Altea Water Leak Help

[Paul_Treg]

Hi Guys,
Can someone please help directing me in curing my Altea water leak in the passenger footwell. I have researched the usal suspects of pollen filter housing and door seals, both of these have been fixed, but water still fills the footwell........
The water seams to be coming from under the inner sill panel, only the centre of the carpet gets wet, all outer area's are dry, I will add a picture when I get a chance.
Thanks for the help in advance..

Paul_Treg

 

[adestu]

Take the doot card off and check the seal around the inner plate.undo the 10mm bolts just enough to scrape out the old sealer and apply more.
Aldo check the drain holes line up with holes in the door rubber drain holes

 

[Paul_Treg]

Hi Adestu,
I have already stripped the door cards off, no inner panel on the front doors, so sealed the outer panel to door on lower third, also checked the drain holes, they are away from the door seal on the underside of the door, door seals are dry, as are upper sill.
This leak is really frying my nugget, I,ve also stripped down the wheel arch liner and removed loads of leaves, sealed up the grommet at the front of the sill behind the wheel arch liner, sealed up pollen filter housing, sealed up the strange grommet to the right of the pollen filter housing........the list goes on, water is coming in at a rate of about a pint every 4 hours of rain.

Thanks
Paul_Treg

 

[britishsligean]

Sounds stupid but check your coolant level it may be your heater matrix leaking

 

[adestu]

Go round the door seal with chalk and it should give an idea if the seal is leaking.

 

[jonial]

If you have air conditioning check the condensate drain.

 

[Paul_Treg]

Hi Guys,
I double checked the door seals, its not them, the heater matrix is not leaking (water level not dropping in coolant tank), its clean rainwater, ac drain is on drivers side in an Altea, that side is dry.
I did find another hole today under the bonnet, bottom corner pasenger side of screen area near the bonnet hinge, where the A pillar joins the upper inner wing box section, sealed that up so fingers crossed.

Thanks
Paul

 

[Paul_Treg]

Damn water still coming in, sat in car today to watch when water appears, its coming from the lower edge of the inner A pillar panel that overlaps the passenger sill and onto the passenger floor panel. I have no idea where the water is getting in though, these panels are internal.
If only Seek and Seal was still available....

Will post a pic when I get to 15 posts..

 

[adestu]

There is a piece of kit that produces smoke in the car and could show a leak in the seals.

 

[David Hosie]

Altea water leak!

I've had exactly the same problem in the the drivers footwell. My son-in-law found this advice and it's worked perfectly. Remove the trim covering the wiper blade ( put the blades in service position! where you find torx screws) when you remove it you'll see there's a hook goes into the windscreen pillar. On mine the windscreen had been replaced but when refitting the trim the fitter had damaged the foam seal. The suggestion was to clean all tha muck out then use clear silicone around the hook and the 8mm X 5mm hole it fits into.
Did and it really works!!!

 

[Mo Arif]

I've had exactly the same problem in the the drivers footwell. My son-in-law found this advice and it's worked perfectly. Remove the trim covering the wiper blade ( put the blades in service position! where you find torx screws) when you remove it you'll see there's a hook goes into the windscreen pillar. On mine the windscreen had been replaced but when refitting the trim the fitter had damaged the foam seal. The suggestion was to clean all tha muck out then use clear silicone around the hook and the 8mm X 5mm hole it fits into.
Did and it really works!!!

My 2004 Altea 1.9TDI is doing the exact same thing, please can you provide some pictures of what you have sealed?

 

[Paul_Treg]

Hi Guys,
The main area of leak on my altea was the plastic sill cap, or to be more accurate the clips that retain the upper sill cover to the sill the foam/paper sealing pads had disolved.....Wont let me post pics yet.

Thanks
Paul_Treg

 

[Mo Arif]

Hi Guys,
The main area of leak on my altea was the plastic sill cap, or to be more accurate the clips that retain the upper sill cover to the sill the foam/paper sealing pads had disolved.....Wont let me post pics yet.

Thanks
Paul_Treg

Thanks for the info Paul, please if you can post some pictures, at this rate I might sell her due to the smell from the water puddles but I really like the car.

 

[Paul_Treg]

Hi Mo,
Sorry can't post pics yet, still on newbie rules, the area's I found leaks in my Altea are as follows:

Side window weather seals : The seals on the lower edge of the side windows can get mossed up and let loads of water run past and into the inner door workings, these can be easilly removed and scrubbed with soap and water to reduce rain water getting through.

Door cards : If the door cards have ever been off then the seal will be broken, for some reason there is no barrier seal between inner and outer door area's, the water seal is on the mating surface of the door card and will need to be sealed with a suitable sealant when removed.

Cabin Air Intake : The plastic wiper panel can channel leaf debris into this area and cause the water drain channels to block and flood this area, the seal around this plastic housing for the cabin air intake is not very good and water can leak into the pollen fillter housing and then onto passenger side carpet, fidley job but can be sealed up with RTV. Also there will be a blanking plate on the drivers side for oposite hand drive cars, this has the same type seal as the cabin air intake. Engine ecu is also in this area and probably won't like getting wet.

Side Sill Covers - These sill covers are Altea specific and are retained by screws in the wheel arch and plastic guides under the car with 3 piece spring clips and screws on the upper of the sill, the spring clips have a seal underneath which doesn't seam to age too well, seams to be made of foam with a paper backing, clean these off and apply RTV before refitting. (This was main cause of leak on my Altea).

Front Inner Wheel Arch Liner: This area can collect leaf debris and back up the water drain channel from the lower windscreen/wiper panel area, shouldn't really be a problem but all that stops water getting into the inner sill is a splash guard and the rear of the wheel arch behind the arch liner. (This will cause Altea owners issues if wading in flood water anything over 300mm deep will enter the car).

Front Wiper Wind Guards : There is a foam seal on the upper end of the wiper wind guard, was OK on my Altea but looks like it could cause issues if incorrectly fitted.


Thanks
Paul_Treg

 

[LeonCupraRevo]

I had minor water leak when bad weather few months ago. Found out it was the door seal. Couldn't find any tears are rips or holes in seal.

I did notice the corner on top of door the seal had slightly warped in shape cos of the way it had been closed.
Managed to set it back in to shape when closing and touch wood has rectified any leaks.

 

[Paul_Treg]

Main source of leak on my Altea.....