Water in Driver's Side Floor!

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
We've practically had non-stop rain for over a week. I was a little under the whether (no pun intended) so I haven't been anywhere since last Friday. My car is parked on a hill with the front facing downhill.

When I went out to the car yesterday morning, it was still kind of misting, but it rained all weekend and through last night. There was a puddle of water in the driver's side floor. The first thing I checked was the sunroof drain, but it wasn't clogged. It has stopped up in the past and when that happens water will drip from the vanity light, but it was clean.

I can't tell where or how the water got in. I checked the whole interior of the car, font, back and cargo area, and everything else is dry. I felt the carpet on the sides and up behind the pedals, it's all dry. The only place that is wet is the carpet in the floorboard. It had to have dripped in from somewhere up under the dash. I shined a flash light up there, but I didn't see or feel anything wet. I turned the AC fan on and set it to blow only through the floor vents, and there is no water coming in from there.

Our neighbors have pine trees which partially hang over my driveway. I am always having to clean out pine needles from between the hood of the car. I usually do this when I fill up and check my oil, but the last time I filled up, a car pulled up literally within an inch of my front bumper so I couldn't open the hood. I was already running late, so I didn't clean the crud out.

I popped the hood and there was lots of pine needles crammed in there. There is still some stuff down behind the little vent looking things that I can't get to. I don't see any way to get that out without removing that plastic piece that covers it, and the only way I can see to do that is to remove the windshield wipers. If I got a pressure washer and blasted down in there, is there a place for that crap to come out?

I cleaned out what I could, but I'm not so sure if that is the problem. Even if the pine needles were enough to block that, the water would have had to flow uphill to get into the cabin of the car, so I opened the back hatch and there was a good bit of crap in there too. I cleaned out out too, but I didn't see anywhere for the water to get in the car.

It's supposed to rain again tomorrow afternoon through tomorrow night, and it looks like it will be clear after that for a while. How can I be sure if that was the problem?
 

daBooj

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2005
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
TDI
Jetta GLS, 2004, could only find silver
did you check the sunroof drain openings at the top of the car around the sunroof, or did you check the drains that are visible when the doors are open? When I've had water in the floorboards it's been because one of the rubber drains visible with an open door was clogged up. Running something thin in the hole got everything flowing again.

If that's the case, you know which door to look at.

If it's not the case, or if when you say you checked the sunroof drains you meant top and bottom... sorry to bother you.
 

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
Yes I checked the tube that runs out in the door. I've made it a habit to give it a pinch every now and then to make sure it's not stuck, and when mine stopped up in the past, the water dripped in from the vanity light behind the sun visor, which was squeaky clean this time.
 

clackenalong

Member
Joined
May 28, 2009
Location
Lake Tahoe
TDI
02 Jetta
Water on the floor after rain

I'm experiencing exactly what you describe and am in a similar search for the source. Please be sure to post your solution (I'll do the same)!
 

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
I don't know if I stopped the leak by cleaning the pine tree crap out, but I didn't see any fresh water this morning.

I'm thinking that the water didn't start leaking in the car until Tuesday night's downpour because when I got in the car yesterday (Wed.), it was just wet and didn't smell. When I got in the car this morning, it had a strong, nasty wet carpet smell.

When I got in the car this evening to come home, the windows had so much condensation on the inside that I couldn't see out.

On my 40 minute drive home that took 2 hours, I turned the AC on, set it to full heat and had it blowing full blast on the floor. I finally had to turn it off after an hour or so because it was just too damn hot. It dried out the floor mat, but it's still wet underneath.

The weather forecast is calling for rain and thunderstorms through the night, then clearing tomorrow and clear and cool the rest of the week. I guess it's time to take treat the car to a good wash and detailing. I haven't done anything but take it through a tunnel wash and run a vacuum on the inside every now and then.
 

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
clackenalong said:
I'm experiencing exactly what you describe and am in a similar search for the source. Please be sure to post your solution (I'll do the same)!
Do you have trees that drop stuff on your car too?
 

HopefulFred

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2002
Location
Atlanta, GA
TDI
Golf, 2006, Indigo Blue
My sunroof failed to drain a couple weeks ago, during the days of rain that flooded Atlanta. There was no debris, I just hadn't been diligent about pinching the nipples... Anyway - try a shop-vac for getting water out of the carpet. It's more effective than you might think. I followed it with a "damp-rid" treatment, and everything seems to have dried nicely - though I did break down and buy an air freshener, just in case.
 

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
I didn't think it would be wise to try and operate a shop-vac in the rain. I just went ahead and got the car done professionally today, it needed it.
 

Telemon

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Location
Morrisville, Vermont
TDI
2003 TDI Wagon
For what it is worth, i recently bought a used honda Civic which had a similar problem only when it rained hard.
Replaced the windshield, checked the ac condensate drain, checked all door & window gaskets, absolutely everything obvious and it remained a problem.
Finally had my mechanic snoop around when doing an inspection and he found the rubber gasket that surrounds the hood latch cable had popped out of position, the scuppers under the hood were overflowing in heavy rain and the water ran right down the cable into the floorwell.
End of problem!
Hope this is helpful....
 

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
That sounds like what probably happened. The hood release cable runs along the driver's side and down into the area where the tree crud was, and the puddle of water was right under where the hood release is.

We had a week of nice weather, but it looks like we've got another rain spell starting yesterday. The floor is still dry, I hope having the tree crud blasted out of those drains will stop the problem.
 

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
The problem has returned. It hasn't rained real hard like it did when the problem began. In the past few months, a few days after it rains I'd notice a slight odor in the car, but the carpet and floor mats were dry. Friday I took the car through a car wash to was off the road salt and gunk after returning from my trip up North.

When I got home there was a wet spot on the drivers side floor next to my left foot. I felt all around and the water is coming in from up behind the dash somewhere. There is a small square cutout under the dash near the back left where I felt the water. I can stick my fingers up in there and feel the insulation back there is soaked. That explains why I've had that wet odor a few days after it rains.

How is this water getting in and what can I do to stop it?
 

TraKtor03

New member
Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Location
roseville california
TDI
2003 jetta tdi
had this happen to me a few months ago. didnt know anything about the sunroof drains but ill check them though. to avoid it ive just been parking uphill instead of downhill
 

Evan Sussman

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2005
Location
Planet Earth
TDI
2004 Jetta GLS
I had a rat chew through the rubber hood release grommet. Luckily I had the floor and carpet removed for other reasons at the time. I bit of silicone to goop it up,(sliding the cable in and out to ensure adequate coverage.) and it's good as new now.
 

GregNew2TDI

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Location
Tacoma, WA
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS TDI Sedan SOLD.
I'm having the same problem, too! Car wash today, quite a large puddle of water. I'll be looking for the hood release grommet. I hope it'll be a minor problem that is easily fixed...


Evan Sussman said:
I had a rat chew through the rubber hood release grommet. Luckily I had the floor and carpet removed for other reasons at the time. I bit of silicone to goop it up,(sliding the cable in and out to ensure adequate coverage.) and it's good as new now.
 

Audiman

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2004
Location
Leicester, UK
TDI
A4, 2000, Silver
I've got the same problem on my golf 2001 TDI. Water keeps dripping onto the carpet from behind the dash. I haven't got a sunroof.

I cleaned out the wheel arches and under the plastic cowling. The bonnet release grommet looked good, but the used silicon on it anyway. I replaced the two nuts that hold the plastic cable cover on the driverside, behind the firewall.

I just cannot work out where the water is coming in from - everything looks okay.

It could be coming from the windscreen ????

Has anyone got any ideas ???
 

GregNew2TDI

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Location
Tacoma, WA
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS TDI Sedan SOLD.
GregNew2TDI said:
I'm having the same problem, too! Car wash today, quite a large puddle of water. I'll be looking for the hood release grommet. I hope it'll be a minor problem that is easily fixed...
So I found this site:
http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q_how_to/multi/sunroofdrain.htm

Well, area underneath the windshield had a ton of pine needle and leaf debris. Bought a shop-vac from home depot for $20 and sucked out about 2L of stuff. Tried testing by dumping some water there, almost all went underneath the car, but the carpet did get a little soppy. =(. I also dumped some water in the sun roof drain at the top, again, just a little dribble from underneath the car, but not out of the little rubber outlet on the side of the door (see picture 2). Shop vac'd the floor to suck out the water. The weed whacker cord looks promising.

Who has some good leads on where I can get replacement tubing?
 

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
For me, it's not coming in where the hood release cable is, it's farther to the right, the puddle was almost under the brake pedal. The first time the puddle was under the hood release latch, but that's probably because the car was parked on a hill and the water ran to that spot because it was the lowest place to go.
 
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halocline

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Location
San Antonio
TDI
04 Jetta Wagon
Not to scare you guys, but this happened on my passat a few years back, and the water eventually fried the comfort control module, which is located in a "waterproof" (sure...) box under the driver's side carpet. That little box is expensive...

I would pull up the carpet, make sure you get all the water out, and if the CC module is there, open the box and make sure it's dry inside. You can use a little silicone seal where the wiring harness enters the box to help keep it dry. I think on some models the CC module is in a different location.
 

TDI Wagon Guy

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Location
Central PA
TDI
1996 Passat TDI Wagon
I have had this problem in my 1996 TDI wagon at every floorboard. The water that goes down the glass on the door windows flows thru the door and there is a water membrane that is to keep the water from coming inside the care and onto the floorboards. I had to take each inner door panel off and use an adhesive at the bottom of each water shield membreane. Solved the problem for many years now ... I think the factory adhesive starts to give out with weather thermal cycles and age. Another option would be to buy new membranes but I went for the lower cost approach and it was less invasive.
 

EMSbyDay

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2009
Location
Newmarket, ON
TDI
2005 Jetta TDI
Just dealt with this in my '05 as well. Its a used car I bought about a month ago and a couple weeks later - wet floors and smell. I read all the forums and heard various issues. I followed a DIY on Vortex and completely gutted the interior down to the metal. Trashed the underpad and replaced. Sprayed all interior pieces with dissenfectant and left to air dry for a week. I then replaced all the drain hoses with slightly larger ones ( also clear so I can see blockages and water backup ), and sealed up anything in the floor I thought could possibly leak.

Car is basically back together now and being shampoo'd next week. Lets hope this does it.
 

GregNew2TDI

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Location
Tacoma, WA
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS TDI Sedan SOLD.
I think we've solved the problem with mine. Oldpoopie was a tremendous help! We snipped off the nipples on the grommets by the door and made sure the drain hoses were attaches securely on both ends. We also dumped water in each tube from the top, although the right side wouldn't drain, except into the headliner. He pulled the tube off the top and found the culprit. A 9mm casing was firmly lodged in it! He took some pictures, which I hope he'll put up sometime. Once it was removed and reattached, it was flowing again. Hopefully I'll have a dry car!
 

Jon Fernandes

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Location
Linden, NJ
TDI
still looking
Happened to me last night, got in the car this morning and wet carpets. Tried the weedwacker line through the sunroof drains but they never came out thru the bottom! I removed the grommets and low and behold both sides were disconnected so im thinking thats how the water got in. I reconnected them but im going to run new lines this weekend.
 

Rootar

Active member
Joined
Nov 18, 2009
Location
Arkansas
TDI
02 jetta 5spd
please post what size tubing you use for your new lines and how ya do it, the car i bought from Dan has this problem but it has been garaged since it arose so once it gets down here ill need to fix soon because when im at work it be parked outside for 12 hours at a time and if it rains im screwed.
 

GregNew2TDI

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Location
Tacoma, WA
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS TDI Sedan SOLD.
They say 1/4 OD if you want to do the tube in the tube trick. I did that to the driver side and it drained, but we took it out after figuring out the bullet casing problem. I guess what i'd do is to try and use the original tubing. It can also be bought from the many OEM suppliers online for about $5/tube. As for the bottom end door drain, getting the tubes in the grommet end can be a real PITA. grab some needle nose pliers, slide the grommet around the tips, and pull on the tube end whilst pushing the grommet into place.

My car is dry now, even after the high pressure car wash.
 

everyman

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2009
Location
Austin
TDI
2000 New Beetle
My suggestion probably won't apply to many people, but I'd be amazed if it didn't apply to some because my car just can't be the only one to fail this way.

I bought my car from a couple of stone cold liars who looked me in the eye and told me there were no leaks. A week later the storm season started and every other day the pass foot well was flooded, I'd have to remove the seat and put a dehumidifier in there for a day to dry it out again. It was horrible. Everyone including the dealer said it just had to be the sunroof drains. I thought it might have been because I pulled the headliner and the drains were so loose they were actually falling off the sun roof frame nipples. Otherwise they were perfectly clean however. I clamped them on tight, put everything back together and pat myself on the back.

A couple weeks later it poured again and the same thing happened just as bad. Finally someone here suggested turning the blower fan on high, closing it up and applying soapy water all around the roof. I did that and the car immediately started blowing big bubbles at the top of the screen on the passenger side right where the screen seal disappears under the seal that runs fore/aft between the roof and the side panels.

I pulled the headliner again and poured water in at that spot and low and behold there was a really strong trickle that was coming in right at that spot in the screen seal. A small void had evidently formed there because the seal dried and shrunk or something and it was letting in water like crazy. I put a healthy bead of 3m urethane window weld all around the inside of the screen and for good measure injected some into the little gap that is formed between the screen seal and the side seal on the top. It's been bone dry every since and have even managed to get the musty smell out.

It was a truly miserable experience and I say without hesitation and the utmost sincerity, "A pox on you a**hats that sold me this car without telling me".
 

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
I haven't had any water pooling lately, but right after a rain I get that "wet" smell in the car. It has to be the insulation behind the dash soaking up the little bit that's getting in.

I got an advertisement from VW for spring sales and stuff. Normally I toss them, but this one they were advertising their brake flush service for $52.95. Last time I called them they told me it was $120. In the past I've just had it done at a local place, I think they charge $50 or $60. I was supposed to get it done last year, but didn't since I had to buy new tires.

So I figure this is a good time to get the brake fluid flushed and have them look at the drains. They only charged me $10, and said they cleaned the drains out. They said it was the drain on the drivers side, and I asked if there was an easy way to get to them to clean them myself. They said there isn't an easy way to get to them. He said they used compressed air to blow the gunk out from the drain end, then washed it out with a pressure washer until it was all out.

They also cleaned and vacuumed the car. There's no need for a car wash now and there is no rain forecast for a while, so only time will tell.
 

Rootar

Active member
Joined
Nov 18, 2009
Location
Arkansas
TDI
02 jetta 5spd
my car showed up yesterday and nothing came out the bottom when i used some nylon string, so i popped the grommet off at the door and reached back in there and found the tube. I then held it with some 90 needlenose plyers and pressed the grommet back onto the tube. I didnt have time to mess with it an further but before i put the grommet back in the door, i flushed about a 20oz of water down the tube feeling around the tube to see if any water was leaking still before i reinstalled the grommet and none was.

I guess today with be a good test to see if that was all because its rainy like hell and the car is gonna be parked outside for 12 hours. so ill let you know how it turns out.


BTW i also cut off the "pollen" filters at the very bottom, i guess thats what they are called that way the drain tube is free flowing and open.
 

jimnms

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Vicksburg, MS
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon 5-speed Tiptronic
I think those little nipple things are to keep bugs from crawling up in the tube and making a nest.
 

Rootar

Active member
Joined
Nov 18, 2009
Location
Arkansas
TDI
02 jetta 5spd
yea i know.... but they werent letting enough water through it would back up in the line and then drain out. i dont want water sitting in the line... i think of somthing else to keep bugs and junk out.

GOOD NEWS is that with the filters off and tube reconnected it worked great all day through the storms. no water!
 
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