Rear passenger footwell wet

[Brisbane's Bora]

So its been raining for the last few days and I went to clean the interior of my car today to find the rear passenger footwell soaking wet. The floormat was soaked through. The wetness is only in the one footwell and stops at the hump under the front seat and the divider between rear footwells.

Anyone have any idea where or how the water has gotten in? It almost seems as though the water has come up through the floor but are there any seals down low that may have cracked?

Also, no one has been in the back of my car for about a week so I don't think it was tracked in somehow.

Any help is handy!

In return, the sexiest Bora I've seen (IMO)

[caddyshack]

My Son had exactly the same problem with his 4 motion Bora after recent heavy rain, rear footwells soaked. From the photo i'm assuming you have a sunroof and the drain channels become blocked over time. You can get VW Service to fix the problem, which is what my son did, or if you want to DIY there is info on the internet detailing the procedure.

Cheers,

[JustCruisn]

That's not his Bora ! But if there is a sunroof that would be the 1st culprit.
My car has a musty water smell ATM. I check the sunroof regularly as it flooded the car a few years ago.
I'm going to check the bungs on the floor. There are quite a few of them, there are 2 in the rear foot well on each side.

[Brisbane's Bora]

From what I have read elsewhere the drains for the sunroof are two nipples in the door? I will have a look. And does anyone know how difficult it is to pull the rear carpet up? I dont want to do anything unreversable

---------- Post added at 12:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:49 AM ----------

"Yes your sunroof drain campaign is still open on your car. Time to make a visit to the dealer. If you complain about a bad smell in the car. They have been replacing carpet and padding for the bad drains. Good luck."

Read that on vortex regarding a guy in the states that had a similar problem, did this happen in Australia aswell?

[JustCruisn]

Carpet is easy to lift up for inspection. Taking it out all together requires a lot of work.

To get under the rear area remove the rear seat base. The carpet just stops under the rear seat.
Pull the carpet forward enough to look under. There are about 4 layers before metal.
You may need to remove the trim panels on the side near the doors too. It's all mostly pull clips in that area.

[Bora Sport]

There are 4 drains for the sunroof. Two exit at the 'A' pillar as I recall and are easy to see. Look for a black tube around one quarter inch diameter. I found just giving it a squeeze sometimes is all that is needed. There are also 2 at the back that exit under the car behind the rear axle. They are a bit harder to find. I have had both the back and front tubes block over the years and it has always been an easy fix.

I have never lifted the carpets. Just leaving it in the sun with the doors open or windows down has worked. Probably the best is to sop up what you can with a large towel and then drive around with the air con on and that dehumidify the air inside the car and that will dry it out.

[Brisbane's Bora]

I got in under the car and cleaned the nipples (lol) out a bit, then tested the sunroof by pouring some water into the drains. The front two and back left all worked fine after i cleaned them out but the back right didn't seem to do anything. Its wierd because it's the left footwell that was wet. Pulling up the carpet tomorrow when I'm free to have a better look, good thing the forcast rain hasn't come.

Thanks for the help!

[debo]

no need to pull up the carpet just leave it running with the aircon on and leave windows down will be fine.

[Brisbane's Bora]

no need to pull up the carpet just leave it running with the aircon on and leave windows down will be fine.

I was pulling up the carpet to check if their are any holes in the plugs that are underneath it, not to dry it. Its been raining for almost a week straight now so i still havent done it but the same footwell is at the same amount of wetness, though I havent driven much. Still thinking its the sunroof. Might try a DIY off vortex to fix it.

[JustCruisn]

It would be worth checking that the brown hose from the sunroof at the rear makes all the way down to the nipple behind the rear bumper.
I found one of mine was not connected, water was pooling in behind the rear wheel. This was a few years ago after some body repair.

I found yesterday that I forgot to replace the bung that I removed to let it dry out back in 2008. This was letting water in from underneath when driving at high speed in pissing rain, that was the musty smell I had for the last few weeks.

[Brisbane's Bora]

It would be worth checking that the brown hose from the sunroof at the rear makes all the way down to the nipple behind the rear bumper.
I found one of mine was not connected, water was pooling in behind the rear wheel. This was a few years ago after some body repair.

I found yesterday that I forgot to replace the bung that I removed to let it dry out back in 2008. This was letting water in from underneath when driving at high speed in pissing rain, that was the musty smell I had for the last few weeks.

How can I check that its all connected? Do I get in under the wheel lining or something? Or feed a tube through it to find out? I know they also feed down the c-pillar, I guess I will check there. I've been meaning to finish off my re-apolstering anyway

[Brisbane's Bora]

I finally found what was causing the leak. I sort of forgot about it until it started raining again recently

The seal beneath the door of the passenger footwell was so full of crap that water was leaking over into the car. I took all this dirt from the one door seal after removing it from the door, which was very simple. (Just pop it off)



And for reference if people search this, its this seal;

[Jmac]

Hi mate have you dropped the roof lining in the rear and checked the tubes that physically fits to the roof. If you remove your rear roof handles and your c pillar trims you can drop the headlining a tad and that way you can see the hoses . What happens is the hoses lose resilience and get loose , water leaks past them and into the car, the hose gaps on the roof . Secret is to fit the hoses and bind them back within silicone rtv. Also blow air down the tubes to clear them of gunk, just done a mk4 gti for same thing
Good luck
Jmac

[Brisbane's Bora]

Yeah, that was recommended in a vwvortex thread and here earlier. I could see that the water was running down the tubes fine and there was no wetness in the headliner or c-pillar, so I had to find how it was getting in. I noticed that the door sill was very wet in the back and after I cleaned out the seal and tested it again it wasn't, so I assumed that was the problem. We will find out soon if I'm right or wrong I guess.

Thanks!

[Jmac]

Yeah, that was recommended in a vwvortex thread and here earlier. I could see that the water was running down the tubes fine and there was no wetness in the headliner or c-pillar, so I had to find how it was getting in. I noticed that the door sill was very wet in the back and after I cleaned out the seal and tested it again it wasn't, so I assumed that was the problem. We will find out soon if I'm right or wrong I guess.

Thanks!

Ah ok then , i suggest you remove the door card form the door on the offending side and have someone with a hose on the outside hose the car down, you will probably find the door mebrane seal is knackered from being pulled apart in the past. Hose the car down with the door card off and you might see water seep passed the membrane, you can fix this with silicone.
Good luck
Jmac