Front Door Seal Leak

After pulling the headliner out and the carpet up looking for a (sunroof drains?) source of the water in the driver's side foot wells (front and rear), I discovered that the water is coming in at the seal area in this picture https://goo.gl/Xj8TVA

Unlike some of the other threads I've read on here, water is not entering between the rubber seal and the door sill. Instead it is coming in over top of the seal between the bottom edge of the door and the seal (basically the yellow line shows the path the water is taking).

The seal appears to be fine. It's firm and flexible and shows no signs of drying out.

Is my only option to buy a new seal or can I try putting some silicone in the seal groove behind that contact point in order to try to improve the door/seal contact? Am I just going to relocate the leak further down the door?

You sure it's not the seal for the window regulator door panel which usually rot? I have found those to leak often.

vwztips said:

You sure it's not the seal for the window regulator door panel which usually rot? I have found those to leak often.

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Which seal is that? Are they the seals along the bottom edge of the glass referred to as "Window Aperture Seal" (Inner p/n 3B0 837 471 C; Outer p/n 3B0 837 477 C) or something else?

I did pull the bottom of the inner door panel away and didn't notice any water inside the door in that specific area. I did not, however pull the entire door panel off and inspect closely.

You have to remove the door panel off, then the large metal panel. I suggest pulling the door panel first then getting a garden hose and run constant water for 5-10 mins on the outside of the window while checking inside for leakage.

vwztips said:

You have to remove the door panel off, then the large metal panel. I suggest pulling the door panel first then getting a garden hose and run constant water for 5-10 mins on the outside of the window while checking inside for leakage.

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I'll do that. If the B5.5 is like the A4, that "seal" you are referring to is a black tar-like substance. Is that right?

It is a rolled bead of sticky foam that surrounds the perimeter of the door regulator panel. It's only the bottom and half way up either side you have to worry about as far as leaks are concerned

vwztips said:

It is a rolled bead of sticky foam that surrounds the perimeter of the door regulator panel. It's only the bottom and half way up either side you have to worry about as far as leaks are concerned

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I am guessing that sticky foam must come as part of the regulator because I can't find a part number if it has to be replaced. Sound right?

correct

vwztips said:

You have to remove the door panel off, then the large metal panel. I suggest pulling the door panel first then getting a garden hose and run constant water for 5-10 mins on the outside of the window while checking inside for leakage.

Click to expand...

Jackpot! Now I need to find a decent sealant and put it all back together. QuickTD suggested butyl tape but the stuff I see at Lowe's is very thin (almost like electrical tape). I think I need something gooey to fill gaps. I might try a tube of black roof cement if I can't find something better. I need to get back on the road.

Funny you brought this up. Me and my son just got his 05 TDI wagon 5 speed on the road. PO had some very messy kids and the rear carpet was pretty nasty and gave off a weird funk. I pulled the carpet out and pressure washed it. Noticed the rear carpet and floor was wet so I performed the test above. Sure enough we had a decent leak with the right rear door. I just applied some RTV silicone to the gap between the door sheet metal and the door regulator.

The leaking seal appears to be a combination of some type of round gasket and goey black tar-like substance. The gasket looks similar to the spline used to rescreen windows only foam instead of rubber. Not sure if that's original.

That's original. It just more gooey over time with heat and cold.

I bought an 05 in may that had sat for 6 months not running, car was mint- low miles- and clean inside..... I get it running and every time it rained the rear carpet would get wet, like how did it set and not get wet?? why did it wait until I owned it and got it running?? I swear this car doesn't like me!! at least it sounds easy to fix