Puddle in the footwell!

Robo

Guest
I have developed a nice leak into my passenger foot well in my 2003 Ibiza. I noticed this due to lots of condensation forming which encouraged me to check the car over and led to me discovering I had a very soggy carpet in the rear footwell area of the passenger side.

Having pulled up the carpet and taken out the underlay to let that dry, I noticed I had a considerable pool of water sitting in the footwell which actually started to run out throught the bottom of the car through the bungs in the footwell and also from somewhere in the engine compartment area. Looking under the bonnet I could see water dripping from the bottom of the sound proofing on the back wall of the engince compartment and could feel that this was soggy.

I have not been able to work out where all this water is coming from and was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem in their Ibiza and if so, where is it getting in and how have they fixed it? I am hopping that I can save many hours of labour charge while people at the garage hunt for a leak!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

Ol' Timer

Full Member
Jun 20, 2004
873
2
Norfolk
You could try looking at the scuttle area under the bonnet. Where the wipers are mounted there is a gutter with drain holes at either end. These can become blocked with leaves so the water cannot drain away but builds up and might find its way through the bulkhead.

Someone else might have further suggestions.:)
 

BlackFR

Full Member
Jan 22, 2002
1,724
5
Not too far away
I had a quick look at it last night...

Everything around the scuttle area was bone dry no evidence of leaves etc :(

There was an unbeleivable amount of water sloshing around once the underlay was taken out though!
 

Glovepup

Cupra Lova
May 27, 2006
450
0
Sevenoaks, Kent
I noticed a few weeks back that my rear passenger footwell is also wet in my 53 ibiza, to be honest my vents have got leaves in them so i will remove them just in case that is the cause. The downside to living in teh countryside....trees everywhere!!! But then again I had keaves in there before but never noticed a problem.

My rear washer has stopped spraying water so i'm wondering if that could be related....is your rear washer working?

I have not ventured too much to see where the water is coming from, but i did lift the rear seat and underneath there was dry. I dont like taking things apart too much, crap at putting this back together again!

Anybody got any suggestions?
 
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rashcupra

MV AGUSTA & 1.8T DUB MK4
Oct 15, 2006
6,517
2
crawley
the washer jetproblem is a common fault simply reconnect pipe or new motor with the wet passenger foot well(rear) its pointing towards the common dopor seal check a;ll the rubbers round the door are snug to bodywork and has no gaps if under scutleboard there is water can kreep thro the pollen filter which i belive is located behind covers in glovebox this would cause the passenger foot wells to be damp
 

rashcupra

MV AGUSTA & 1.8T DUB MK4
Oct 15, 2006
6,517
2
crawley
it could still be that even if sides are dry as the water has been sitting in the bottom longer try getting an a4 piece of paper and slamming the door on it then try pulling the paper out it should be snug not to tight not to loose and even! is it a 5door or 3 door?
 

rashcupra

MV AGUSTA & 1.8T DUB MK4
Oct 15, 2006
6,517
2
crawley
are all the bungs in footwell under the carpet still located fine (if any)? has any1 had your door apart before if not sealed off properly under door card can cause leaks when rear washer jet is applied is there any noises of water or a motor?
 

Glovepup

Cupra Lova
May 27, 2006
450
0
Sevenoaks, Kent
are all the bungs in footwell under the carpet still located fine (if any)?

I have not looked to be honest

has any1 had your door apart before if not sealed off properly under door card can cause leaks

The seat garage last year, the window fell in the door. When i first got the car back the door did stick a litlle, but i think it has stopped doing that now.

when rear washer jet is applied is there any noises of water or a motor?

Sound of the motor
 

rashcupra

MV AGUSTA & 1.8T DUB MK4
Oct 15, 2006
6,517
2
crawley
take it back to the seat garage and say its strated leaking ever sinse they will then have to sourse and fix the problem

take off the boot lid inner trim and look to see if the pipe has popped off doubt it if this is the cause of the wet floor as you would hear water as well if the rear washer jet was applied
 

Robo

Guest
Well my rear washer still appears to be working fine but I have heard of people having puddles in their car from the pipe comming off.

Since lifting the carpets to try and let the underlay dry out, which it still hasn't, I have not had any visible water in the car at all despite it being parked at work in the rain for the last couple of days and driving in through puddles. I have put kitchen towel around the door to see if it is leaking in from there and that is still perfectly dry. I have adjusted one of the plugs in the rear footwell but I would have thought if the water was coming in from there it would just drain back out through there again.

As for the pollen filter area, as BlackFR said, we looked in that area and it looked fine. I have put a towel across the front of footwell today to see if any water is coming in from that area and running down towards the carpet. After a drive in it is still perfectly dry but I will have to see what happens when I leave tonight after it's been out in the heavy rain all day.
 

rashcupra

MV AGUSTA & 1.8T DUB MK4
Oct 15, 2006
6,517
2
crawley
check that your boot rubber that runns around the boot is fully pushed on use a rubber hammer to double check sit in the car and get a friend to pour a hose over everywhere and listen and look for clues could be anything could even be your aerial or something silly like that :shrug:
 

cooper

Guest
i have a similar problem with a rear passenger footwell full of water, i am going to chalk the door seal up and see if there are any patches that arnt transfered onto the door (navy bulkhead door test)

did anyone come up with a soloution for this as the water in the back of my car is quite a lot!
 

Ibiza 130 tdi

Black Magic
Jan 15, 2007
6,275
1
Somerset
I had this problem with mine. Rear footwell on passenger side was soaked. It was the grommet under the scuttle that wasn't fitted right. And one of the grommets on the floor was loose so I sealed that in now. :D
 

Steggz

Guest
Your not loosing coolant are you? Could be a leak from the heater matrix system. Not sure where everything runs on the Mk4 as i've not looked. Had this issue with my old car. Worth a look.
 

cooper

Guest
I had this problem with mine. Rear footwell on passenger side was soaked. It was the grommet under the scuttle that wasn't fitted right. And one of the grommets on the floor was loose so I sealed that in now. :D

i have a power cable running thru the bulkhead on the passenger side. i'll see if it is damp round the point where it enters the car, but i havent had any problems like this before with it.

i cant see it being a grommet in the floor but i'll check them while im in the car and fill em up with some sealant while ive got the carpet up.
 

happylad

old boy racer
Oct 22, 2008
104
0
benfleet essex
original complaint of fluid dripping from engine bulk head!!! My ibiza started this in july. My mechanic friend( absolute diamond worker but a bit moody) found a broked pipe clip but not sure from where abouts! anyway the pipe had rubbed against the bulkhead and split so he put in a new length of pipe and clipped it onto a cable. Problem solved. i think it was a heater pipe but it was in the middle of the engine bilkhead.
 

air121005

Active Member
Sep 28, 2006
1,609
6
Worcestershire
I had this problem with mine. Rear footwell on passenger side was soaked. It was the grommet under the scuttle that wasn't fitted right. And one of the grommets on the floor was loose so I sealed that in now. :D

are these grommets accessable from the underside of the car or from the inside, once the carpet has been lifted?
 
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