Leaking passat

[ledge26]

Passat estate 1990 cl
I have water constantly in the drivers well. Any one got any ideas how it gets there. - and how to get rid of it once it is down there?

[Boardboy]

Ledge26 This seems to be a common problem. Check the pollen filter housing, sunroof drains and drains in the engine compartment.
Here is link for the drains:http://www.weirdlittlebiscuit.com/passat/leak/index.htm
If you do a search there are loads of threads relating to this.
Hope this helps
Regards Boardboy

[richardw]

See new water feature thread on this site, mine is dry now

[ledge26]

Mines a 1990 Passat est cl. The battery is at the front so I don't think this applies. Would water coming in the pollen filter get across to the drivers well?

[bart1]

Hi check the window is up fully. See my thread under 'water feature' as this eluded me for a while as had water ingress in fps footwell.

What happens is the electric window winder stay which ensures the window is shut tight fails leaving a tiny gap. Water comes in via this and runs INSIDE the weather seal and between carpet stay and rubber so its not possible to see beading.

Check this out as could be source....

/S

[pete]

Hi all,

I have been plagued by this problem for weeks now to no resolution and would appreciate any ideas.

The water seems to be rain related although i have been using the air-con to try and dry things out so I will look into the air-con issues raised in the other forum thread.

I have recently paid to have the drain unblocked under the battery but today i have returned to the car to find the puddle is back. This leaves me with two options:

1) - they didnt do the job properly ( is it just a case of unblocking the hole or do you need to replace the rubber seals?)
2) - I have another problem.

My issues are that after heavy rain i looked under the bonet and saw the pooling water around the battery etc so the drain MUST have been blocked but how does this track to the drivers side? what is the access point to the cabin?

With the drain 'sorted' why is there still water in the drivers side? are there any tell tale signs that it is the air con condensor drain?

As a seperate question. do the windscreen wipers need to have washers at their base to prevent water ingress? I have recently had the motors replaced (related issue?) and have noticed that one has a rubber washer and one doesnt. any ideas?

Thanks all

Pete

[kriskros]

Hi,

Just spotted this (old) thread am having exactly the same problem. Drivers side not Pasenger side. I unblocked the drainage holes under battery and brake servo only the other week so would hazzard yours is a separate issue also.

Do you find a resolution??

My guess is that what is ingressing around the door seal. I noticed it was very wet at the furthemost tip of the front door sill. Also, the front most rubber drainage thingy under the front door was also wet and along the adge of the front door inner trim (beneath the speaker).

[pete]

Hi,

I did a bit more reading and boiled it down to either the engine drain, door seal, leaky window or aircon outlet blockage.

Initially i used chalk around the doors to see if the ingress would leave a path through during heavy rain so i ruled out an obvious seal leak (although i read in a similar thread that the door seal can leak through an internal route).

The engine bay was flooded so undoubtedly this was part of the problem so i got that unblocked.

I thought that the problem was something else as i got reoccurrence of the leaking but it was limited to the middle of the back drivers side passenger well. Eventually i dried it out over the ensuing couple of days and came to the conclusion that it was just the residual water in the wells of the car under the carpet pooling at the lowest point of gravity.

Hopefully the problem is solved as it has been raining heavily and i havent had any pooling. either that or its still pooling in the wells and not showing above the carpet yet.

what electronics are under the drivers well do you know? I have read that the ECM is on the passenger side and can be costly to fix, but are there any electical faults i should test for having had huge pooling on the drivers side?

cheers

Pete

[kriskros]

I have had the carpets up on both sides. The passenger side houses the CCM or comfort control module which works all the internal lights, electric mirrors and power locking. The drivers side housing the ECM, which is the engine control module. The ECM looks like it is properly protected with polystyrene although other threads have reported water damage to this unit. The CCM is housed in a black plastic container, on the passenger side, which apparently is not watertight.

The water in my drivers footwell seems to pool dead central to the mat which would indicate some duct or outlet/overflow. However, the door seel to the front doesn't look to clever either but i don't think the water could traverse across to the centre of the well. I've noticed water pours from the bottom of the car after a journey. i was told this was the air con when i bought the car (provatley) and was normal. Perhaps this is related. Might explore this avenue next. Good luck! Let me know any findings would be most interested!!

[pete]

interesting you should mention the water pouring from the bottom of the car after journeys. when i had a brake and tyre check there was water pouring from the car when they placed it on the lifting machine. The guy in the garage asked if i had had the aircon on and dismissed it as condensation from the aircon.

Seemed plausible at the time and he had no vested interest in not spotting anything so maybe the aircon can cuase this? maybe someone can confirm things?

best of luck. ill post any updates on the issue.

cheers

Pete