Volkswagen Passat (2001 - 2005) - Water getting into the car.

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Thu 22 Oct 2009 14:25
Water getting into the car. - nelly1
Water is getting into my car from somewhere. Under the front passenger side seat puddles of water keep appearing with that whole carpet area ending up soaking. Also in the boot where you keep your jack is also soaked, it may or not be connected.
This happens even without heavy rain or soaked roads.
If anyone has had this problem please let me know?

Edited by Pugugly on 22/10/2009 at 14:35

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Thu 22 Oct 2009 14:34
LEAKING CAR - mark
Is it an Estate or Saloon?

Front footwell sounds like water is getting in via the pollen filter; lift the bonnet and look into the scuttle under the screen, could be blocked plenium drains. If there is a pool of water under the battery these will need cleaning out.

If its an Estate then the rear screen washer connector sometimes comes apart. This is in the jack compartment up to the left above where the jack sits. Get someone to operate the rear screen washer and if water appears there you will need to reach up and find the 2 ends of the connection and press them back together. Onces it popped apart once it will do so again on a periodic basis.

As always

Mark

Edited by mark on 22/10/2009 at 14:35

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Thu 22 Oct 2009 14:36
LEAKING CAR - bell boy
overengineered german excellence leaking in water?
shurely never shirley
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Thu 22 Oct 2009 17:35
LEAKING CAR - Stuartli
Not replacing the pollen filter properly is a common cause of water leakage in VW Group vehicles.

HJ's Car by Car states (in the case of a MkIV Golf):

"Cabin leaks can be caused by misaligned water shield cover over the pollen filter (very fiddly to replace).

"Electrical problems in the tailgate from screen wash dripping from the (push fit) connection between the screen wash hose and the wiper motor assembly. Crimp ring around connection stops this. Also reports of complete failure of ancilliary electrics."
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Thu 22 Oct 2009 20:16
LEAKING CAR - loskie
This happened too in my old Octavia. It's part of the service schedule for the plenum? chamber(under the windscreen) to be cleaned out but I doubt if it was ever done by the garage. One day I heared water sloshing about so called the AA who were very good, arrived quickly, identified and fixed the problem.
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Thu 22 Oct 2009 20:23
LEAKING CAR - Armstrong Sid
"Cabin leaks can be caused by misaligned water shield cover over the pollen filter (very
fiddly to replace).

I had an identical problem on a Seat Leon. Caused by the indie who incorrectly replaced the rubber water shield cover over the pollen filter.

Basically, the whole setup under there operates on the same principle as house roof tiles, where each one slots under the one above it so that water runs down over the top of the whole thing, and doesn't go under the joins.

The indie had got one of the layers under instead of over, and I ended with a sloshing footwell. Once I'd sorted the correct alignment of over/under the problem never reappeared
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Mon 26 Oct 2009 10:07
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - nelly1
Water has gathered under the carpet in the middle of my car.

I drained the water (about a bath full) with 2 nail holes in the bottom of the car. Water seems to be building up underneath the battery in the engine department. Is there a drain in there that might be blocked and if so how do i get at it?
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Mon 26 Oct 2009 10:14
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - Stuartli
>>(about a bath full) >>

You must have a very tiny bath..:-)
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Mon 26 Oct 2009 10:16
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - Victorbox
Leaking pollen filter housing / battery area in Passat is well known tinyurl.com/ygfhqcd
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Mon 26 Oct 2009 11:03
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - nelly1
cheers, just what i needed
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Mon 26 Oct 2009 11:10
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - mark
The plenium drains are blocked and water is building up and entering the pollen filter housing and then getting into the footwell.

There are 2 drain holes in the plenium chamber (under the scuttle cover where the battery lives) and these are likely to be blocked, one is under the battery and you need to take the battery out to get at it, the other is to the left of that and is more central.

You can reach the central one if you have small hands and can reach in to the left of the battery.

The scuttle is attached by a rubber seal which runs round the edge of the scuttle cover, this needs to be undone and then the scuttle cover can be moved forwards and out of the way. The cover is plastic and is fragile so take care when dismantling it.

If water continues to enter the footwell it will damage the electronic convenience module under the carpet and then it becomes expensive!

As always

Mark
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Mon 26 Oct 2009 12:37
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - Halmer
www.weirdlittlebiscuit.com/passat/leak/
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Mon 26 Oct 2009 13:42
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - nick62
I had this problem with my Passat at about 3.5 years old back in 2004, due to the scuttle drains getting blocked with decayed leaves. I got about 25 litres of water out of the offside footwell (front and back).

The supplying dealer (car brought new) said it wasn't part of the service, but didn't bother to tell me it could be a problem with the pre-facelift 1999/2000 model, so in my opinion VW/dealer were at fault as it was a known issue!

I had a big argument with VW customer service, who, to be honest were downright rude and basically totally un-interested. They even told me if I wrote to them, they would not under any circumstances acknowledge or reply to my letter. On the strength of this attitude, I vowed never, ever to buy a VW again, which is a shame because other than this issue the car was good.

I am currently looking to buy a medium sized van for my company and the two which fit the bill are the VW T5 and the MB Vito, but I will not buy the VW on principle. So we will see if MB are any better on the customer service side, (hopefully I will not need to contact them).
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Mon 26 Oct 2009 17:21
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - Graham567
Quote "I am currently looking to buy a medium sized van for my company and the two which fit the bill are the VW T5 and the MB Vito."

I currently drive a Vauxhall Vivaro and cannot praise them enough.Its on an 04 plate and since new nothing has gone wrong with it.Its fantastic to drive and well built.Avoid MB like the plague as they are still running on past preceived quality.
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Tue 27 Oct 2009 13:06
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - Glaikit Wee Scunner {P}
What has not been said on the current thread is that this well known problem leads to failure of very expensive electronic control modules (£600 each when I'd the problem IIRC). These are under the carpets some where.
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Tue 27 Oct 2009 16:04
20 1.9 water getting inside car part 2 - Bill Payer
I had a big argument with VW customer service who to be honest were downright
rude and basically totally un-interested. They even told me if I wrote to them they
would not under any circumstances acknowledge or reply to my letter. On the strength of
this attitude I vowed never ever to buy a VW again which is a shame
because other than this issue the car was good.


That must be a VAG thing - I had similarl with SEAT UK. To be fair, they did communicate back but with calls from dippy boys and girls in Customer Service - I found it totally impossible to get past them and get any recognition of the issue.

I did read of a Porsche Cayenne owner having the same water ingress issue and the dealer said they knew the drains should be cleaned but it wasn't part of the service. Repairs cost £10K and the owners insurance picked up the bill.
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