Soaking wet REAR left carpet but all others bone dry.

[A1 VR6 0]

Could be that the door seal or membrane is leaking and the water is running to the rear of the plastic trim on the inner sill and then into the rear footwell - particularly if the car is parked slightly uphill.

[Ice White Socks 0]

Could be that the door seal or membrane is leaking and the water is running to the rear of the plastic trim on the inner sill and then into the rear footwell - particularly if the car is parked slightly uphill.

 

I would say thats exactly what it is- in my experience the door membrane can leak at any point along the full length of the door- if the leaks is at the back it goes straight into the back carpet leaving the front bone dry. Having had my fair share of leaks in the last few years-I have never found a wet rear carpet to be caused by owt else.

 

Door membranes used to be in the first post of any wet-carpet issue- can't believe it took so long to get mentioned :)

[Alexander 0]

Well I know for a fact I don't actually have any door membranes! This is on my to-do list, bought some rubble sacks last weekend for this job.

 

However, it's definitely damp in the passenger footwell (you can kind of track it down to behind the back seats) so I'm suspecting the blower vent - this will get investigated as soon as poss! Been searching the forum this evening and it looks like a *very* common problem this time of year - just glad it's not my heater matrix! (touches wood)

[Ice White Socks 0]

Well I know for a fact I don't actually have any door membranes!

 

its almost a trick post to answer. You have damp carpets, but no door membranes, but your first point of call is the blower vent :?

 

If you have no membranes you WILL get damp carpets- whether it damps the front, the rear or both depends on how you park your car (uphill or downhill) and how the water decides to channel on that particular occasion.

 

Cleaning the scuttle panel and resealing the blower vent is always a job worth doing tho.

[Alexander 0]

Yeah as soon as I posted that I realised it was a bit ass-backwards.

 

Now all I need is a dry spell and some you know, daylight. However as I get up in the dark, get home in the dark, and it's rained perpetually for about six years, this may not be amazingly easy. Corrado is going in the garage tonight though and staying there when not in use until I sort it. Girlfriend's polo can have some of the weather for a while instead.

[Ice White Socks 0]

Yeah as soon as I posted that I realised it was a bit ass-backwards

 

:D

 

You can get the door foil from VW still- it just comes in a big roll of foam which you need to cut to shape.

 

I spent an age on my first time doing the membranes- but used a kind of white silicon sealant that seemed ok at the time but didn't bind too well to either the foam or the door once it got super damp- it just peeled away after a year or so.

 

Second time I used a really thick sticky black sealant (maybe sikaflex)- you really need to seal it well using loads of sealant with no gaps in anywhere (ie its easy to have gaps where the door card clips through)- its amazing how damp it gets behind there.

[Alexander 0]

Cheers dude - I'll try and get it as tight as I can round the clips/door handle screw holes etc. I had to re-fix the ones in my old mk2 golf a few times so I have an idea what's involved... :D

[Alexander 0]

OK put a nice new membrane on the passenger door last weekend, sealant and gaffa tape all round, but my rear passenger footwell is still wet.

 

Next stop I suppose will be checking the sunroof drain channels - I don't know if it's a clue, but the water seems to be collecting on the ridge where your heels would be if you were sat in the back - there's a lip before it drops down into the footwell itself and this seems to be the wettest bit.

 

How likely is it that the rear side window is leaking? Is this common?

[edd 0]

i had exactly this for ages. Always rear left. In the end i had to change the heater matrix as i was getting the tell tale coolant smell and misting screen. I also cleaned out leaves etc from drain holes by bonnet. My front footwell carepets never felt damp like the rear though which i always though was strange but i have not had any problems since.

 

hope that may be of some help

 

edd

[TimDoc 0]

Have a look at this for getting to the sunroof mechanisms and drainage pipes

 

http://www.the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewto ... 19&t=61911

 

Hope it helps

 

Tim

[Alexander 0]

Well, I've checked the sunroof drain channels, all four drain quickly to the four corners of the car. So that's ruled out door membrane, sunroof and heater matrix so far. I took the rear door card off this weekend and drenched the car and it's not coming in from the window seal either as far as I can see. Boot is bone dry also. I'm a bit stumped?

[n3p 3]

hrm, i wonder if VW know about this - Exact same problem in my brothers Mk4 - Rear passenger footwell only, and our driveway has roughly a 20degree gradiant! Still have no idea of what caused it, strangely his alternator fudged up too...but im leaning towards thinking it was a coincidence..

 

ed: for silly engrisch

[aclwalker 3]

Did you get this sorted in the end? Just discovered today I have exactly the same problem - rear passenger footwell was swimming, front footwells were bone dry.

Apologies for not actually updating people on this one.

 

The weird thing was that the water was very slimy, almost like it contained oil. Shortly after this problem I discovered that my heater matrix was leaking, so I'm assuming the sliminess was coolant. I have since replaced my heater matrix and there seems to be no repeat of it.

 

The strange things are these though:

 

1 The front was bone dry, so I don't know how the water managed to leak from the matrix at the front and end up in the back well, without making the front wet. I can only imagine that parking facing upwards on the hill made the water leak backwards and maybe get trapped in the back. Maybe there's some kind of step that means the water can't make it back to the front.

 

2 The water in the rear took an absolute age to evaporate out, presumably due to the coolant content. It is in fact still slightly damp a year and a half later, but much less noticeable than before. I guess the high coolant content is making it difficult to evaporate away, or else it's getting topped up with water from the sunroof every so often.

 

I've had other more pressing problems to sort with the car though, so I've not investigated further!

[dokko 0]

I've had exactly the same problem since buying my 'rado last September. I'd check all the obvious sources of the leak - foliage cover, door membrane, etc but it was only last weekend when I had the passenger seat out to investigate further that I found the culprit...

 

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=64822&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15#p802854

 

Have had a couple of downpours since then and left rear carpet is still dry :clap:

 

The carpet also had that 'oily' feel when damp but I'm sure it's not from a gubbed heater matrix due to the carpet remaining dry. Never really had any issues with condensation either.

 

Finally, I bought a basic dehumidifier thing from b&q and have been leaving it in the car overnight to sook up any remaining moisture left in the car.

[williamg60 0]

Hi had this problem a few years back try removing the door panel and checking if the plastic skin is damaged, mine was and this let water run down onto the door rubber on the inside and drip into the footwell.

[PROVR6 0]

Mine was due to the foliage grill leaking but the water still felt oily. Definitely wasn't the matrix.