Mk2 Leak - Golf is now a fish tank

[Josh]

Hi everyone!

Over the weekend with all that heavy rain we had in Sydney my car managed to fill up with a bit of water. It's gone now (I literally bailed it out with an icecream container), but I don't really want it to happen again. It was parked on a steep incline with the nose pointing up the hill. So the water pooled around the feet area of the back seats.

Has something similar happened to anyone here? I'm guessing I need to replace the door seals? I've been meaning to do that for a while now. Any other seals that you think I should look at?

Thanks!

[Golf Loon]

Could be the rain tray drain holes at the sides are filled with leaves, so water collects in the raintray and pours in through the cabin filter hole.

[Surfpig]

literally the same thing happened to me, emptied it today. its never happened before with rain so im not really fussed... unless it happens again

[benough]

+ 1 to the drain holes being blocked. Stupid skinny pine needles!

[GOLFBALLS]

+1 above. Although it only leaked down the front carpets on mine. I actually get a lot of water getting down the rear window scraper seals.
It drips down inside the door and if the plastic waterproof membrane has gone the rain just runs straight out the bottom of the door card down to the rear footwell. Mine fills up bad so whenever rain is coming i put some tape over the rear scrapers and... no more water!

[martyd]

I had the same problem with mine, turned out it was leaking in around the rear lights seal, new sealed sorted the problem.

[Josh]

Had a look at the tray, plenty of leaves in there! Will give it a good clean out ASAP. That might explain why ever so rarely on rainy days my indicator relay stops working... Water getting into the fusebox through the filter hole?

Thanks for the tips!

[squibby]

Has your Mk2 got a sunroof?

It's classic for the gutters inside the sun roof to rust through causing leaks.

[Watercooled]

Yep sunroof is a good start but mostly on UK cars,blocked drains are way more common,this is a list of the most likely culprits,some have been mentioned already:
Rust under front windscreen frame that hides under the rubber,
yes the rain tray,
window scrappers ,no as they never were designed to seal,it will be blocked door drains and bad plastic membrane as mentioned,
tailight seals yes but more common problem with mk3's but it happens and also buggers the lamp panel,
door seals?not usually a problem,have seen really bad ones that don't leak.
have seen a leak @ the hood release cable grommet in the scuttle,needs to be sealed here.

[Brumma]

Had this same problem and fixed it by redoing the plastic membrane between the door and door card. With old age, the plastic shrinks and pulls away from the seal, allowing any water that hits the plastic to drain inside the car, rather than into the bottom of the door and out the drain holes.

First step is to check that the drain holes are actually clear and allow water to pass through. If they are, then the problem will most likely be the water running down the window into the door, hitting the plastic membrane and draining into the car.

New window scrapers also help limit the amount of water getting in, as the older rubber becomes hard and moves away from the window allowing any water on the window to run down into the door.

What you need:
• Phillips Head screwdrivers to take the, inside door handle, window winder and door card off.
• A roll of plastic sheeting
• Gaffa/Duct Tape
• Scissors/Knife

1. Remove the long door handle (2 x screws under the cover), remove bracket on door handle latch (slides to one side then pulls off), window winder (1 x screw under the cover), pry up the bracket holding the lock in place, pop lock out from door card, remove door card (4 x screws around the edges), lift up and out off braces.
2. Inspect plastic membrane for tears or wet spots (helps to run a hose on the window to see where the water is coming in).
3. Remove plastic membrane, use it to trace out a new one on the plastic roll you have and cut it out (allow for a bit of leeway for ashtrays, etc in the door card when cutting the new sheet, as they will push against the plastic and may tear it or pull it away from the door).
4. Now, the most important part is, cut a second piece of plastic as wide as the hole on the inside of the door and high enough that it rests below the bottom edge of the hole in the door, tape it to the door-side of the large plastic sheet you previously traced out, but just above where the hole in the door starts. The 2nd sheet will divert any water that gets into the door straight to the drain holes and away from the door cards
5. Tape the new sheet to the door, starting from the bottom-up, and trim any excess off as you go up, to keep it straight and fairly tight (avoid creating creases which will funnel water).
6. Angle the second sheet you taped to the inside, down into the bottom of the door, keeping it all straight and tight, cut holes for the door handle, window winder, etc (you can reinforce these by putting tape over the spot then cutting through the tape).
7. Finish taping it up, trim any excess tape that shows carefully with a knife, put everything back on and you're done.

Here's a picture from when I did mine. I initially did it without the second sheet, but water eventually worked its way through the tape, onto the door card and into the car. The 2nd sheet angled down to the bottom of the door completely fixed it.