passenger side footwell V wet front n back

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mike sel
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passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by mike sel »

I have encountered my first problem with the POLO.

I have found today that the front and rear passenger footwell is full of water. Obviously I can get to the steel floor of the car because of the moulded carpeting. I removed the mats and they were soaked though. I also used several towels to mop up the water through the moulded car mats as I just can see how to remove those. it only affects the passenger side.

I appreciate there are a couple of threads on here referring to a problem like this. I have looked at them. One seems to have been caused in the rear by a poorly sealed 1/4 light on the passenger side, so this may be causing mine in the rear. I will try to get more of the water out with towel's tomorrow, I assume when it rains it will happen again. so probably not possible to dry the car out properly on my own. I have booked it in for inspection on the 8th Jan which is the earliest they can get me a loan car for (they want to charge me £12 a day to ensure the loan car and a one off £7 for fuel. TBH I will argue that because its a warrantee issue. I will call the service department on Monday to see if they can get it in sooner).

Quite bad timing to spot this over the Christmas break.
SRGTD
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by SRGTD »

That’s really annoying Mike. If you’ve not already done so, I’d check the rubber seals around both the front and rear door openings to ensure they firmly in place and the’ve not become distorted. Also worth checking that you don’t have any water in your spare wheel well, and that the roof lining is dry below where the tailgate hinges are attached to the car’s bodywork.

On the mk7 Golf, the seals around the door speakers behind the door cards have been known to fail, letting water into the cabin. On some early mk7 Golfs, water has also been known to get into the car where the tailgate hinges are bolted to the car bodywork above the rear hatch opening, which is why I’ve suggested you check the rear roof lining and spare wheel well.

On the subject of courtesy cars, VW dealers approach to charging for courtesy cars seems to vary from one dealer to another. Unless things have changed since I had my car serviced last March, my VW dealer has never charged me for a courtesy car in the 16 yeaars I’ve been using them - they just ask that you replace any fuel you’ve used. They don’t try to hide a courtesy car charge within the service cost either, as I have a VW service plan, so the service is paid for in advance of the car being serviced.

Hope your water leak issue is an easy fix and the dealer finds the source of the problem quickly. Keep us posted on how it goes.
mike sel
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by mike sel »

SRGTD wrote: Sun Dec 23, 2018 7:19 am That’s really annoying Mike. If you’ve not already done so, I’d check the rubber seals around both the front and rear door openings to ensure they firmly in place and the’ve not become distorted. Also worth checking that you don’t have any water in your spare wheel well, and that the roof lining is dry below where the tailgate hinges are attached to the car’s bodywork.

On the mk7 Golf, the seals around the door speakers behind the door cards have been known to fail, letting water into the cabin. On some early mk7 Golfs, water has also been known to get into the car where the tailgate hinges are bolted to the car bodywork above the rear hatch opening, which is why I’ve suggested you check the rear roof lining and spare wheel well.

On the subject of courtesy cars, VW dealers approach to charging for courtesy cars seems to vary from one dealer to another. Unless things have changed since I had my car serviced last March, my VW dealer has never charged me for a courtesy car in the 16 yeaars I’ve been using them - they just ask that you replace any fuel you’ve used. They don’t try to hide a courtesy car charge within the service cost either, as I have a VW service plan, so the service is paid for in advance of the car being serviced.

Hope your water leak issue is an easy fix and the dealer finds the source of the problem quickly. Keep us posted on how it goes.
STGTD

cheers for the info I will look at the door seals today, nice tip, I have been told by the dealer that it could be the aircon drain pipe blocked? for some reason that has been known to allow the aircon to drain into the passenger front footwell. Look its under warrantee ive done nothing to the car so even if they have it for a week, as long as it gets fixed at no cost im not to worried.
silverhairs
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by silverhairs »

Make sure they take out all the carpets and underlay as that has to be dried out, else you'll get bad condensation in the car.

I have posted this, but Mike SEL has blocked me? Not as though I'm bothered, but I put this as if other members do have a leak, that's the route to take,
Just dabbing a towel on top of the carpets will not be sufficient to get everything dry, it's a seats and carpets out job.
mike sel
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by mike sel »

Ok just in case anyone is interested in thus issue in the future.

VW Poole rang me this morning. yes xmas eve. They had decided that the water in the car issue needed quite swift attention so they freed up a demonstrator Polo SE 95hp manual 5 gear, very basic car, no frills. Im driving it to Nottingham next week for a few days so I will be able to do a comparison review against my all bells and whistles SEL 115hp DSG. Obviously im expecting better fuel econ less power etc but its how that effects the drive and comfort. One good thing is that will be 600 miles less put on my car.

So back to the point in hand, water in the passenger front and rear foot well. The service department haven't looked at the car and probably wont do until the 27th when they get back for the Christmas break. However they seem to be confident its an issue this a blocked aircon drain tube, apparently if it blocks with leaves etc it then cant drain, so the water (apparently quite a bit of it) will find its way into the passenger foot well. An early indicator this is happening is the car misting up the inside of windows and then not clearing reasonably quickly. they will need the car for a least 3 days to dry it out. It is warranty apparently.

Happy Christmas each.
SRGTD
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by SRGTD »

Good to see the dealer recognises it needs to be sorted sooner, rather than later.

Hopefully it is the air con drain tube so they can fix it first time, and you won’t be faced with a lengthy period without your car, or multiple trips back and forth to the dealer while they investigate and eliminate other possible causes.

Be interested to hear your comparison of your car to the manual 5 speed 95ps SE.
Andy Beats
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by Andy Beats »

When I had my DSG A3, any drives of a comparable manual car just reinforced my error in ordering DSG.
So it was something I tried avoiding. :)
Chungster
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by Chungster »

Where is the Air Con drain tube?? Another design fault if it gets blocked that easily - just like the rear seat belt malarchy


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mike sel
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by mike sel »

when I get the car back I will ask where the aircon drain plug is.

Yes I am definitely hoping they don't just muck about with the drain plug then think they have it fixed. Really trusting them to be pros and at least water test the passenger wheel arch and the windscreen + passenger door seal as well.
david.stark
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by david.stark »

mike sel wrote: Mon Dec 24, 2018 11:20 am a demonstrator Polo SE 95hp manual 5 gear, very basic car, no frills. Im driving it to Nottingham next week for a few days so I will be able to do a comparison review against my all bells and whistles SEL 115hp DSG. Obviously im expecting better fuel econ less power etc but its how that effects the drive and comfort. One good thing is that will be 600 miles less put on my car.
Just to add balance, the SE is not a basic no frills car. It’s well equipped enough and has everything you really need. I looked at cost of SEL and whilst technically I could have afforded it, I didn’t want one. The SE was perfect and I certainly have no regrets. The Audi I had before had more features but I don’t miss them. My car is DSG and is excellent and never found it lacking in any area.

Imagine a top of the range Passat owner with every feature imaginable labelling the Polo SEL basic and no frills. It’s all relative.
mike sel
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by mike sel »

Sorry, I appear to have offended. Im sure the SE is perfect. I actually have not driven it yet except for the drive home from the dealer.
monkeyhanger
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by monkeyhanger »

It's all relative and personal preference. For me, I would rather have a high standard spec than pick a lower spec with options - ticking individual options is generally poor value for money as they've got negligible retained value for when you trade in - if you trade every 3 years rather than every 5 or 6, they can add a lot to your rate of depreciation comparative to the standard spec of the car.

Some do hold their value well - the Pretoria wheels on my R - £890 option, but an R without them is worth about a grand less. Likely because they are hideously expensive to buy individually (about £800 each wheel), and the standard Cadiz wheels are ugly.

My essentials on a modern car are auto lights and wipers, multifunction steering wheel, Xenons or LEDs
Aircon and an antidazzle rear view mirror.

I really don't feel like I'm getting value for money if the basic spec car is losing £250 a month over term of ownership, and one with a few boxes ticked brings it to £350 a month because your £3500 options are worth nowt 3 years on.
david.stark
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by david.stark »

mike sel wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 4:01 pm Sorry, I appear to have offended. Im sure the SE is perfect. I actually have not driven it yet except for the drive home from the dealer.
No offence as such, just adding balance because at face value, a casual observer may think the SE isn’t worth considering and doesn’t have much equipment. I think VW did quite well with the spec for the money.
david.stark
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by david.stark »

monkeyhanger wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 4:50 pm It's all relative and personal preference. For me, I would rather have a high standard spec than pick a lower spec with options - ticking individual options is generally poor value for money as they've got negligible retained value for when you trade in - if you trade every 3 years rather than every 5 or 6, they can add a lot to your rate of depreciation comparative to the standard spec of the car.

Some do hold their value well - the Pretoria wheels on my R - £890 option, but an R without them is worth about a grand less. Likely because they are hideously expensive to buy individually (about £800 each wheel), and the standard Cadiz wheels are ugly.

My essentials on a modern car are auto lights and wipers, multifunction steering wheel, Xenons or LEDs
Aircon and an antidazzle rear view mirror.

I really don't feel like I'm getting value for money if the basic spec car is losing £250 a month over term of ownership, and one with a few boxes ticked brings it to £350 a month because your £3500 options are worth nowt 3 years on.
I understand what you are saying but for me, the SE was fine as standard. I wasn’t interested in any of the options in the end. I read the brochure and looked at costs of various packages and higher spec cars but decided the SE was fine and just insisted on DSG.
mike sel
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Re: passenger side footwell V wet front n back

Post by mike sel »

still using the SE My polo still in the VW service dept. I assume will get it back at the end of this week.
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