Water leak on RR floor board on Jetta

mikeb95

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2006
Location
Houston, TX
TDI
2006.5 TDI pkg. 2, DSG white/beige
Having a weird water leak issue. It started about 5/6 weeks ago, I noticed the the carpet on only the RR floor board was wet. After it would rain, I could open the door and literally a half cup of water would spill out from between the car and the door, the rubber seals holding the water. I thought....it must be the sun roof drains or the antenna gasket as it was deteriorated. So I dropped the headliner, replaced the antenna gasket, poked the drain tubes with some weed wacker line, put some silicon tape around the hose/connector and then zip tied the connector to the hose---there was no plug or even mildew in the tubes. I did put down some baking soda and moisture absorber to soak up the water (it was not a lot or water.....but enough water to have a wet carpet). Well it rained a lot last night and decided to check it out.....the carpet was wetter (even some area where the baking soda was no more).....opening the door dumped more water. I noticed a lot of water coming from the rubber gasket around the door that is on the car.....like it was a steady slow stream. The gasket is in one piece (no cuts or tears). When I do fold back the rubber on the door, there is water in between but only on the bottom and not along the sides, so it's not coming from above.

I did start parking my car outside in March.....would there be any drain plugs that could get plugged up? If so where?

Thinking of removing the RR door skin to see if there is some moisture/wetness inside the door. Thinking water could be coming in around the window, leak down through the door and then find it self between the door and frame and then over saturate the gasket and then spill over to the carpet......or am I over thinking?

Other than headliner being dropped, no other changes.....but it was leaking prior to dropping the headliner.

Thanks in advance.
 

mikeb95

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2006
Location
Houston, TX
TDI
2006.5 TDI pkg. 2, DSG white/beige
Update....I did a little test after doing more googling. The door is leaking. It stopped raining here so I opened the door and ran water on the outer window and I noticed water coming from between the door and the interior door panel. I then removed the panel and ran the test again and water was essentially running from the outside window to inside the metal door and then running in between the door and the panel running to the door sill and then running onto the carpet. Question is now....what will it take to fix it. Next step is to remove the outer door skin and investigate. Guess with it being 14 years old, it is either something blocking it or some guard or blocker deteriorated and is now allowing water to flow in that direction. I'll add more later.
 

banshee365

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Location
FL
TDI
06 Jetta
Do not rule out the sunroof drains. Every single one I've ever messed with had compromised rear drains. The female coupler that connects to the ball socket on the sunroof drain is glued on to the drain tubing. That glue deteriorates and the rear drains leak. The only want to fix it is to cut the couplers off and splice in a new piece of tubing. I do it every time I have the headliner out of one of these. When they leak they pool water exactly where you say it is. You better drop the headliner and poor water into the sunroof frame and watch it drain through the tubing.

Here is how I do it: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=411477
 

mikeb95

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2006
Location
Houston, TX
TDI
2006.5 TDI pkg. 2, DSG white/beige
Thanks banshee365.....yes, I automatically went to sunroof drains. I had pulled the headliner down a few weeks ago and sealed up the hose to the connector with silicon tape and then zip tied the connector to the plastic drain connection. I did do a water test and again Saturday after I added a vapor barrier and cleaned the inside. The door (from reading online) is suppose to drain water coming from outside to the front of the door where the outer door skin allows water to release out.
 
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