Over 3 inches of water fills my passenger front and rear!!

[AudiSeefu]

I have had this problem for a while now and have still been unable to solve it. It was raining hard a couple days ago and my passenger front and rear filled up with over 3 inches of water. I have done searches and so far have not had any success. I don't know where the water is coming from. I opened my sunroof and do not see any drains. Someone also mentioned a firewall drain but I could not find that either. any help would be great.

[47Ronin]

check the drainage ditches in ur sunroom

[AudiSeefu]

I tried to check it out but I do not see any drainage holes in the sunroof. are they at the corners? I did not see any at the front corners.

[Charles]

3 inches in your car?? From rain? Did you have a hurricane or something?

Do you see any water stains on the headliner? Is it only wet in the floorboards? Did it flood or just rain really hard? Both pass and driver side...front and rear?

There has to be moisture somewhere aside from the floorboards.

[AudiSeefu]

damn near. we had 100 mph winds and several funnel clouds and small tornadoes. no water stains on headliner. It is only wet on passenger front and rear fllor boards. none on driver side. It almost seems like it's coming in from the front of the car from the dash into the passenger area.

[Splattj]

The sunroof drains are in the back corners of the sunroof. The tube run between the roof and the headliner. If you pulled the headliner, it would look something like this:

[Sammy7]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there should be some drainage holes on the bottom of the door. Check those and also check the seals around the windows. I spent almost five years at Tinker, so I don't envy you at this time of year.

[nihil]

Is there standing water in the battery/ECU compartment?

[AudiSeefu]

no standing water in battery compartment. any way to check the drains in the sunroof without taking out headliner? I will check bottom of the door in the morning.

[quattrotman]

Have you ever removed the door panels for anything like installing speakers? I had this problem with my Jetta and it was the moisture barriers in the doors.

[AudiSeefu]

nope, have yet to replace stock speakers.

[quattrotman]

Windshield replaced or any door glass/rear window? There aren't that many places water can get in. Check all the door seals. It might be worthwhile to take off the door panels to check the vapour barriers and finally the trunk/spare tire area? Might be coming in a faulty trunk seal. It's sometimes very tough to find. Good luck.

[jon102034050]

whoa, that sucks. hope you get it figured out.

[MikTip]

Get a garden hose, and have someone spray your car, while someone is on the inside
looking for water entering...

[diagnosticator]

It's possible that the plenum drains are plugged with trash, and when it's raining hard, the plenum fills up and overflows through the HVAC intake. Then after the heavy rain downpour stops, the water in the plenum drains away slowly, but completely, via the plugged plenum drains. The status of the plenum drains can be checked using a garden hose as "MikTip" recommended. Please follow up here when you find out how water is getting into the cabin.

[AudiSeefu]

what are plenum drains?

[AudiSeefu]

I will definitely do the hose thing.

[47Ronin]

Is the floor the only thing that's wet? it could be draining in from ur eng bay ...

[AudiSeefu]

yep, only the floor. seems like it is coming from the engine bay.

[K1200GT]

It's possible that the plenum drains are plugged with trash, and when it's raining hard, the plenum fills up and overflows through the HVAC intake. Then after the heavy rain downpour stops, the water in the plenum drains away slowly, but completely, via the plugged plenum drains. The status of the plenum drains can be checked using a garden hose as "MikTip" recommended. Please follow up here when you find out how water is getting into the cabin.

I had an old POS Cavalier with that problem! It was easy to see all the old leaf debris clogging things up. Check the cabin filter, pull it out and look around.
I don't think that much water could leak inside from just a sunroof drain in such a quick time.

[psuaudi]

2nd on checking the plenum drains.

open the hood, and remove the rear cover above the battery that covers the entire width of the car.

on the passenger side, you can see your hvac air filter. that is most likely the point of entry if the water is ONLY on the passenger side.

take the hose and see if water drains from the area around the filter. it is best to do this on a cold car just incase water sprays onto otherwise hot engine pieces, which could cause problems.

if it starts to fill up with water, you've found the area that is causing it. i'm not sure where the drains are for this area, but seek them out and clean them out.

let us know how it goes!

[tilt]

I took autotech in high school and we used smoke to find a leak in the interior. I can't remember what the product was called but someone will chime in.

[diagnosticator]

what are plenum drains?

The plenum drain/s are how water drains out to the ground from the plenum space under the windshield. There is at least one drain, but it's hidden under the battery. There should be one at each end of the plenum at the low points. It's a tube that directs rain/wash water from the plenum space.

[F16HTON]

There is a great possibility that the cover for the HEPA filter was left off the car when it was last changed.

Remove the battery tray cover and look to see if it is there, you may also have a leak or a crack in the air intake for it as well.

[wolfdog]

http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articl...tordrains.html

[AudiSeefu]

just a little update. I tried being in the car while my friend hosed it down. I have now found the water is coming from somewhere in the back. I cannot tell where it is coming from exactly but it gets wet behind the passenger seat first. any other ideas?

[nihil]

There is a recall out on the drains in the battery/ECU compartment for the `02s. Might be worth having them done in your case.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=210723

[0330QA4]

There are four sunroof drains two in the front and two in the back. If its like the MKIV VW GTIs and Jettas. I had this happen with my GTI. You may not notice and water on the hood liner I didnt but I know that was the culprit because I cleaned the front passanger one out but pouring water from a glass into the sunroof tray and letting if flow out while I held the drainage nipple, yes I said nipple, open. Lots of black crap came out and I never had the problem again.

[AudiSeefu]

is that the nipple by the rear bumper?

[a4darkness]

Very interesting... gonna watch this one. Best of luck solving it.

[B61.8T]

Hey mate.. did you solve this issue?

[forevraudi]

resurected

[a4darkness]

Woah, necrobump.

[Lusticles]

does that qualify your car as a salvage flood title

[aarononymous]

One thing I've seen is a lot of leaves/debris building up behind the pollen filter housing down below the passenger side corner of the front windshield. The water builds up and either goes over the edge of the filter housing or under the housing.

[mizzenmast]

Did you ever solve the water problem? was it from the plenum, door seal or rear drains?
04 tt 225 coupe

[old guy]

Did you ever solve the water problem? was it from the plenum, door seal or rear drains?
04 tt 225 coupe

I saw where you posted this in the TT225 Mk1 forum and didn't get any response. I'm not at all familiar with the TT225 drains but I had a similar problem with one of my Jettas from years ago. My rear passenger floor board would fill up with water every time it rained. After a lot of poking around I finally found the problem.

Previously someone at work had backed into the rear passenger door and I had a local body shop repair the damage. Apparently when they had the door card off they didn't bother to replace the vapour barrier liner. Consequently any water that entered past the window seals flowed into the passenger compartment instead of going out of the drains located along the bottom of the door. I replaced the vapour barrier and cured the problem.

Has you passenger door card ever been removed? If so, you may want to remove it and inspect the vapour barrier liner to make sure it is in place and properly sealed. You may find the rear portion of the barrier is leaking and thus the water is getting into the rear passenger side floor board.