Hi guys, ive just joined the forums and hope i can find some help here to the problem thats been killing me for the past year...

I've got a 97 auto A6 and for the last year or so shes been leaking heavily.
As soon as a bit of rain comes out, the rear passenger footwel is drenched...
Ive taken her to Audi services and some "round the corner" ones and they couldnt find anything. At first i thought it was a blocked drain somewhere but the garage guys say theve checked them all out...
Ive cut through the carpet at the back in order to dry it all up and ive collected 2 full buckets of water...


Has anyone come across a similar problem by any chance? Im on the verge of selling the car, its that bad

Thanks very much

Regards


Chris

 

There are two definate possibillities to the problem your having. Most probable cause is the pleanum drain under the battery, over time leaves and crap gets built up in the drain (under the battery) and fills up the pleanum until water just pours into the cabin through a body plug or the pollen filter housing.
The other possibility is the sunroof drains, but the failure with these are they don't get plugged up, rather they fall apart at the sunroof track. If this were the cause you would probably see water stains on one or more corners of the headliner. How you fix this is really easy, If you find a stain on a pillar somewhere what you need to do is remove the roof handles where the leak is present and pop down the headliner enough to where you can grab a hold of the sunroof drain and pull it off of the sunroof track. When you pull the drain off the track you should see a green hose (usually) with a white end, this is where the leak developes. The factory just super glues the white fitting onto the hose on each side which isn't a very good approch, what we do to fix this is we use a smal pick or screwdriver and pry off the white fitting from the hose. The we use a weather seal clear silicone (you can pick this up from an auto parts store) and coat the inside of the fitting and place it back onto the hose, let it dry overnight and re-connect it back onto the sunroof track. Really cheap fix to do it yourself, about $5 but the dealer will charge to remove the headliner $600 plus parts. So a DIY here is a real money saver.

 

Superb! Thank You ever so much, i will investigate today!!!

 

I had the same problem, with water in the pasenger footwell.... It turned out to be the windscreen was leaking...New screen and problem sorted..
Or so i thought.......Now 2/3 months later its started again.But this time around where the pollen filter is and cover above the footwell don't get wet......Only the carpet does......And i don't have a sunroof....

Any idea's please................................

 

If your only getting water on the carpet then you could have a bad body plug under the carpet (i doubt it) or the hvac drain is split and is leaking condensation onto the carpet instead of purging it under the car.

 

What is the HVAC drain when its at home ???????

 

I had this problem for a while and finally figured it out. There are 2 drains under the plenum below your windscreen (where your battery is). There is one drain under the battery itself and another one underneath the brake fluid reservoir. Mine had both got clogged with leaves and other bits of stuff and after clearing them my rear foot well is bone dry for about 2 months now.

Its a simple enough thing to check out. Just remove the battery and you can't miss the drain hole. The other one is a bit trickier to see but it is there. They are both the same distance away from the center of the car if you know what I mean. I just stuck a hose down them to clear them and that worked fine for me. They may not look blocked but if there is any water at all collecting in the plenum area then they are most likely blocked and need looking into.

Enjoy the dryness.

 

I am also having problems with water inside the car. I have a 1995 A6 been a really good car till the water problem, which has caused massive electrical problems. Mine has the battery located in the back seat. I suspect the water is coming in from the front because the front passenger footwell is soaked. There is water in the back as well but I think this is because I park at a slight incline. Are there two drain plugs on mine as well (below the winshield) I have run a hose through there seems to be draining ok. The sunroof drains are clear as well. I currently have the carpet out to dry it.

 

A major leak area is through the pollen filter box gasket. I believe there is an Audi TSB regarding it. Not sure if they ever issued a recall. All the VAG cars with pollen filters develope the problem eventually. What happens is the foam gasket between the box and body dries out and lets the water from the cowl run directly into the passengers footwell.

Pull the cowl cover off and gently lift the pollen filter box up about 1/4 inch or so. If the gasket is not sealed to either surface it has failed. Carefully unclip the filter retainer, remove filter and remove box. You can pick up replacement material at Home Depot/Lowes or just about any hardware outlet.

If I were you I'd also pull the carpet out of the car and dry it. The ABS computer is located under the carpet in the front passengers footwell and the Comfort module and Airbag computer is on the drivers side. Water can fry both which cost big $$$$ to replace.

Make sure you clean the cowl drain located under the Battery while you have the cowl cover off. If its really clogged with stuff I would pull the whole rubber grommet out and just toss it.

Have fun cause the job sucks.

 

i just went through the wet carpet saga after a massive process of elimination (i.e the A/C condensation drain, the plenum drains under the battery and the pollen filter box) and what it turned out to be was the sunroof drains the come out at the hinges of each front door on my b5 a4 sedan, the passenger side hose had made its way into the cavity its supposed to come out of therefore filling the cavity behind the kick panel and seeping into the car as soon as it rained. wasn't good