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That one B5.5

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So I woke up this morning after a light rain fall and decided to go to work. It has been wet before but my doors are all sealed because I checked those but today there was a legit puddle of water in my foot well, could anyone explain what it could be? I have found that it could be a possible ac leaking or something of the sort and if that is the case how do I fix that and or stop water from continuing to get the fooot well wet. Probably the same reason my tcm has not worked since I bought the car.
 
Water ingress - common problem on the B5 / B5.5 Passat.
Endless posts about this very issue.
Door seals, leaking window regulator panel, sunroof drains and battery / rain tray cowl drains are the main causes of the problem.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Water ingress - common problem on the B5 / B5.5 Passat.
Endless posts about this very issue.
Door seals, leaking window regulator panel, sunroof drains and battery / rain tray cowl drains are the main causes of the problem.
I see the most common is the battery rain tray and I will check that out first because I check the door and it’s all good and no leaking there or with the seals.
 
The old school way of diagnose water ingress is to use a jug of water and pour it along the door window(s) - outside of course and watch for water leaking into the car.
Same for the sunroof.
Have you cut the ends of the drain nipples off for the sunroof drains? Located near the upper front door hinges.
 
Pro-tip - Note if you happened to park on an incline. These carpets can hold a lot of water. While the left and right side of the car are compartmentalized, water can flow from front to back relatively easy.

Also when you say your doors are sealed, do you mean externally, or internally? The door moldings are pretty top notch, but the internal seals seem to suck. It took a hard rain for me to discover my driver side passenger door was leaking into the cabin. On to the sill then into the carpet.

I mention this because I believe that's exactly how my problem manifested. The driver side passenger window was leaking into the cabin. The carpet padding sopped it up over time and collected in the rear. Park on an incline with the rear elevated and you end up with a puddle under the driver carpet.

It's a good way to get an "instant puddle". Otherwise I'm not sure how you can get that much water ingress suddenly unless you left the windows open during a downpour. While these cars leak it's more of a slow leak that accumulates over time.
 
Well I think I finally found my last water leak. I've been checking my doors and after a hard rain I found water on the passenger door sill. Half a tube of permatex red and once the little water that got in dries up I will have a dry Passat for the first time since I bought it. đź’Ş
I got the same frickin' problem! Damned wagon smells like mildew! The problem is - how can sealing up the door solve this problem?

Are these :
Image
Image

not the drains for the door? Mine weren't clogged, but I still had water coming out above these drains and leaking onto the carpet.
And if I were to seal this area :
Image

what would that solve, other than trapping water in the door, or having it just leak out where the Permatex stops?

Am I not understanding this correctly?
 
I got the same frickin' problem! Damned wagon smells like mildew! The problem is - how can sealing up the door solve this problem?

Are these : View attachment 106837 View attachment 106838
not the drains for the door? Mine weren't clogged, but I still had water coming out above these drains and leaking onto the carpet.
And if I were to seal this area :
View attachment 106839
what would that solve, other than trapping water in the door, or having it just leak out where the Permatex stops?

Am I not understanding this correctly?
The holes in the bottom of the door are to allow water / condensation to run out.
You always want those to be free and clear of any debris. They tend to get clogged up with dirt and rotted tree leave matter which ends up being like mud.

If you're getting more water in the door that can drains in the bottom can handle, the window scrapers need to be replaced. They apply enough pressure on the window to keep excessive water from entering the door, however they do not prevent all water from entering. Some water will always get into the door.
The window scrapers should be able to hold back an open garden hose with water running on the window.
 
I got the same frickin' problem! Damned wagon smells like mildew! The problem is - how can sealing up the door solve this problem?

Are these : View attachment 106837

Am I not understanding this correctly?
No. Inside the door, behind that torx screw next to the courtesy light is where the water comes out if the door isn't sealed properly. It's supposed to come out the drain hole but if the door seals are bad it comes out by that screw and goes into the cabin. Mine was leaking right there below the regulator.
Image
 
The holes in the bottom of the door are to allow water / condensation to run out.
You always want those to be free and clear of any debris. They tend to get clogged up with dirt and rotted tree leave matter which ends up being like mud.

If you're getting more water in the door that can drains in the bottom can handle, the window scrapers need to be replaced. They apply enough pressure on the window to keep excessive water from entering the door, however they do not prevent all water from entering. Some water will always get into the door.
The window scrapers should be able to hold back an open garden hose with water running on the window.
Yes, keeping the water out in the first place is the proper fix. The doors aren't exactly designed to pass through large amounts of water.
 
@AndreasPassat @furcifernova
Thanks for the replies. The reason I thought I wasn't understanding this is because when I sprayed the window with the garden hose, not a drop came out of those drains. It all came out below the light.

I do have in-channel vent visors on all 4 doors. Maybe that little bit of deflection is enough to prevent the scraper from doing it's job. I'll have to remove it and see if the situation improves.
 
@AndreasPassat @furcifernova
Thanks for the replies. The reason I thought I wasn't understanding this is because when I sprayed the window with the garden hose, not a drop came out of those drains. It all came out below the light.
Ahh, gotcha. Maybe your drains are plugged too. Even with them cleaned out water an still pool in that part of the door. I thought the speaker was lower and that's where the water would be coming out, but for whatever reason mine was leaking more towards the screw. I threw a bead of permatex around the bottom and up a couple inches and put a little more torque on the bolts. It's more superficial because I couldn't get behind it but as long as it diverts the water I'll be happy.
 
Pull up that carpet and get that water out of there. You need to protect the wiring and the CCM under the carpet.
Most common leaks are the drain holes in the well where the battery resides and the sunroof drains are either clogged or disconnected. I usually lightly run a cable through the sunroof drain to clean them out which also checks for disconnection. You can easily reconnect them at the door jam.
 
So I woke up this morning after a light rain fall and decided to go to work. It has been wet before but my doors are all sealed because I checked those but today there was a legit puddle of water in my foot well, could anyone explain what it could be? I have found that it could be a possible ac leaking or something of the sort and if that is the case how do I fix that and or stop water from continuing to get the fooot well wet. Probably the same reason my tcm has not worked since I bought the car.
a
Because while the engine and drive train are good it is a POS plain and simple. Whatever engineers designed these cars should be taken out and shot. Moreover the failures were never or in case of some re-engineered. VW should pay out at least $10,000 US dollars to every owner secondary owner 3rd on until the last owner scraped the huge POS. And believe me this is just the start of your problems FOR REAL!!!
 
a
Because while the engine and drive train are good it is a POS plain and simple. Whatever engineers designed these cars should be taken out and shot. Moreover the failures were never or in case of some re-engineered. VW should pay out at least $10,000 US dollars to every owner secondary owner 3rd on until the last owner scraped the huge POS. And believe me this is just the start of your problems FOR REAL!!!
lol, we take the blame but 99% of the time people don't want to pay for good engineering. It's somewhat ironic considering the Passat is already "overengineered" for the price point it sold at and now you're suggesting people should get reimbursed despite already getting more than they paid for.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand where you're coming from and I feel your frustration but you have to understand this probably isn't "an engineering thing".

Take for instance the water leak. There's no doubt in my mind that engineers on the job of guttering the sunroof didn't question the use of a slip on attachment to the drain port. It should be attached by a clamp but that adds cost and complexity to assembly. Request denied.

The cabin filter carrier is only held down by 3 bolts, it's not rocket science to know 6 is better. A cork gasket and an aluminum tray is more durable than a plastic foam one but it's adds cost. Request denied.

Mechanics get it worse because "ease of repair" is the first thing to go when you get asked to cut costs. Nobody is going to approved making a change to the design because 50,000 miles down the road a mechanic might need to take an extra hour to drop the subframe to get at a bolt. The assembly process dictates cost, not the disassembly process. Request denied.

You can get what you want but like everything it comes as a cost. js
 
Image

Image

Mine filled up about 2 inches below the top of the battery !

QUOTE="That one B5.5, post: 4574624, member: 390352"]
So I woke up this morning after a light rain fall and decided to go to work. It has been wet before but my doors are all sealed because I checked those but today there was a legit puddle of water in my foot well, could anyone explain what it could be? I have found that it could be a possible ac leaking or something of the sort and if that is the case how do I fix that and or stop water from continuing to get the fooot well wet. Probably the same reason my tcm has not worked since I bought the car.
[/QUOTE]
 
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