Water getting into my Vw Golf

mhackett102

So about a week ago I noticed that the carpet in the rear passengers footwell of my Volkswagen Golf Mk4 was damp. I presumed at the time that someone had spilled a bottle of water on it so I didnt make much of it at the time. Now with all the recent heavy rain and floods we are after getting, I've noticed that the carpet still has not dried out and is actually getting wetter.

I put the car up on a lift and there's no sign of any way the water can be getting into the car from underneath and there is no other part of the car that is wet/damp only that one bit of the carpet.

I mentioned it to a friend and he said he had the exact same issue with his Volkswagen Passat, so now Im wondering is it an issue with Volkswagens themselves as I never heard of anything like this before?

Also the car is going for NCT in the next couple of weeks, would it fail if it was extremely damp/wet still?

Has anyone else experienced this before or know how I can prevent this from getting worse?

NOTE: Car is a Mk4 Volkswagen Golf and the dampness/wetness is only in the footwell in the rear behind the passengers seat.

The Helpful Engineer

I am not familar with that particular car but it sounds like you need to check your scuttle drains are not blocked by leaves etc.

I had a similar experience as this with my own car some years ago and blocked scuttle drains caused the overflowing water to enter the car and collect in the lowest point. The foot well compartment.

_Brian

Yep. I had two passats and both had crap block the drain that's located beneath the battery area near the bulkhead.
Piece of strong welding wire and have a poke about and should release. It's a common enough problem.

dieselbug

Also check inside the boot for water.

shietpilot

dieselbug wrote: »

Also check inside the boot for water.

Yep, check the boot indeed. Look at the carpet near both rear tail lights and see if you can trace water running from the tail lights over the wheel arch, down through the back seats and into the rear passenger foot well.

ShaunieVW

Scuttle gets blocked in the mk4s with leaves and what have you. Very common complaint. Clear out the drains along there and it should resolve it.

mhackett102

Thanks everyone for the replies!

The boot is dry, the only part of the interior that is damp is the footwell area in the rear behind the passenger seat.

Regarding the scuttle pipe, that's the one that is up near the windscreen isn't it?

_Brian wrote: »

Yep. I had two passats and both had crap block the drain that's located beneath the battery area near the bulkhead.
Piece of strong welding wire and have a poke about and should release. It's a common enough problem.

Can you forward me a picture of the engine bay and show me which drain to clear, if you don't mind. There are many pipes around that area and I don't want to go messing with the wrong one and making things worse!