Hey guys, 

so after an assortment of posts asking for help and such, I’m sure you can all guess I’ve got a leak through the bulkhead, via the battery tray and also a hole in the footwell, I intend to give a semi detailed breakdown as to what I do to repair/remedy the problems that I’ve encountered so other rookies like me can reference the guide and repair the leaks they encounter 

(I will be working photos out as I go, so bare with me I will try to describe what I see best I can)

 

So, recently I’ve notices standing water in my footwell for a while, a mix of shite weather and work has prevented me fixing this or investigating, but as of today’s vile weather I decided to tear the carpet up in preparation for this weekends investigation, turns out the carpet put up more of a fight than anticipated 

 

1. Unscrew sill carpet retention strips two screws down pull from doors and gently coax carpet out from under seat...

 

I set about loosing the carpet from the chairs, with the intention of scooping out, next was to work out how to remove these 30mm washer cats arse type thugs (best description by another members account) after some frustrating hour of trying to spin these discs off of the nipped it was on and prying with screw drivers I decided it was time for some brute force and access

 

2. After removing glovebox through three Phillips screws (two front, under small blanking plugs, and one back middle in footwell attached to bulk head) and removing map/. Paperwork/ cubby drivers side ( two plug covered screws ) put both aside safely and remember here screws came from

 

After removing these two accessories, you will clearly be able to see the small disc culprits, mine seemed aftermarket, from a recount on here of them being plastic, but they were real pains, after being gentle it was time to use some force, and replace them when I re-assemble the carpet

 

3. Take some pliers and try to spin the washers anti clockwise while pulling towards you, this sounds like a stupid sketch way but it’s what worked for me, keep bending the washers up and down and pulling until they work free, I counted 5 of these on my car, so be patient

 

after removing the last washer and taking a big ole cut to the hand (slipped with pliers big time and cut hand on exposed sill carpet strip.. decided to screw then down after this) next was the throttle stop clip

 

4. Following a tutorial for removing this throttle stopper clip, wiggle a mega thin butter knife down the bottom wide opening of the stopper, sandwiching the blade in between the main stopper and the outside clip, so the sandwich goes, clip-blade-stopper-clip, after this wedge some needle nose pliers in between the top section of the wide stopper and clip and pull, this should cover the small circle shaped moulding catch of the clip, from retaining on the cut out of the stopper (you’ll get what I mean when you remove it) again, PATIENCE

 

This will free the carpet up completely and allow you to coax it from all crevices and corners and pull out, now for what I saw...

all of the floor felt was rotted through and a 2mm-ish hole can be seen peering up through the footwell, a quick look under the bulkhead at the bottom of the bat’ tray shows a soaking wet repair job, and rusty water rails from the red bulkhead... gutting.

stay tuned for more updates once I begin the work, for the mean time, I’m drying it all out with the car heaters as I have to use it daily, I’ve covered passenger side and my side with old towels and fabric, and consciously wiping the bat tray when I can, for now 

 

Cheers guys!

 

 

Good work, thanks for sharing.

 

"cats arse thugs" Who needs pictures with descriptive prose like that? I knew exactly what you meant.

 

10 hours ago, dvderlm said:

Good work, thanks for sharing.

 

"cats arse thugs" Who needs pictures with descriptive prose like that? I knew exactly what you meant.

 

Cheers mate, ill try and get a photo up of them, they where the bane of my life

UPDATE

so after leaving the car bone dry last night, I come to get her this morning, and after a heavy thunderstorm last night, my suspicions where confirmed, the bat tray had leaked and the drips where being deposited behind the firewall, and the firewall has been transporting the water left under the clutch and has created a considerable pool of water under the pedal, another anomaly that I didn’t anticipate was a wet firewall and small puddle on the left side of the passenger side, any ideas anyone? I pulled the firewall up a bit and I don’t think it’s super wet further up, bottom line is, the firewall is going to have to come out to dry it and work out where all the entry points are 

cheers guy

firewall is the u.s term for the metal bulkhead behind the engine

 

carpets and deadener out ....get under there with a torch and look for rust holes , chances are you can spot a rust hole from above with the battery out 

17 minutes ago, steveo3002 said:

firewall is the u.s term for the metal bulkhead behind the engine

 

carpets and deadener out ....get under there with a torch and look for rust holes , chances are you can spot a rust hole from above with the battery out 

Ahhhhh my life’s a lie xD  yeah okay I will do, any idea roughly where the water on the passenger side is coming from?

Edited 25 January, 20188 yr by YOUNOOWHO

possibly rust holes under the windscreen rubber ...or a badly sealing rubber

 

all you can do is hose it and watch carefully

13 minutes ago, steveo3002 said:

possibly rust holes under the windscreen rubber ...or a badly sealing rubber

 

all you can do is hose it and watch carefully

Wouldn’t the water be visible from the windscreen seal by the dash EDIT: water mulling this over, how bad is what you describe? I know the bat tray and hole are repairable and doable, but how bad is what you mention??

 

Edited 25 January, 20188 yr by YOUNOOWHO

if its holes under the rubber its a fair task...screen out (might break)   and then idealy welding and bodywork to make it like new , if its a banger then fibreglass filler the holes but it wont last 

 

worth spending some time and hope its coming in somewhere else

 

door membranes can leak too

1 minute ago, steveo3002 said:

if its holes under the rubber its a fair task...screen out (might break)   and then idealy welding and bodywork to make it like new , if its a banger then fibreglass filler the holes but it wont last 

 

worth spending some time and hope its coming in somewhere else

 

door membranes can leak too

oh dear me, hopefully, any chance it can be coming from the fuse tray? I noticed some standing water from there too? its whatever I suppose, the car is immaculate everywhere else so its worth the time 

 

well take a look ...is it rusty with holes in or not lol

 

door membranes are very common ...and the battery tray , if its a clean car with no visible rust around the screen maybe its okay there

10 minutes ago, steveo3002 said:

well take a look ...is it rusty with holes in or not lol

 

door membranes are very common ...and the battery tray , if its a clean car with no visible rust around the screen maybe its okay there

well said. I will update the page when I know more 

 

Found the leak in the drivers side, I want to post photos but the club polo site won’t let me, any ideas? 

Found the leak in the passengers* side, heres the photos, the second one shows the source, iv tried dousing the fuse tray with dyed water, and the drainage hole and the window seals 

Edited 25 January, 20188 yr by YOUNOOWHO
Wrong side stated

bit of progress then

 

 

51 minutes ago, steveo3002 said:

bit of progress then

 

 

Yeah I’d like to think so, struggling to locate the source of the source, the dyed water trick is NOT quite doing the job, it seems to be further up past the fuse tray up in the top...

Edited 25 January, 20188 yr by YOUNOOWHO

whats the condition around the engine bay /fuse box ...any hint of rust on the seams

 

if /when you do discover the gap...use automotive /pu sealer not bathroom sealant

50 minutes ago, steveo3002 said:

whats the condition around the engine bay /fuse box ...any hint of rust on the seams

 

if /when you do discover the gap...use automotive /pu sealer not bathroom sealant

pretty tidy to be fair, the middle of the fuse tray has some kind of wear, seems to be kind of rotting or wearing away, that point is lower that the internal leak tho, so I will have a better more thorough look Saturday when I have some time 

 

No help but this was the underside of my battery area I took dash out the cut rust out and welded in New section. Good luck with chasing the water . I have had four mk2f all with water problems. 

28 minutes ago, 1vw2many said:

No help but this was the underside of my battery area I took dash out the cut rust out and welded in New section. Good luck with chasing the water . I have had four mk2f all with water problems. 

The tray has been done once, but doesn’t look to be a very good job, cheers anyway mate!!

20 minutes ago, YOUNOOWHO said:

The tray has been done once, but doesn’t look to be a very good job, cheers anyway mate!!

No problems best of luck and I really hope you get it sorted.

so I located leaks and tried to seal them with some sickaflex, but to no avail, I believe it was down to my preparation, so ill have another go when its warm again!!

 

Shite box passenger side leak is making me question my life.. CANNOT source the big fat drip on the underside of the fuse tray, I can see where it drips from but not where the source of that drip is...

 

Not sure if anyone reads this but could do with some help, I’ve found that both sides leak  from the same spot, and it seems to be traceable to the drain from the arches, that feeds the leak on the inside? How easy are wings on and off and has anyone got a photo of the anatomy of the inside of the arch