Audi A4 (1995 - 2000) - 1997 Water getting inside the car | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

Sat 20 Nov 2004 16:42

1997 Water getting inside the car - redafour

During the recent cold snap I noticed an excess of mist on the inside of the car. Today I discovered the drivers side rear footwell absolutley soaking wet. I dried it out the best I could and then played a hosepipe down the rear door to try to see if that was the place it came from. However I couldnt see any ingress occouring. Any Ideas where it could be coming from anyone?.The car is a 1997 model by the way.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 02/11/2008 at 13:52

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Sat 20 Nov 2004 19:56

Audi A4 Water leak - madf

Have you a sunroof? If so, blocked drainpipe?

madf

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Sat 20 Nov 2004 20:39

Audi A4 Water leak - Bill Payer

This might be completely irrelevant, but on the A6 there's a drain hole from the scuttle area (between the engine compartment and the windscreen). On the A6 the hole is under the battery. On my car it got blocked and water runs through the heater into the passenger footwell, then into the rear footwell. For some reason only the rear footwell appeared to be wet so we spent ages looking for boot/door leaks too.

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Mon 18 May 2009 09:58

Audi A4 Water leak - Seagolfer

Result... Thanks !

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Sat 20 Nov 2004 22:23

Audi A4 Water leak - El Dingo

The cabin filter is located under the nearside scuttle cover. My guess is that the cover has moved, is not held down to the windscreen by the fasteners or the filter surround is badly fitted allowing water to get in that way.

Ours is a 96 model and had this problem thanks to a windscreen company, who fitted a very bad non-OEM windscreen and then destroyed the fasteners holding the scuttle cover on when they couldn't re-fit it properly. Rain then ran down the screen under the scuttle cover and straight into the cabin filter...

Try re-fitting the cover, and pay special attention to the square shaped moulding that fits around the cabin filter box.

El Dingo.

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Sun 21 Nov 2004 10:18

Audi A4 Water leak - redafour

Thanks for that El Dingo. I do know there is a broken fastner on tne nearside scuttle cover which i bodged a repair on ages ago but it may have given way now so I`ll check it out.By the way the car dosen`t have a sunroof just the climate control. Thanks all for the suggestions I`ll post how i get on.

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Sun 21 Nov 2004 13:55

Audi A4 Water leak - redafour

I checked out the broken fastner and repaired it again better this time I hope lol!. I could also see water standing beneath the battery so bearing in mind Vista1100`s advice removed the battery and bingo! found the drain hole blocked solid with mud,leaves,twigs etc theres also a drain hole further along under the brake servo this too was blocked. so I`ve now unblocked them both reassembled everything and hope that does the trick.Thanks for the good advice backroomers!.

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Mon 22 Nov 2004 22:56

Audi A4 Water leak - Dave Andrews

hi
i have a 1998 A6 and have the same problem - water on the back passenger seat. i took the battery out tonight and cleaned the drainage chamber underneath and also the chamber underneath the brake servo.

im not sure if this has or was the original problem. around 3 months ago in heavy rain the back passenger footwell was sat in around half an inch of water - i suspected that this was a door sill but hosing it down did not replicate the problem.

a quick question - if the chamber is blocked underneather the battery how does it leak into the cabin? the hole is there just to allow draininage from underneath the battery cover - is the water backing up?

the pollen filter is dry so no water is seeping into there.
should there be any other area's to look out for?

thanks in advance

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Wed 24 Nov 2004 23:02

Audi A4 Water leak - Bill Payer

a quick question - if the chamber is blocked underneather the

battery how does it leak into the cabin? the hole

is there just to allow draininage from underneath the battery cover

- is the water backing up?

It was suggested to me that it runs in through the cabin air intake and down through the floor outlets (of the heater). Not sure about the A4, but on the A6 the auto transmission ECU is under the front passenger seat and *lots* of them get wiped out by water in the car.

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Sun 8 Jan 2012 19:44

Audi A4 Water leak - Wing_Nut

Very similat problems/symptoms to the ones described by others in this forum.

1997 A4 (B5 mark) Carpet soaked under drivers seat/rear passenger footwell.No obvious leaks from door seals or my sunroof.

Removed battery and battery tray/bracket. Hey presto- sitting in about an inch of water. Debrit/mud leaves twigs blocking BOTH drain plugs (under battery and under the brake fluid reservoir). I suspect that the real problem lies in the windscreen cowlings above - they are loose-ish, not making a great seal with the tapered end of the windscreen and I can see how rain water and other gunk would flow down from the windscreen behind them into the scuttle area. Naturally over time this clogged the drain plugs. So how does this result in water in the backseat footwell? I'm assuming this water/dampness around the airfilter box (pollen filter) enabled water ingress into the cabin air/heater ducts...which tracted back to outlets in the rear footwell - sound right?

My question for anyone who has had this problem already: After unblocking the drains, how did you resolve the existing dampness in the car? Is there dampness/mould in the ducts that needs to be taken care of?

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Sun 2 Nov 2008 12:01

Audi A4 Water leak - BenBar

Hi
I realise it was some time ago, but did you ever track down the reason that your Audi A4 leaked water in to the driver's rear footwell?

I have exactly the same problem. I thought it was coming in from underneath, driving through pools of water on the road bit it's just as bas when the car has been sitting stationary in the rain.

A reply would be much appreciated!

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Mon 10 Nov 2008 19:18

Audi A4 Water leak - sam246

I to have water in drivers footwell and in passenger's behind. Think this is also the route of my air bag warning light on. Just need a dry spell to investigate. Any thing I discove will let you know.

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Mon 10 Nov 2008 21:33

Audi A4 Water leak - dieselbob

Some time ago my 96 A4 had water in the front and rear footwell. I traced it to a incorrectly fitted bonnet pull cable . This penetrated the bulk head, drivers side behind a large black box which possible contained the ecu? The underside of this clogged with debris allowing water to rise over the failed boot. It took a while to discover as water runs behind the solid plastic trim next to the bonnet pull latch. I cured it by reseating the boot and a liberal dose of silicon smeared over it with the tips of my fingers. Hope this helps it was a real pain this time of year.

Edited by dieselbob on 10/11/2008 at 21:34

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Wed 3 Dec 2008 12:55

1997 Water getting inside the car - Robbed-at-the-pump

I've got a V Reg A4 and the scuttle area had inches of water in it. On the left hand side of the battery is a blanking gromet which I pushed out with a chopstick and now the water is gone! Thanks for the info on the drainage holes being totally hidden under the battery and servo. I will investigate this when it is warmer and a can risk taking out the battery. I kept the gromet which will be replaced once I've done a proper job!

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Wed 3 Jun 2009 15:54

1997 Water getting inside the car - grapeel01

I had the same problem.. checked everything but eventually discovered it was the seal of the front windscreen (above the mirror) that had failed. Tried patching it up with sealant from the inside but after another wet spell ended up replacing the windscreen completely.

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Sun 8 Jan 2012 20:04

1997 Water getting inside the car - Peter D

There are two drain holes, one under the battery and one directly under the brake servo. Regards Peter

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Fri 16 Oct 2015 20:21

1997 Water getting inside the car - Andy_conf

There is also a fix to remove pollen filter box (quite easy job) and reseal around it with any good sealant - I used bathroom sealant . This stops water getting into the air intake below the pollen filter. Takes about 20 mins in total and easy. Only needs a 10mm socket etc.

The windscreen surrounds are not meant to stop all water as they are not a tight seal.

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