This needs to be the definitive water leak guide people. Mines been acting like a collinder recently. Passenger carpet wet, driver footwell (defo battery tray) pass and driver seat belts (I've cleaned the sun roof drain lines with compressed air). Takes for ever to get rid of the condensation!

Mine did this and it was the scuttle tray, there's a drainage hole in on the top left of the engine bay under the plastic trimming and mine was blocked full of crap so I blew some compressed air down it and solved the problem

Hope this helps

Edited 28 January, 201412 yr by Luke1992

Hey guys, i have a puddle forming under the carpet in my drivers side foot well, and also drivers side rear footwell? any ideas where it could be coming from, it seems to have just appeared out of no where in this horrendous weather!

cheers, i have a mk2f polo!

My coupe 1991 gt had a wet drivers footwell. Sealed the battery tray, door card off and sealed the foil behind the card. Took the door seal off and put sealant into the door surround. Job done. This should solve the problem. In the garage drying off.

Fingers crossed boss.

Just found a nice puddle this morning. Any body found where this is coming from? Or the most likely places?

This Friday I'll have a proper look :) I'm either thinking, sunroof drainage, pedals, or battery tray? Are these the most common places? :)

Just found a nice puddle this morning. Any body found where this is coming from? Or the most likely places?

This Friday I'll have a proper look :) I'm either thinking, sunroof drainage, pedals, or battery tray? Are these the most common places? :)

yeah battery tray is very common ( rust ) my loon has it terrible, going in for welding this week though hopefully.

Hope you guys sorted yours out in the end, i just bought a polo mk2 myself and small puddles in driver side footwell and passenger side footwell, but I think I have found the problem. There are no grommets on the bonnet wire so water is coming straight from the scuttle into the hole that has the cable going through, but on the drivers side I can't figure out where it is coming from however there is a hole either side for the side repeaters but would that hole lead to the footwells?? Thats my problem atm haha

Hope you guys sorted yours out in the end, i just bought a polo mk2 myself and small puddles in driver side footwell and passenger side footwell, but I think I have found the problem. There are no grommets on the bonnet wire so water is coming straight from the scuttle into the hole that has the cable going through, but on the drivers side I can't figure out where it is coming from however there is a hole either side for the side repeaters but would that hole lead to the footwells?? Thats my problem atm haha

Okay so I currently have me rear bench removed in my mk2f, and I'm parked facing up hill, every morning after I night of rain there is a puddle where the back bench would sit, by the fuel tank access cap, obviously parked facing up hill so it cant be running upwards from the boot into that dip, nor can it be running down from the front :/ first thought was sunroof as my old mk2 was terrible for it however on brief inspection its all completely bone dry. Anyone else suffered with this? Thanks.

My mk1 at the min has a few places where water gets in,

1. The rear quarter panel windows- seems that when it rains the water runs along the window rubber and behind the first flap, fills at the bottom then slowly comes in dribbles down the window reveal, behind the quarter card and makes a pool under the rear bench.

2. The front door seals do exactly the same, when the door Is shut rain trickles into the gap onto the top of the seal and ends up inside soaking the footwell (these are brand new aswell)

3. From the screws that hold the wings in place closest to the drivers feet.

Don't know if this helps or if mine is bolted together the same way as others but this is what I've found so far.

I've been chasing leaks on mine for most of the time I've had it. The conclusion I've come to is this: Polos leak. No matter what you do, water gets in.

But I've tried all sorts, so see if these help.

The boot on mine needed adjusting when I bought it, as it had dropped slightly on the passenger side. This was crushing the rubber seal and water was pooling in the bottom corner, then overflowing into the car.

The rubber inlays between the quarter lights and moving door windows can drop slightly, this lets a dribble in too.

Look for grommets in the scuttle tray which are missing, split or loose. And while you're there, check your drain holes aren't blocked with leaves and compost.

Windscreen fitters tend not to fit the rubber seal properly. I made one company refit mine as there was a gap on the bottom corner which was pissing water in behind the dashboard. Don't let them do what they originally did to mine as a fix - fill the rain channels with sealant will also make it leak.

If you've had an alarm and/or central locking fitted then you can guarantee the membranes behind your door cards will have been mauled. TBH these are shit anyway so it's worth checking that they're not torn or hanging off. Easy to repair or make a replacement. I did:

Driver's side was beyond repair:

But good enough to become a template. That's a polythene sheet from B&Q:

I salvaged the three dimensional bit from the old one:

Also worth noting that there's a vent in the bottom of the door. The membrane has a flap which goes over the inner part of this and stops it letting rain in. The people who fitted my alarm left this flap on the inside of the vent, so water just runs down the back of the plastic and into the footwell.

Make sure any wiring between the door and A pillar isn't getting trapped in the door seal. That'll stop it sealing properly.

I've also found water from the boot tends to run in under the rear seat and pool there. If your foot wells are dry, then check it's also dry under the rear seats.

Battery tray is an obvious one that's been covered on here already.

Sunroof drain holes - check they're not bunged up or water will come in through the roof too!

I think that's it...

The repair pic of the passenger side membrane isn't the finished job. I repaired the year that the solenoid wire is going through.

TEAR. Not year.

Okay lads, I just thought I'd stick this up. Probably not too common, but I was trying to chase down a leak in my 6n2 polo for ages. I had a flood of water in drivers side rear foot well and fairly wet drivers foot well. Checked all the usual spots twice, like doors, sunroof drain, scuttle panel drains etc.. Turned out to be the bung in floorpan under the rear right side footwell.!! Last place you'd think of.

Edited 1 April, 201610 yr by Rocky6n2

Got a water leak on my 2001 open top polo in the passanger footwell around the same place as the bonnet release if it was on the left anyone know a reason why it might be doing this and how to resolve it

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On 06/01/2014 at 20:28, c.w.pritchard said:

Is this a mk2f? I had a problem with my coupe gt 1991. The seam that runs down the back of the car on both side opened due to the car flexing when moving. I filled mine with a flexible filer and painted over. Initially I thought it was coming from both lights.

 

I've got a similar leak at the moment.  I've found the join in the panels above the rear light is cracked, so I'll fix that.  Could you post up a picture or diagram of where the seam you fixed was? Thanks in advance.

Sorry. I've been away from the forum for a while moving from South Wales to Surrey. I still have my coupe gt locked away in my garage just passed its MOT with no advisories. I did have an issue with water getting into the boot along the seam that runs down the rear of the car behind the bumper on either side to the right and left of the light cluster. I managed to seal it with a flexible filler. Boot is now dry. I'll see if I can dig out some old photos. Was quite a while ago.

12 hours ago, c.w.pritchard said:

Sorry. I've been away from the forum for a while moving from South Wales to Surrey. I still have my coupe gt locked away in my garage just passed its MOT with no advisories. I did have an issue with water getting into the boot along the seam that runs down the rear of the car behind the bumper on either side to the right and left of the light cluster. I managed to seal it with a flexible filler. Boot is now dry. I'll see if I can dig out some old photos. Was quite a while ago.

That would be fantastic of you could.  My car's in for it's annual service in a week or so so I could get it re-sealed then.

Nope. They've gone. Must have deleted them. It was a while ago and I'm sure I got rid of them. They did show the left side seam had corroded and a hole went through into the boot area. Managed to find it early and simply fill and paint did the job. Sorry.

1 hour ago, c.w.pritchard said:

Nope. They've gone. Must have deleted them. It was a while ago and I'm sure I got rid of them. They did show the left side seam had corroded and a hole went through into the boot area. Managed to find it early and simply fill and paint did the job. Sorry.

How's about this?  I've taken a picture of mine with the bumper off. Do you mean the seam that runs next to and below the rear light, near to the furthest bumper screw?  A friend had a go at sealing the driver's side one on mine - so it's a bit messy!  I'll get that done again.

sit in the boot with a torch...get someone to lash a hose pipe over the car and see where its coming , most likely the gaskets on the lights   , dont use bog sealer

1 hour ago, steveo3002 said:

sit in the boot with a torch...get someone to lash a hose pipe over the car and see where its coming , most likely the gaskets on the lights   , dont use bog sealer

I've just replaced the seals on the rear lights with new ones (you can get them from vw heritage at a reasonable price), so I don't think it's coming in there.  The trouble is it's more or a seep than it pouring in.  I had my wife sat in the boot while I jetwashed it.

I'm thinking about trying some fluorescein and a blue torch next......

 

That's it. Mine leaked just to the right of the left light cluster. It came in through the point just below the boot seal where the seal began to rust an open. Yours looks ok on that side. Where is the seep? Something I found was the water came from behind a cross member and it was not possible to see where it came from on the inside. It turned out to be a lot of trial and error in the end. Hope it goes well.

3 hours ago, c.w.pritchard said:

That's it. Mine leaked just to the right of the left light cluster. It came in through the point just below the boot seal where the seal began to rust an open. Yours looks ok on that side. Where is the seep? Something I found was the water came from behind a cross member and it was not possible to see where it came from on the inside. It turned out to be a lot of trial and error in the end. Hope it goes well.

Just to double check you mean this area highlighted in yellow?

There's a little bit of rust in the seam below the light, so it might be porous there?

Some water can seep into the back of the boot (a bit like the OPs case).

I originally thought it was the bumper screws, but I replaced them with new ones and they seem water tight.

 

 

Yes. That's the seam. Mine was open from the seal to just next to the bumper bolt hole. I too thought it was the bolt hole but obviously not. Your car looks fine along the top part of the seam but a little less so below the bolt hole. Get a watering can with a narrow spout and target specific point. Dry with a hair dryer or gun. Trial and error worked for me. Hope you get to the bottom of it.

19 hours ago, c.w.pritchard said:

Yes. That's the seam. Mine was open from the seal to just next to the bumper bolt hole. I too thought it was the bolt hole but obviously not. Your car looks fine along the top part of the seam but a little less so below the bolt hole. Get a watering can with a narrow spout and target specific point. Dry with a hair dryer or gun. Trial and error worked for me. Hope you get to the bottom of it.

Yes I'm hoping that sealing the seam above and below the rear light will cure it.

To check the rear light seals, last night, I used a watering can with some fluorescein and checked inside with a blue light, so I'm pretty sure it's not those.

As you say I think all the flexing the body has done over the last 20+ years puts strain on those seams.  I had a minor rear end shunt a few years back, so that may have accelerated it.  Definitely a weak spot in these old Polos!