where is the drain ?

[AUDI@WRC]

i have alot of water by the battery area is there a drain near there ? pics would be good ?

 

[enda1]

Its under the battery

 

[Adam-D]

take the battery out, then the tray and there is 2, one either side where the tray was

 

[olds_kool]

theres one the other side behind brake servo, poke around with screw driver, little plastic grommits that push out

 

[docurley]

Just had to do mine car was flooded in side turns out both my drain plugs where blocked.

Found one under the Battery (had to move it) and one just under the brake servo right at the back.

 

[jcb]

don't need to remove battery if you have a long enough screwdriver

 

[Turbo Lag FTW]

Its best to move the battery so you can get to the rubbers and to make sure all debris is out of the way. Last thing you want is a flooded cab and windows that you cant demist because the heating system is full of water. Been there done that and it wasnt much fun driving across town in the rain with misted windows.

 

[AndyMac]

I've just had this again thanks to the downpour we had at the weekend. 4 inches of water in the car. Looks like someone just emptied 5 buckets of water into the passenger side. I wouldn't mind but went through all this last year as the carpets were soggy, took me half a day to dry everything out, and now the car is completely waterlogged, 2 inches of water above the carpets!!!
Gonna remove the stupid grommets this time as they seem to cause more of a problem than they solve.
Here's the drain hole locations

 

[jcb]

did you put them back in after the first time?

 

[AndyMac]

Foolishly yes

 

[Z82]

Pain in the hoop these damn grommets!
I had this the first year I had the car, cleaned them out and thought "woohoo sorted".... Until the second year so i launched them, hopefully it wont flood again.

 

[docurley]

I air hosed the whole thing as I think it was blocked up down the pipe.

 

[AndyMac]

There's a pipe?
OK dynarod it is then!

 

[docurley]

The water is guided to the bottom of the car so although others have removed the plug I don't think it's a good idea as I'm sure it prevents the water going somewhere where Audi did not want it to go.

 

[AndyMac]

I think I'm going to install a storm drain under there as this is getting ridiculous, surely you'd think the last place Audi want it to go would be directly into the cabin?

 

[docurley]

I think I'm going to install a storm drain under there as this is getting ridiculous, surely you'd think the last place Audi want it to go would be directly into the cabin?

Very true and all we can say is it's just another design fault which is prone to our cars.

 

[AndyMac]

OK job half done. Lets just get a couple of things out the way:
1. JCB - there's no way on gods earth you can unblock either drain hole without removing the battery, unless you have a guided drain hole seeking screwdriver which is infinately flexible. The battery sits on a metal tray right over the top of the drain, this has to be removed as well as the battery.
Remove the splashguard first (under the wipers) otherwise it's impossible.
2. There are no pipes or hoses under the grommet, it just drains (or not) directly onto whatever gubbins is underneath it.
3. The grommet behind the servo is shared with some other small drain pipe, so better left in place.

4. The grommet under the battery needs to be removed as mine wasn't blocked with leaves, crisp packets or small children, just plain silt. And still after 2 days of no rain had a good inch of water sitting over it.
the grommet is definately the problem as it only takes a very small amount of silt to block it up completely due to the fact that it looks like this:

Designed purely to get blocked up as far as I can see.
Here's the hole minus the blocking grommet:

Tommorrow the carpet comes out - oh what fun!

 

[jcb]

seriously I have never removed the battery. took the rain gaurd of and poked around until the water went down the hole.
I actually stuffed the grommet back through the hole.
never had a problem since.
not the most technical solution I have come up with I grant you but possible

 

[Turbo Lag FTW]

I feel for you Andy I really do. JCB u must of just had leaf debris and got lucky. As I removed my battery and plate cover to find berries, twigs and leafs all rotting away. Also the grommets look like they are designed to get blocked but if you look carefully its to direct water away from any of the cars metalwork. Anyway I put a wire mesh to sit slightly above the grommets to keep out any debris in future and Ive never had a problem since. Ill check them over again before the winter as I dont ever want to experience a flooded cab again.

 

[AndyMac]

Well the carpet is out, ****** hell what do Audi do, start with the carpet and build the car round it?
Won't be doing that again in a hurry, had to cut it in the end as the whole of the centre console is built round it so even with the console removed you have to cut the carpet behind it, where it won't be seen in order to get it out.
Given it the treatment with the VAX, and now it's drying out on our heated kitchen floor.
Oh on the positive side found about a fivers worth of loose change!

 

[jcb]

always dig around my car when we run out of change for the parking meters. ****** seats are like a magnet for cash. always seems to be on my side unfortunately!¬

 

[Mike B]

i have a bottle brush which just reaches . it helps to put mesh in any gaps eg round the brake res stopping the big bits.perhaps atube with afloat inside could sit inthe well so the tip would show whenany water level rose or just check regularallyby looking with a torch

 

[docurley]

Felt the effects of my flood two weeks ago when this weekend it knocked out my dash I had to be toed home come the next day all was well again so if you have not checked to see if you have a blockage I suggest you do it now.

 

[olds_kool]

after nearly getting frostbite in fingers in janurary trying to find drain, i just poked with srewdriver till i heard water flush out, now im not sure if i poked drain or something else? are there more grommits

 

[docurley]

Just those two

 

[Turbo Lag FTW]

Hmmm I just thought, do we all own the pre-facelift cars? or is there some peeps with the facelift that have this problem. Im saying this as my mothers A4 is facelift and has a cover that runs along over the battery and such. I checked her well and there isnt a touch of debris.

I checked to see if my car could accommodate this cover and unfortunately it doesnt

 

[docurley]

My car if face lift but I had silt build up in mine.

 

[AndyMac]

Mine is prefacelift and likewise silt, no debri or leaves as I cleared all those out last year, so a cover will help but won't be foolproof.

 

[simon1303]

when you disconnect the battery to do this, do you have to reprogram the one touch windows? does the alarm go off when you disconnect the battery? i ask as i had to do something similar on another car i had and it must of had battery back up and thought i was stealing the car as the alram sounded. it was ****** loud under the bonnet too

 

[aragorn]

i know vauxhall alarms will go off if you remove the battery more than 30 secs after turning the ignition off. I havent had any issues with the alarm on ours though. The one touch windows do need reset, but all you need to do is hold the button down untill it reaches the bottom and then do the same back up the way and that sorts it.

 

[Mike B]

just sorted out soggy underside of front n/s mat several towels and hairdrier.drivers side seems dry is this usual ?do the pipes in the allow water in on the battery side first before the level goes higher and leaks elsewhere? I HOPE THIS BE IT AND THE DRAIN SMELL HAS GONE this should not happen in an audi .its like the cars of the 60s when the all leaked and there were drain plugs fitted in foot wells as standard with just arubber mat on top.

 

[olds_kool]

i guess it leaks through heater opening on passenger side

 

[AndyMac]

I couldn't figure out where it was coming in, but it doesn't seem to have to get that high underneath the battery before it drains into the passenger side, as mine only had about 2 inches of water left underneath the battery when I unblocked the drain. Although I guess it could have been draining very slowly. I'll see if there's a tide mark on the bulkhead!
It's an unbelievably stupid design, all it would need is an overflow drain to prevent it entering the cabin.