Water leaking in around the door

Hi folks,
I was wondering if anyone has had a similar issue. I appear to be having water leek in around the bottom of the driver side front door, about 6" from the front of the door.

I don't think its a blocked sunroof drain, I been down that road before and the carpet wasn't wet up under the pedals.

The rubber seal at the bottom of the door has moisture on it.

I'm just not sure how / why water is coming in in there, any ideas?

220K, MKIV wagon.

Check the bottom of the door card isn't wet.. it could be a liner issue

Hood release cable.

How could it be hood release cable?

Assume where it goes thru the firewall

How about water coming in past the window glass and the drain at the door bottom is plugged? Rain and car wash. Then it releases a little bit of water at a time but doesn't drain completely.

Also, how can it be the hood release, nothing there connects to the door. It didn't on my 2002 Jetta and neither does my 2015 Passat.

Just my 2 peso worth.

Jetta_Pilot said:

How about water coming in past the window glass and the drain at the door bottom is plugged? Rain and car wash. Then it releases a little bit of water at a time but doesn't drain completely.

Also, how can it be the hood release, nothing there connects to the door. It didn't on my 2002 Jetta and neither does my 2015 Passat.

Just my 2 peso worth.

Click to expand...

I suppose we should have asked if it's been raining or whether the car was washed ...

Regardless, the drains don't even need to be blocked if the inner liner isn't "back taped" the water in coming in from the outer window seals can trickle down through the door, onto the liner and down through the door card and into the car.. happens on Mk2s all the time..,

How many pesos in the exchange rate for 2 Australian cents? hehe

Just perform a tdi google search on the bottom of the search page: use "hood cable leaking."

You will find a fair amount of reading.

Just this afternoon, I used Permatex black on my 2002 Jet.

It seems to me there's 2 places to check. One is the door seal. Look for any rub marks or cracks. Maybe a problem at the seal would allow water to either flow inside the seal or on the inside of the door next to the seal, and drip off on the interior. The other place would be the small drain holes on the bottom of the outside skin, just on the inside of the lower surface. Those holes might be blocked by excess cosmoline flowing there and never leaving, clogging the drain holes. That might allow water to build up and escape to the inside.

Good luck. I had a leakage problem and racked my brain for months trying to chase it down while trying to constantly dry the inside of my 4-dr. It finally looks like it is fixed, but how to be sure... I don't know. Hope you have better luck.

Cheers,

PH

I had my windshield replaced over the winters, I guess since then its been mostly snow, not rain.

Any thoughts about how to track down a windshield leak?

Aquaticmind said:

I had my windshield replaced over the winters, I guess since then its been mostly snow, not rain.

Any thoughts about how to track down a windshield leak?

Click to expand...

Have someone inside the car, with windows up!, and someone outside spraying with a garden hose. There's only a few places known to allow water inside. Doubt that you have found something that isn't already known (and documented).

Could a lot of gunk under the plenum be redirecting water down that way? Mine was so full of junk it was coming in a different place.

It's an easy thing to do (remove wiper arms, pull up plenum, clean out) and may need to be cleaned out anyway.

I also found that when the guy replaced the windshield on my car, he didn't do a great job reinstalling the plenum and the rubber trim that meets in that bottom corner (driver's side) Perhaps the water is running down a cable or something and into the area where you're seeing it.

Does anyone have a picture of the location of the plenum and the drain for the windshield.

Cheers

i don’t have one off hand, but the plenum is the black plastic piece at the base of the windshield, where the wiper arms connect through. It spans the entire base of the windshield. the water drains through there and out to the sides... (best I can describe it without pictures) there are several places where the water could collect or change paths if the normal drains are clogged or filled with debris.

This may not be the problem for you though, but it was very simple to take the wiper arms off and remove that black plastic plenum from the bottom of the windshield, and clean out below it, assuming it’s dirty/clogged.

If the "rain tray" (plenum cover) is cracked on the top/flat surface (not on the side) then that could allow water to get in where it's not supposed to.