Water leak into footwell - dodgy seal info and DIY repair guide (Image links dead)

[Bunglebonce]

Ok, done all our doors now so thought I'd check the pollen filter whilst I was at it.

The plastic cover fitted about as well as a thing that doesnt fit very well and the two plastic screws snapped when I tried to take them out!

Undetered I pulled the cover of and what a heath robinson piece of sh1te it is!

I could have designed somthin beter than that after 10 pints on the back of a fag box!

fooked around for ages to get the dam thing back in and am not happy with it at all.


Biggest question is about the rubber seal that runs along the top of engine bay.
From left to right the seal goes under the plastic trim/wiper motor cover area but when it gets to the pollen filter cover, it in no way wants to go under and would rather rest on top of the cover edge.

Which is right

Not sure if this makes any sense to anyone so if you need pics I'll get some tommorow.

Gaffer tape is currently my chosen fix

Help...!

 

[Rauer]

Seal on top of cover , so water runs on top of cover rather than under it

 

[sgtcortez]

Did mine today.

Before I started I went to the local ARC car wash and used one of their vacs to suck up the water out of the footwells . After 5 mins it got most of the water out.

Mine was leaking at the bottom of the speaker seal and the ancilleries cover.

So, £1 for the vac session and £3 finest silicone sealant and 2 hours work.


Job done fingers crossed.

 

[Rauer]

Gaffer tape is currently my chosen fix

Help...!

You know what they say about gaffer tape don't you........ " if it can't be fixed using gaffer tape, you haven't used enough gaffer tape!!!"

 

[Bunglebonce]

Seal on top of cover , so water runs on top of cover rather than under it

Cheers for that.

It appeared to want to go that way rather than the other but seemed odd that the seal ran for most of its length, under the trim and then changed to over when it, reached the pollen filter cover

Also, when I took it out, there was a long plastic kind of deflector thing that came out.
I relocated that on two luggs and then had to kind of feed the rubber crap on the back of the filter cover over the top of if ti refit it.

End result is that the cover wonnt 'seat' on its own and needs a bit of downward presure on the left hand side (about half an inch) to seat it - after which I assume the screw holds it in.

Does any of this sound normal


Cheers

B

 

[Rauer]

Will have to check mine , can't remember , changed it about may

 

[sgtcortez]

It's now 2 deg C and it rained for 4 hours this morning.

Did it work?

Mildly moist. I guess it will take time to fully dry out. But it is loads better, only half of the wind screen was misted up.

 

[TNTom]

Ive got leaky seals luckily not leaking into the car (i think) just got the open the door....WATERFALL! issue, only on one door mind, i do have wet front carpets which i believe is due to a broken heater matrix. shall be getting around to doing this very soon though.

 

[DubSteve68]

Dodgy seals and carpet removal

I'm now officially miserable. Thank you VAG and your horrible door seals that have allowed my carpets to get soaked, and will probably not be fully dry until next summer unless I take them out and put them in my house. Worse than that, on frosty mornings all my windows are frozen on the inside too and I need a towel to mop up all the excess after defrosting them.

Now, the door seals themselves don't look so bad to do, got some some 6mm round butyl cord from eBay which looks ideal (and was cheap too, £7.49 for 8m, inc. delivery) and a pack of trim clips in case I break a few.

On the other hand, removing the carpet looks like a real mission but it looks like the only option for getting the car properly dried out. Having read marshyc's guide (page 9) on doing this I was thinking of following the guide and then leaving the car in its weight-reduced form (i.e. no seats except the driver's) until the carpets were dry again, but would like to know if I'm going to get any problems like airbag warning lights that will need resetting by the local auto sparky - or will it all just work again as before when I put it back together?

Please excuse my ignorance but I'm used to driving a 20 year old Golf in which the most sophisticated component is the CD player...

Cheers, DS

 

[d3m0niTe]

Haha I had the pleasure of removing the ice off the inside of the windscreen last night. Very fun :/

 

[sgtcortez]

Had loads of rain today and I have a non leaky car Also fitted my cupra facia.

 

[oldskool]

Please excuse my ignorance but I'm used to driving a 20 year old Golf in which the most sophisticated component is the CD player...

Cheers, DS

Worse move i made selling my mk2 Golf G60

bloomin new cars.

 

[DubSteve68]

Worse move i made selling my mk2 Golf G60

bloomin new cars.

Yup, I know that feeling. The only things I don't miss about my trusty 8v are the constant drone at motorway speeds and a lack of modern safety features, which is why I thought the Cupra would be a good replacement. Now I'm not so sure, but as they say, onwards and upwards...

DubSteve

 

[DubSteve68]

DubSteve's Guide, part 1

Leaky doors? Welcome to the club. There are two ways of tackling the problem, one is bodging it and the other is doing it properly which only takes a little longer. Here's how to do it properly. Overall the job is very easy and will take maybe 1/2 an hour per door, less time once you know how it's done.

Before you even think about tackling this, get onto eBay and buy the following items.

1. Search for "pry tools", the iPod/mobile/laptop opening variety. Buy some that look like this...

2. Buy some "Golf trim clips", there is every chance you will bust a couple unless you are very lucky. These are the ones you need...

3. Search for "butyl sealant strip". I bought the 6mm round stuff - 8m roll, enough for all four doors, and not too thick to be a problem when reassembling the door's inner carrier. Cheaper than the VAG branded stuff at £7.49, delivered. Looks like...

Once the postman's delivered your bits, get the following tools together. Large Philips screwdriver, T20 Torx, sharp knife, plastic pry tool, and a 10mm socket. A flat-head screwdriver and a pair of wire cutters may also come in very handy...

While the job can be done solo an able-bodied assistant will make certain tasks much easier. Assistance while disconnecting/reconnecting the door-card electrics is highly recommended. Having someone around to hold the roll of butyl sealant while you feed it in will also be a huge help.


Step 1. Remove the grab-handle cover. This is why you bought the pry tools! While you could just use a screwdriver instead of the pry tools you will most likely chew up the handle plastic while trying to pop the cover off. The pry tools do the job without totally knackering the cover. Start at the lowest point of the handle (upper side) with the pry tool and wiggle it until you have about 1mm of gap. Repeat on the lower side, then back to the upper and keep wiggling until the cover pops free...

Pull the trim from the lowest point...

And finally pull on the opener so you can get the handle cover off...

Step 2. Remove the door card. Before proceeding, wind the window down all the way. The front door has 2x T20 Torx screws at the bottom which need removing (none on the rear doors). The grab-handles are secured by two large Philips screws (arrowed)...

Now pull on the door card from the bottom. If you do it slowly and firmly then trim retaining clip casualties should be kept to a minimum. Once all the clips have popped free you will be able to lift the card slightly and move it clear of the door frame. Have an assistant hold the card while you disconnect the various wire connectors. All the connectors have one or two squeezy retaining clips. Don't be hasty and you'll have them off in no time. The door opener is fairly simply to unhook - pull on the cable outer, away from the handle, and lift it over the plastic bracket. Once you have all connectors off you should see this...

Part 2 follows shortly, DubSteve

 

[DubSteve68]

DubSteve's Guide, part 2

Step 3. Loosen the carrier plate. Take your 10mm socket and remove all the 10mm bolts except the two that are arrowed below. These two remaining bolts should be wound out nearly all the way, allowing you good access to the rear of the carrier without completely removing it. You could remove these last two bolts but your assistant would then have to hold the carrier while you fit the sealant strip - but you really need your assistant to hold the roll of sealant so leave the bolts in position...

Front door...

Rear door...

Now you need to break any seal between the door frame and the carrier. The best way to do this is with the large flat-head screwdriver you hopefully have ready, resting on a towel so you don't kill any paint...

Here's where my seals disintegrated, seem to be very common failure areas. Affected areas are between the arrows...

Front door...

Rear door...

Now the carrier is loosened, get to work on that seal and show SEAT how it should have been done in the first place! Start wherever you like and pull the old seal off slowly. I made an exception on the rear doors as I couldn't get as much clearance behind the carrier as I wanted and so left some of the seal in place. The next step will show what I left in place. It's adhesive backed but will come off cleanly if you are lucky. I wasn't, and was left with a few inches-worth of rotten seal on each door that had to be scraped off. I used my trusty T20 to get into the channel where the worst of the remaining rotten seal (and brown gunk) was hiding. You don't need to get the surfaces surgically clean but they do need to be dry and free of as much of the old seal and gunk as possible.


Step 4. Fitting the new seal. See the pics below. I started where I did on the front door (arrowed) due to the electric window wiring loom getting in the way. It seemed like a good starting point and worked well for me. Slowly feed the butyl sealant strip into where the old seal lived.

Front door...

As mentioned in step 3 I didn't replace the whole seal on the rear doors due to access. Here's what I did replace...

Step 4. Put it all back together. Self explanatory really. Replace any trim retaining clips that broke. Here's where I used the wire cutters to grip and wiggle free any snapped clips or clips that came off the door cards and could be reused…

And after all that, only one bust clip per door. Not bad going!

Once you've done one side the other will be a piece of cake. I'd read all the guides but still wasn't sure how difficult it was really going to be. As it is, the job isn't difficult at all. All four doors can easily be done in an afternoon once you have everything prepared. One final note about the butyl sealant strip, it's pretty sticky stuff (even more so when warm) and it's much easier to handle when it's cold. For anybody reading this in the summer, stick your sealant in the fridge before you need it...


Cheers all, DubSteve

 

[oldskool]

fantastic write up mate

 

[LEE69]

Superb explanation and nicely photographed.

 

[53 Leon SX]

Excellent write up, its just a shame that I didn't see it until after I attempted a door this morning hehe, would have saved me loads of time, at least I didn't break any clips! Now that I've done it though the other will be very easy. Then I can finally wash the damn thing

 

[SalSheikh]

quick fix:

you dont have to take the whole door card off, just remove the screws from the door handle and at the bottom of the doors and then lever the door out. i then got my lovely assistant (wifey) to pull the door car out while i siliconed the area and put the trim back. took about half an hour to do all 4. no more leaky doors

cost £3 silicone tube
1/2 hr to complete job.

 

[mikeholroyd]

quick fix:

you dont have to take the whole door card off, just remove the screws from the door handle and at the bottom of the doors and then lever the door out. i then got my lovely assistant (wifey) to pull the door car out while i siliconed the area and put the trim back. took about half an hour to do all 4. no more leaky doors

cost £3 silicone tube
1/2 hr to complete job.

Be very careful if you do this -- you're risking splitting the top of the door cards. They split very easily, and are expensive to replace.

Mike