Battery Compartment Flooded

[Hammer2003]

After driving around in the heavy rain at the weekend I noticed the carpet in the front passenger footwell of my A6 was wet in the corner. After feeling up behind the glovebox the insulation foam was also wet.

I opened up the bonnet and took off the plastic panel at the back of the engine bay covering the battery and pollen filter area to see if I could see an obvious leak.

What I found was the whole area under my battery was full of water!

The level was right up to just below the battery itself, probably about an inch and a half deepth of water. I had been driving around quite a lot on country lanes and quite often water was spraying up over the front wings from large puddles at the side of the roads. So I think that is how so much water got in in the first place.

As I was away on holiday at the time, after much dunking and wringing I managed to soak all the water out with an absorbent sheet I had in the boot.

I guess the drain holes must be well and truly blocked. and when cornering the water was sloshing about and getting in through the pollen filter, as that was wet in one corner. Taking out the filter I could see a trickle of water in the corner of the duct.

Fortunately not too much water got into the car, but I need to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I found this post detailing where the drain plugs are:

Drain Plugs- Battery Area- Info and how to - AudiWorld Forums

The annoying thing is I only replaced my battery a month or so ago, and I didn't think to clear the drain holes then as I'd had no problems with water before.

My reluctance is that fitting the new battery was a bit of a nightmare. It being such a tight fit getting it in past the top of the chamber.

I have read that you are supposed to remove the lower plastic passenger windshield cover after taking off the wiper arms to make life easier.

But I couldn't see any retaining screws on mine and it seemed fixed to the windscreen.

So really my questions are, can I access the drain plugs without removing the battery?

If not, does anyone have any tips to make the battery removal easier? Anyone know how to remove the lower windshield rain deflector on a 98 A6?

[Hammer2003]

Got my drain plugs unblocked over the weekend.

The battery compartment was flooded again, after sitting for a few days parked.

Fortunately the water just sitting there wasn't leaking into the inside of the car. But was getting in when cornering , making all the water rush towards the pollen filter.

But I am suprised it filled up over a few days, we have had some rain, but I wouldn't have thought that much should run into that area, but it did!

Anyway getting the battery out again wasn't too bad after I found this write up:

http://xyrotr1.com/misc/passat_tech/unblocking%20passat%20drain%20holes.pdf

The layout of the A6 would appear to be identical to a Passat.

Once I found you could unclip the wiring that runs along the front of the battery compartment and move it out of the way, lifting the battery out and removing the tray to access the drain plugs was a doddle. No need to remove and windshield trim at all.

The two drain plugs were totally blocked with mud, not suprising I guess as the car is now 10 years old and I bet that was the first time they've been cleaned!

Here are a few pics:

Battery Compartment Full of Water:

Audi A6 Battery Compartment - Flooded on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Battery Compartment Empty After Removing Blocked Drain Plug:

Audi A6 Battery Compartment - Emptied on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

One Of the Blocked Drain plugs:

The Offending Drainplug on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[markymark]

Had this problem in my passat so rang VW dealer. They said the rubber one way valve in the drain plug is not required. It will get blocked regularly so don't clean it out, take it out. It just pulls out. i did this and didn't have another probelm with it for the 2 years afterwards. I have now got an A6 allroad. When I went to pick it up from the dealer, the front passenger footwell was wet. The car had just been through a car wash. I guessed the was a similar problem to the Passat. For the first few days after getting the car I had battery problems so took it in for a new one. The guys at the battery place unclipped the wiring as described to get the battery out. I asked them to check the drain hole which was completely blocked so I asked them to remove the rubber valve which they did but it involved removing the battery tray. I think it was 3 nuts or bolts to take it out to reveal the valve so dead easy. The whole thing took 10 minutes. No problems since.

Edited May 2, 2009 by markymark