Audi A4 | Rain Water Ingress

A customer brought an A4 to us, having been told by the dealership that there was water in the footwell, and he might have a leak.

This car is rather interesting because there isn't much to see until you lift the carpets and have a look. It is often the case that people bring their cars to us when they realized that there is a puddle, and they have soggy carpets. There is an assumption that the carpet is probably only half an inch thick, and so there isn't much water in the car.

As you can see there is a large quantity of water in this car, enough to submerge some wiring loom and yet it hasn't even reached the level of the carpet yet. Water in your car can cause serious problems with its electrical systems because, although the wires are waterproof, it can eventually work its way into the plastic boxes which contain things like your airbag control units. But even before then, that water is making the aid damp, and it will condense on any hard cold surfaces such as your windows and the brass and copper electrical connectors which are on the back of everything from your stereo to your ECU (the car's main computer).

And so, long before your carpets start getting soggy, you might find your windows steamed up, warning lights come on, your electric windows stop working. If you are seeing electrical issues, it smells damp, and it steams up in the mornings, you might want to have it checked for water ingress.

This area had got very dirty and grit had got up under the seal, allowing water to pass. Giving it a good clean was the first stage in fixing the leak.

This leak wasn't particularly hard to fix. It was just a gasket which seals the pollen filter into the bulkhead. As water runs off the windscreen and down the bulkhead, it was leaking into the cabin. 

The first thing we do when a car arrives with us is disinfected it, so it's safe to work on, so the car had already been sprayed down with anti-microbial to stop any spores from mould and mildew, so in order to put things right, we took out the front passenger seat and lifted the carpet using bungees to hold it up, so it can drip-dry in place. Removing the entire carpet is time-consuming, which would be expensive for the customer. We always try to save the customer money. We suck out as much of the water as we can using a wet-vac, returning every few hours to suck out more as it sinks to the bottom of the sponge underlay. With most of the water removed, we can properly dry the car by sealing it up and pumping in warm dehumidified air overnight.

In most cases, in the morning, the car should be dry enough to put back together and give back to the customer.

If you have concerns that rain water is leaking into your car, please consider our car water leak detection service.