VW Passat rear passenger footwell wet

asking on here rather than a VW forum as there seem to be many people on here that own and have owned a Passat

2002 estate

Front carpet under carpet is dry so electrics are dry! DRY under the battery is

DRY

I have taken battery out and cleared any debris the pollen filter is

DRY

I noticed the door seal was rather wet so I’m guessing its coming from the door and its the seal that’s the issue ?

Anyone had this ?

If it was the battery tray/ pollen filter the front would be wet ???

Help and thanks

molgrips to the thread! molgrips to the thread!

Drain holes in scuttle/battery tray area below windscreen blocked, poke debrie out of holes and clean out.

Don’t want it to get to under drives seat electrics as expensive fix. Our 53 plate estate did this.

On my 2001 POS estate it was the pollen filter.

Another though, electric windows went a bit weird once and would open themselves when car left, sorted itself out though, may have been connected to the leak fro the front tray though.

Does your rear windscreen washer work?

I’d tend to agree that the front would be wet too if the pollen filter seal was at fault, though you should remove the pollen filter tray completely to check the state of the seal – VW will give you a free one if you call into a dealer, by the way. I’ve just started getting a similar issue on my O/S rear. Will be properly investigating causes/solutions at the weekend. Fairly sure from initial checks that the door seal is at fault as there is pooling on the seal/sill after heavy rain. My pollen filter seal was replaced and I’ve a neat little push-stick set-up on the battery tray plugs to keep them free from leaves etc..

Ahh the vw sieve.. If it was the first to issues then yes the front carpet would be wet. Does it have a sunroof? That can block and cause this. AC evaporator drain could be clogged also.

It was the rear footwell that was wet when our tray drain holes got blocked, luckily deep enough to hold an inch of water so didn’t get to the electrical box

Our 2002 Passat had this problem – water flowed out of heater pipe under front passenger seat and into rear footwell.
Can’t remember if it was the battery tray or pollen filter at fault. One of the two.

Had exactly this, it was the seal on the rear door electric window metal card, was coming in under the speaker:

Mine was just passing 200k at the time so it was fixed with silicon bathroom sealant.
Whilst there look for a couple of drain holes in the bottom of the door that you should check are clear.

Is it not the battery tray getting full and water getting inot the car via the pollen filter/heater ducting.
Not 100% as our VW specialist sorted it out for us.

VAG cars of a certain age have a tendency to leak due to failure of seals inside the door. I had it on an 03 seat. The water gets in between window and outer door skin, passes through a gap that is no longer sealed between different bits of the door, then exits the bottom of the door into the footwell. You could get it fixed expensively by a garage or you can do what I did, dismantle the door and squirt in some bathroom sealant (instructions available on the internet). Last time I saw the car it was 3 years since I did the fix and it was still dry.

EDIT: what fingerbike said in fewer words…

Back again !

The front is completely dry have checked the electrics ie the black box it’s dry as is the flooring/metal floor.

So my guess is the seals…

Is it worth removing the pollen filter seal and checking?

Had this on a Golf. There was a connector for the rear washer hose behind the rearmost door pillar that had come loose, effectively squirting water/screenwash into the cavity whenever I washed the rear screen! This was running into the footwell.

Take off trim and check the connector isn’t loose.

Think ads678 was alluding to this…

Is it worth removing the pollen filter seal and checking?

Part of me says no as you may break the seal by removing the tray. Perhaps get a new seal from VW then just replace it. Chances are it’ll fail sometime anyway…

fingerbike/MrNice: any tips for removing the door card?

Screen washer works no leaks that I can see though when I first got the car the washer didn’t work as it had come loose connection on rear corner plumbers tape and now it’s fine, ah so maybe it could be left over from a few months back…

My guess is still the seals

I also had the rear screenwash problem years ago, but all that did was squirt water into the bit under the boot somewhere and make the alarm go off. Nowhere near the bit where the people go.

Removing the doorcard – from memory, remove plastic covering door handle and take those large screws out, remove a couple of screws from edge of doorcard then lever off carefully from the bottom, it will go, sometimes helps to push a thin screwdriver into the clips to release (I broke a couple levering off), once out a bit unplug light and then remove more and unplug electric window switch and doorcard should come off.
Remove bolts for inner seal, pull out a bit, go mad with silicon sealant, redo bolts on inner and drive around for a day inhaling fumes, then refit door card.

there’s lots of stuff out there on the web if you google for it. Don’t restrict yourself to looking at passats, the same problem affects lots of VAG cars – seat leon/Toledo, golf etc.

It’s possible to do without breaking anything if you do it in the right order. I’m not the most delicate of mechanics and I managed it.

I think this is what I followed but there are no longer any photos

Update
At lunch time I poured lots of water by the battery and pollen filter casing and all drains out as it should no wet/damp in the car whatsoever.

Poured water on rear door window and you can see water on the plastic by the carpet, this could be the cause also noticed that the door connection with all the wires ( rubber boot) has come away and won’t stay in the pillar… Another maybe ?? Clips have broken at some point so it wont stay in.

I think I’ve ruled out battery and pollen filter as the cause.

My wife fixed the leaking door issue on her ancient Polo by taping a sliced open rubble sack onto the door, then fitted the card back over.

Aye. Second the interior door trim seal. Exact same problem on my Leon. Got some sealing tape stuff from Amazon. Bobs ur uncle n all that

More update

The door card on the bottom it’s self is bone dry no damp etc the drain holes x2 on the door seem to work when I pour water by the seal.

Were your door cards soggy etc ???

Mine was the sunroof seal.

I’ve had this problem on a Passat it was the front door not sitting properly into its seal. Used to get 6 8nches of water in the rear footwear.

It’s definitely the membrane in the door by the sound of it – I had the same problem on a 2001 Passat, a 1986 Golf GTI, a 1990 Golf GTI, and a BMW E39 Touring. When you take the door trims off it’s actually quite difficult to believe that the bloody thing will leak so much into the car as it looks easier for the water to stay outside…

You need to carefully reseal the clear membrane all the way round. I did it with some black gungy gutter sealant stuff that never goes hard and then taped over with duck tape.

You’ll then need to either take out the sound proofing layer under the carpet to dry it out – or just wait for weeks before it dries out as the weather warms up (yeah right…)

NB, I never had any wet door cards or any other evidence at all other than the water in the footwell – took me ages to believe where the problem was coming from.

Oh, and I’d previously had the water from the bit under the battery coming through the rear hot air ducts so know all about that too. I love German cars, me, oh yes…

Check the other door card mine tan from the front to the back footwell

Blocked drain hole in door skin, check they’re clear at base of door, mine were blocked by factory paint!

As well as the roof rail seal at the feet failing……and cracked pollen filter housing from a new screen being fitted before I owned the car…..and blocked bulkhead drain vents……

My 2001 TDI had the blocked plenum chamber thing except the brake servo rotted through allowing the vacuum pump to suck water into the oil sump. A massive design cock up really to let all the water coming down the windscreen end up in the plenum chamber, hide the drain holes under the battery + servo (not reachable by hand)and then put in a split rubber teat in the holes to catch any debris.