Wet Carpets!

[meriafel]

Bought my Passat Estate 130 TDi two weeks ago and just had the front passenger footwell carpet dried out and a new pollen filter housing seal fitted to cure the proglem. However we had torrential rain here yesterday and this morning found the driver's side rear footwell full of water!! Although I have the third year warranty it will be easier to do the job myself! Preety pissed-off as you can imagine!

Any ideas where it could be getting in???

[drpellypo]

Probably the bulk head. Check to see if you've got any leaves in the drain-away tracks that are causing a damn (look down the bulkhead parallel to the battery)

[meriafel]

Thanks for your reply. The drain away tracks were checked on Friday when I had the Pollen Filter Housing re-sealed by my VW Dealer under warranty. They also replaced the black plastic cover through which the wiper spindles protrude. I also had a look on Thursday and couldn't see any obvious leaf build-up in 'battery compartment' but if the drain hole is indeed blocked could water somehow get into the ventilation ducts that feed the rear passenger footwell behind the drivers seat? It's absolutely torrential at the moment and I expect to find the carpet underwater as it was this afternoon! This problem should have been sorted by VW ages ago! Comments please!

[c13ush]

maybe your rear door liner is adrift this would give the same fault

[ARKI]

do you have a sun roof? if so i would check the drain exits on the a pillars left and right. these have a habit of going dry and sealing up and hence not letting the water out.

[SPLiiX]

Also check - from experiance, take off the interior door trim (the whole thing) and check the plastic membrane, this stops the water coming in the from the bottom of the side windows. if the plastic is broken then the water gets into the car for sure! Sometimes they can be damaged if someone has been in there already to repair the window motor or fitting of speakers or the door locking etc.

Try that as it does not take that long to take it off. Also when you are in there check the drain at the bottom of the door is clear so water can get out!

You then need to tape up the cut in the plastic.

[meriafel]

Thanks guys for you pointers to my problem. Have managed to get the car booked in for Thursday to rectify the leak, so I had better leave well alone until then, just have to keep bailing out! I don't have a sunroof and suspect the door seal, or door liner as per your replies. I've noticed that the hose that carries the wires from pillar to the rear door on this model is a less well engineered item than previos models and my hose was quite wet inside this morning. Does anyone know if water that enters the centre door pillar by this route drains away through the valances?

While on the subject of these hoses that carry all the wires into the doors, after several years the thicker wires 'fatigue' and the rear window motors pack-up. So did the sunroof on my 94 passat estate. Reconnecting the wire restored both the window and the sunroof. My local dealer diagnosed sunroof motor replacement! These wires have also broken on my 95 Golf TDi and 96 Passat TDi Estate so its a very common problem. It is usually only the thicker 'power' wires that break, Best way is to insert a new length of wire of the same size, attach one end by neatly soldering then wrap the wire around all the other wires once to make a coil tnen attach the other end to re-make the circuit. This helps to delay further breakage and should have been done originally.

Another 'design flaw' which VW continue with is to route the bonnet cable through the bulkhead at a point where the water discharges from the windscreen. If the grommet isn't 100% watertight you quickly have wet carpets in the drivers footwell. On the 94 passat the water also discharges over the wiper motor which rusts the wiper internals! Simply cover the wiper motor with a piece of plastic sheet or preferably pool liner. The replacement for my failed 94 wiper motor came with a cover that only fitted underneath the motor effectively making a bath for the motor to sit in!!! If you get one of these, break it of and follow the pool liner solution.

While on the subject of Passat TDi's from 94/97 check that you have the correct TDI grille beneath the bumper that has the cut out for the intercooler air. After a frontal smash in mine it was fitted with the petrol non turbo grille with no intercooler grille and therefore no power. However it had the correct TDI part number. The replacement was the same as was the next one!

Eventually the Midlands VW dealer took one off a s/h car. Another car locally here in Wales also had the wrong grille with correct part number. It must have been widespread but my calls to Customer Service denied any problem as usual.

Seem to have gone off at a tangent but maybe it could help someone. Could the forum list all these known problems? In a perfect world they should be available from your dealer or Customer Services but neither come anywhere near perfect and generally are sadly deteriorating as regularly highlighted in the press.

[Andy0112]

I have exactly the same problem which several people have claimed to have fixed over the last 3 years!

I have had the plenum chamber cleared and all the drain holes cleared but every time it rains really hard the rear passenger footwell on the drivers side fills up with water.

This is driving me mad! It's going on to another gararge tomorrow. if they fix it i'll let you know what it was. If your's gets fixed please let me know!

Cheers

Andy

[meriafel]

The cause of the wet carpets in my 52 Passat was eventually sorted by replacing;

Pollen filter housing seal with the new modified 'liquorice rope' which is how it was described to me. This new seal stopped the water that was filling the passenger footwell.

The ECU seal was also replaced which was causing water to run beneath the drivers carpets and wetting the rear passenger footwell behind the driver! Quite how it didn't wet the drivers carpets I do not know.

The bonnet release cable grommet was also replaced as was the complete carpet set. The drain holes were also cleared out but didn't seem to be a cause of the leaks on my model.

However the blocked drain holes did cause a leak over the pollen filter in my wifes 1998 Passat Estate.

Both cars are now bone dry. Get you seals replaced by VW and push for a goodwill claim if out of warranty as the original seals were not up to standard.

Best of luck.

[shao_khan]

Hi Squid - welcome to TSN. let us know how you get on.

[lateknight]

This 'liquid rope' as so nicely put is actually sealant that used to be used on Audi taillights. (I think the part number is AKD000497010R10 - but this is from memory and I may have a digit or two wrong). This is the best way of sealing the pollen filter housing on passats. VW lists a bit of foam on the parts film, but this doesn't usually permanently fix the problem.

The water will collect in the rear footwell because it lower than the front footwell (although it does usually collects on the passenger rear footwell - the same side of the car as the pollen filter). What it can effect though is the module that sits under the front passenger seat that controls locking/windows/alarm functions, the terminals can go 'green' with water contamination.