can anyone help me please, got into the car today - not been used in couple of days - the drivers side footwell was soaking wet - there seemed to be some drops of water around the bonnet release handle - can anyone help me pls - is this a common prob - oh yeah its been pissing down here for the past few days if that helps. thanks

This is happening to my mates car too, unsolved mystery!!

Get in the car and get a mate to hose it down around all the door seals in the passenger side. You should be able to see water coming in if it's one of those.

Take the battery out and I bet my pants you'll see a hole in the tray of some sort which is how the waters getting in!

^yup battery tray I bet. have a poke with a screw driver and make it worse.

thanks for help guys - pardon me if i am wrong is the battery not on the passenger side of the car and well away from the drivers side???

Nope the battery is on the drivers side... Relays and fuses and shit on the passengers side.

Nope the battery is on the drivers side... Relays and fuses and shit on the passengers side.

No, batteries on passenger, surely?

When it rained sideways last week my footwell was exaclty the same! It looked like a seal in mine as bonnet handle was dry.

You're both right. It's on the driver's side in a Mk1-3, passenger from there onwards IIRC.

Battery tray's worth checking, but bearing in mind the rain a lot of places have had, it could be the scuttle tray not draining fast enough (hole isn't actually that big) and overflowing down the side of the heater matrix (I've had this in my mk2 coupe).

I thought I'd throw in another suggestion. I've just started to have this problem on my mkIII polo. Passenger side footwell would be wet after down pours. I pulled up the carpet and the under felt stuff and could see it trickle in from the bottom of the door seal and pool in the footwell. It wasnt the door seal, changed that still leaked. I thought it was my front window seal leaking. Took apart half the dash to get a better look.. the only other way I could see it getting in was from the rubber gromit the the bonnet pull wire goes through. Took it out cleaned it and put it back in along with some silicon sealant. This was yesterday... been raining hard most of the day and touch wood no leak...yet!

Hope this helps

Ben

*touches wood* it's not been raining that much here recently so not had that kind of leak again but I'm going to keep a eye on it. Last thing I want is rot

thanks again - my car is a five door MK4 - so battery is on the passenger side