Water leaking into driver side footwell

[drsmithy]

Howdy folks,

The recent wet weather in Brisbane has seen an old problem reappearing with my Mk5 GTI.

When the car has sat in the rain for a while, I get water pooling in the driver's side footwell, and occasionally also in the rear driver's side passenger footwell.

However, I have been unable to find any evidence of the water coming in from "above". There's no moisture on the inside of the driver's door or window, nor in the upper parts of the footwell behind the pedals. It's like the water is getting into the pan of the car and coming up from below.

As you can see from the photo, it's pretty bad. This is the worst it's ever been - usually the carpet just gets damp and you need to push on it quite hard to see the water pooling.

It only seems to happen on the driver's side.

Anyone know where it's possible for water to get in like this ? Is there a blocked drain somewhere, or a seal from the engine bay that's failed ?

Cheers.

[piper26]

Hi mate do you have a sun roof??

[drsmithy]

Nup. No easy answer there I'm afraid.

[piper26]

Dam haha

Normally if your plenum chamber drains are blocked then water can enter. However this usually can be noticed both sides. Still worth a check though.

I had a golf have a very similar symptom to yours a few years back. Forgive me for not recalling all details but i recall a grommet / seal around the steering column been the culprit. Behind the column surround trim and carpet and foam around the column and pedal box there was a 'pocket' where the water was running down and pooling in. Eventually overflowing into the footwell through a hole.

Without seeing the car unfortunately it is hard to give accurate diagnosis.

Hope this helps
-ben

[MGV]

Hi drsmithy, i've mentioned this before, but i have found water getting into my door at the front of the bottom rubber weather seal. It trickles down the inside of the door & out through the two drain holes at the base of the door & onto the outer sill. If my car was parked where it leaned to the left a bit, the water that had drained would make it's way over the sill (capillarity?) & onto the floor...

Unlike yourself, i have rubber mats that caught all the water. Maybe a cup-full. My problem arose after i had the drivers window smashed & replaced with non-genuine, so the rubber weather seal didn't quite seal. After it happened a few times, O'briens put a genuine one in for me.

[lunchbox]

Windscreen leak? Never had the issue with a modern car but on older cars it's common for the footwell to pool with water.

[tomgti]

I had this on an old WRX of mine - was due to a windscreen link in my case.