Water on rear passenger floor + broken door handle.

We recently bought a 96 passat wgn and love it even though there have been a couple mysterious things happen. While parked level overnight the rear passenger floor carpet gets soaked with water after a rain, this is Washington however. Just the hrz. portion of the flooring in rear only, not under passenger seat or up side walls of foot well. There appears to be no signs of intrusion anywhere. Any ideas why and how to fix?
Plus, the driver door interior handle has pulled/broke away from it's hinge point inside the door panel. It felt weak when we got it and comes as no surprise. sometimes both in/out handles don't fully open the door. It takes a second, more diligent attempt to fully disengage the latch. Can anyone direct me to a good place for specific parts like an interior lever, latch unit...?
Thanks

I can't help with the door, but I'd bet you have a sun roof. Then tend to leak when the drains get clogged. The usual fix is to use some string trimmer wire to clean them out. There are other fixes and more details available so if you do a search for sun roof drains you should find lots of information.

You can check out the for sale section here.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=191981

Also check Vortex for the part you need. Here is a link to a tan door handle. He may have others. GL.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3579647

Check your spare tire well for water. If you have some in there, you could have a trunk leak or leak around the tail lights. If it's clean and dry back there, sunroof (if you have one) or possible clogged drains in a rear door.

I hate leaks.

If everything else fails, check the vapor barrier inside the door. If it isnt sealed correctly especially at the bottom, water will pour in.

I hope this isn't the $14k eBay wagon!!!

the door handle mechanicals need lube you can shoot it in all the little openings on the square plate, the gold colored box that meets the pin on the body. looking at it there is the part that swings in when it hits the pin that pushes against another part which holds it, that one is what is sticking. take a light lube spray and a screwdriver, spray it and latch it with the screwdriver tip & pull the handle repeatedly till it is free or you are bored. taking it off is a hassle and not always needed. unscrew the handle take note pass side turns the oposite way there are tiny arrows on the screw I noticed mine after it stripped it out. pull the hadle toward the rear of the car and it will be free to pull out. lube it up as well note the front handles have electrical wires attached to them. If your front handles dont always catch they have a tiny nut on the left side looking toward the nose that is and adjuster losen it and send it up toward the top. This is so the white plastic pin contacts the metal spoon on the latchwork better. That is good for alleviating the triple pull to open from the outside problem. Good luck and welcome to the aging world of the b4. p.s. My handle has been broken for ages and we just pop it back in with one broken tab and it works ,the spring action holds it together.

if you are looking for a new inner latch b4 are plentiful in the scrap heap vr6 ones anyway. I may have what you need I bought a door to replace mine that was rotted out & had a bad window regulator. you may have to use adrill to change the part out as I think it is set with an aluminum rivet. I won,t want much for it, but figure shipping it across the country will be 12 buck ups less for postal plus say 5 for what I think you need im me and I can send you a pic of it if you cant get it locally

rdkern said:

Check your spare tire well for water. If you have some in there, you could have a trunk leak or leak around the tail lights. If it's clean and dry back there, sunroof (if you have one) or possible clogged drains in a rear door.

I hate leaks.

Click to expand...

I have a similar issue, water behind the pasanger seat when it rains. I also have water in the plastic tray in the rear driver side storage area of the wagon. Water flows through the 4 sun roof drains. The passanger side is dry. This maybe a leak at the tail light.

Is there a seal that I can replace (part #?) or is this a tail light replacement.