it done properly.

While the carpets out, it's giving me a good opportunity to see where the water is coming in from. I did take out the AC drain pipe previously on the passenger side, but I had broken the clip a bit which holds it securely at the time, but had done a DIY fix to keep it in place. I don't think the original leak was coming from here, but I may have dislodged it a bit while removing the carpet and there's a tiny bit of water seeping out of here now as a result. I have ordered a new pipe, and sealed it again for now, but I can't seem to find the clip that secures it into its frame anywhere and it's not listed on the parts diagram.

Does anyone know if this should come with the drain pipe 8K0260113?
Or where/how to get a new one otherwise? Parts diagrams don't list anything there, and the numbers stamped on it don't seem to lead me to anything when I search online. They seem to be 350112-a3 , 0112947a and pa66-gf15

Secondly, the main leak seems to be coming in from behind the rubber section which wraps up onto the footwell/bulkhead area, beside the fuse box in passenger footwell. I have checked the plenum drains again, cabin filter is dry but changed it anyways as was dirty,and also removed the washer reservoir pipe and air intake into blower motor area to check there, and cleaned up the seals and reseated. Rubber seals on the air intake looked ok, scuttle panel seemed slightly loose so I clipped it in fully, but everything seems ok. Put everything back together, ran a test with water and it seemed to not come out from behind the rubber, but the next morning then when I got into the car there was some water there again, so it obviously seeps or drips in very slowly.

Any ideas as to the most likely path for this to be taking?
I don't really want to try take more of the front apart inside like glovebox and blower or peel back the rubber if it's a simple fix. I was thinking a bit of sealant around the air intake rubber as a test, but don't want to be making a mess when it's not 100% that, but I can't see anywhere else where it could be dripping in from around that area!

Pictures attached for reference
Thanks in advance

[johnsimcox]

You don't say what age your car is but early C7s had an issue with the way the rear speakers were installed in the door and this led to water entering the car front he bottom of the door rather than flowing out to the exterior. Clear sign is water on the seal that the door pushes up against when closed. Also do you have a sunroof. Many issues reported with water entering the car for those with sunroofs fitted

[dav32]

Sorry, forgot to say it's a 2016 c7, speaker seal seems ok and don't have a sunroof. I have the carpet filled stripped so can see it's definitely not coming in from door area, but seems to be from the bulkhead area somewhere behind the rubber, and running down behind it then and exiting near the fuse box area.

Have ran water tests and it doesn't look like any excess water gets much near the air intake to blower, and when I run lots of water over the area it doesn't translate into me seeing loads of water coming into the footwell area, but maybe a dribble or drop after a few hours so it appears to be a very small one or capillary action at work somewhere just letting it creep in.

Is there any areas further below on the bulkhead (below the plenum drain channels bungs) which could allow this?

I have seen a post from 2017 about one which went to main dealer and they had to take out the entire dash to resolve, and involved a bit of sealer up around the wing joint, but hoping I don't have to take it that far !

[johnsimcox]

Yes, speaker issue was solved fairly early on the in the life of the C7, so definitely should not be an issue on a 2016 car. Hope someone else can give you advise that does not involve dismantling the car

[dav32]

Finally got around to looking at this, run up to Xmas and after was crazy so I had the joy of driving minus a carpet and front passenger seat for a few weeks so as to try verify exactly where the water was coming from and also so I didn't want to put everything back together only to find it getting damp again.

From the staining on the floor I'd be pretty sure the initial leak came from the AC water drainage hose in the passenger footwell, you could see the discolouration running down from there, over to left side and then back into rear footwell. It seems to have perished a bit on the bottom, along with the plastic securing clip not being in the best of shape.

The other water which had been coming from behind the rubber material which runs all up along the bulkhead doesn't seem to have been a leak itself, but there is foam backing on that rubber and a section of it was soaking wet too. So the water I had seen coming down from behind this was actually just water coming out of that and down. I pulled the rubber back, had a blower directed in to dry it out and then removed,dried and reattached the worst bit of the foam. As to how the water got in to there I'm not fully sure, but I know it's not getting in anymore from the couple of weeks testing about. I would either say there was so much water from the drain hose leak the when I had my car parked (usually on a decline with the front pointed down) some of the water was able to get under the rubber and travel up to where the foam was or when I was clearing out the plenum drains looking for the leak originally, when I was doing a water test the scuttle panel would not have been fully secure in and water would have run down and around the blower motor intake section. Possibly if it was able to get in around the seal it could have traveled some way in around there then, but I have removed the blower motor and all looks fine there so not fully sure on that, but either way the water isn't getting in there anymore.

On the actual AC drain hoses then I went to buy replacements, but as from the original post I couldn't see where to buy the plastic securing clip which is important to make sure the water doesn't leak out. I ended up ordering of some Estonian site ( the pipe was €6.90, but between delivery and 'service' fees ended up being near €30) and when it arrived I looked quickly and saw it didn't have the clip with it. Went into local Audi dealer who couldn't see about the clip either, but mentioned they could have actually ordered the pipe and it would have come in around €9 total (lesson learned to not automatically think dealer will be extortionate). Emailed Audi Ireland who forwarded on to factory and after a bit of over and back for clarification it turns out they have redesigned the pipe from around 2016 so the clip isn't required anymore.

The original pipe which required a plastic securing clip is 8K026113C.
The new revision which the securing rubber built in is 8K026113.

pipes.jpg

Old pipe left, new pipe right.

Once I knew this I ordered a second pipe off Audi to do the drivers side while I'm at it, fitted both, drove around for a few days and all looks fine with no drops coming out so this looks to have solved it.
pipe.jpg

Passenger footwell pipe fitted.

Upper section is quite awkward to get in on passenger side as the plastic section angles inward a bit, drivers side is more of a straight angle and gives better clearance.

The bottom section on each is also a bit fiddly as you need to push ensure the internal rubber seal goes all the way into hole, but I used some pry tools for this.

After that it was then just the task of refitting everything once I got the time.

bits.jpg


If I was thinking before I could have taken pictures and done step by steps of a few things ( seats removal, centre console removal, carpet removal, glovebox removal, blower motor removal....) but I'll see what I have and if have time to go back over it in detail.

For now the leak is fixed, but my rear wiper motor just give in and the P2002 code came up (hoping it will be solved by map sensor change rather than egr cooler...) so have to get time to look at them now!