Passenger Footwell Water Ingress

[S3_Mat]

So ive discovered today after 3 months of fault free ownership that i have water ingress into the front passenger footwell. I have a 3 door S3 with no sunroof and im not loosing coolant so i believe this rules out heater matrix (hopefully). Can anyone point me in the direction of what could be causing this?

So far it could be poor windscreen seal, door seal, A/C drainage pipe (where is located and how would i go about unblocking it), Some bulkhead gromits, or drain holes under the scuttle tray. Now i had the scuttle tray off not long ago to fit a boost gauge and used the bonnet release gromit to feed the sender wire through (this is drivers side) however I fear the leak manifested itself before this as the carpet in the passenger footwell has split and its on the other side of the car so dont think its this.

The drain holes appeared clear when i had the scuttle tray off although ill recheck them. If there is anything else i should be checking please could someone let me know or its off to the garage with it.

Thanks

 

[kev1000]

Not sure about your car but on my a4 there's a drain plug I could only get at by taking out the battery.
Might be worth checking out.

 

[A19quattro]

Check all the drain holes in the bottom of the door (3 or 4) are clear and allowing water out. While you are there check water isn't coming through between the door card and the door it's self and then migrating into the foorwell over/through the seal. Tell tale water drips on the lip just below the door card after it's been raining are a sure sign, as the water really should go right to the bottom and out the aforesaid drain holes. Another sign is if there is water inside the door seal along the side of the footwell, if you pull back the outer flap and there is water inside, it can work it's way under the plastic trim and carpet and into the footwell. To fix you need to remove the door card, sometimes you can see the water's been coming through the speaker surround/seal, not good for the sound system either, luckily it can be taken out and sealed with something like silicone and while you are at it seal any other obvious bits where water has been getting through. I should say water is meant to get insode the door but it should drain out the holes right at the bottom, don't quite know why sometimes it doesn't and you would think you would need a hell of a lot of water (like a door 1/4 full) to get it to come in further up but that's exactly what happens, I have yet to find a car with blocked drain holes but you need to check them anyway, hope this helps.

 

[crunchie]

Same has happened to all 3 of my A3 8P's.
Water gets in behind the speakers in the doors.
Easy fix, just remove them and re-seal with silicon grease.
Job done.

 

[S3_Mat]

ill check if that is the place its getting in with a hose.. from what i can tell its only wet on the footwell floor and not behind the glove box so i was leaning toward door seal. Ill check it out when i get a dry day off work. Thanks

 

[A19quattro]

This is an old VW problem, thay have made alterations and it's not so bad now but I have done Mk4 Golfs, 8l A3, Fabias and another 8P A3 and the real surprise was a Subaru Legacy, obviously NOT VW. I did both doors on the Wife's old car then she sold it, now mine's starting to leak and needs the drver's door done, will probably just do both again. Worts ones to dowere Fabias becaus the later models didn't have bolt on carrier panels, so you had to drill out the riverts, dry and seal the panel then re-rivet, thankfully none of that with A3s but I couldn't quite remember exactly what I sealed, I know teh speaker but there may have been some smaller holes about the same level, as assuming the water can get that high up the inside of the door, who knows.

 

[crunchie]

You can see here where it gets in.

 

[A19quattro]

\that's exactly what mine was like at theweekend, now sealed. Noticed some water also though coming through the plastic palel furtehr up the door, will be te equivelant of the old Mk4 Golf style carrier panel. There is a good seal on it but they seem to degenerete over time, so sealed that too.
Door back together, decided to test eveything, snapped my window regulator cable. Of course I didn't know that until I took it all apart again and re-sealed/re-built ready for the next job, ah the joys.