Wet Floor Drivers Side Rear

I originally thought I had a sunroof drain leak. After the Dealer has popped off all of the drain hoses (I was unable to get trimmer string to show anywhere) I removed the entire interior for the carpet to dry and replaced the drain hoses.

It took a long while for all to dry but now it is dry and I have replaced all of the sunroof drain hoses and the grommets (all were improperly installed from VW).

The problem now and I suspect the problem all along, is the bottom of the rear doors. The water streams in just rear of the bend on each rear door.

I have cleaned and removed debris from the door drains and I removed and installed each door gasket but still the leaks.

Do I replace each door and body gasket to correct this problem or is it more simple than this? This is on my 04.

Any help would be appreciated and if someone has been down this road before a corrective action would be great as well.

Check to see if the leak comes from the door panel. Incorrect torque on the regulator carrier bolts can cause leaks if you ever had to replace the window clips.

Otherwise, check the door alignment. You basically loosen the striker plate and push it so the door closes flush with the rest of the body.

Thank you. Car is 4 yrs and have not had a problem until Feb of this year. Window regulators have not been replaced. I will look at the door alignment but am confused how it could pop-up all of a sudden. The interesting part was that it started on the drivers side and when I put it back together, the passenger side leaked.

It is not until I pulled the carpet up that I could see the water trickle in over the seal and down the side of the body. That is why I never saw any wetness except in the rear floor.

I appreciate the recommendation and I will check it out. In one of the other threads on this problem, another member used a butter knife to clean out the door drains. I will try that. The car is out of the garage waiting for rain to see if I have corrected the problem. Currently, the hose does not generate a leak and the sunroof drains work as they should.

TDI2Fan said:

Thank you. Car is 4 yrs and have not had a problem until Feb of this year. (snip)

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__. There is something unusual about this one. Unfortunately, it's really hard to find the location of a problem -- water seems to puddle up at really odd places and those places can be far from the leak.

__. It sounds as if you're methodically working through the possible leak points and that's about as good as you can do, but I'm going to guess that when you find the actual leak point, it's going to come as a surprize to all of us.

__. I just hope that the "dealer popping off all the drain hoses" doesn't cause more problems than it solves.

I still have the car interior completely apart. I have only installed NEW Sunroof drains hoses and NEW grommets. I re-installed all of the old door gaskets. I have in the past and I will again clean each of the gaskets AND all the drains in the doors.

I agree, this is very painful but very informative. I just wish I had more time to spend with it. The car has been out of commission since Feb '08. It took almost 8-weeks for the insulation portion of the carpet to dry.

I have the carpet held up off of the floor so that I can see the water pool.

It has been a painful search for information. While it seems that there have been many similar problems, I have not found one thread between Freds and the Vortex that actually saw the water stream in the car from under the door. There has been a significant amount of information that has helped me along the way and for that I am very appreciative. There wasn't enough information on how to remove the Clips on the Pillars though. I am slightly more informed now than before.

The inability to have the weedeater line show itself is what prompted to entire interior removal. That and I knew the carpet would never dry if I left it down.

I continue to look for any words of wisdom in trying to fix this problem.

The door has drains too, at least I think it does. Look under the door to see if it could be clogging there, then coming into the car.

rdkern said:

The door has drains too, at least I think it does. Look under the door to see if it could be clogging there, then coming into the car.

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__. You mean water-down-the-window-into-the-door-and-then-into-the-car? Those can be mean to find but it sure does happen.

Yep. I know my older cars had them - and when they get filled, the door gets heavier. Sloshes a tad too.

I do not seem to have that problem. It looks like the water runs down the front side of the door/body, then real close or at the front piece of rubber on the door, it leaks into the car.

The door drains seem fine.

FWIW ... It appears that the problem all along was the sunroof. I was able to fix all four drains with upgraded hose and clamps on both ends. I replaced all of the grommets too. It took about 9-weeks for the carpet to dry completely. I then placed the car with the interior completely gutted in the driveway from May to Nov. No leaks further! I have put the interior of the car back together and am driving it again after more than 9-months. Good thing is that I had the ability to let all of this happen on an extended timeframe.

I still have not been able to understand why/how the leaking all of a sudden started back in Jan '08. We had rains during Jan/Feb which put a very sizeable puddle behind the drivers seat. The carpet was wet all the way over to the passenger side of the car.

All-in-all, I learned alot about the car. It also helped in solving a couple of problems in my other Jettas by tearing the interior apart.