wet loadspace

Hi all, need a bit more help please. I have hopefully fixed leaky front sunroof but have problem in the boot as well. I recently had the rear carpet up to access the fuel pump (another story) and found the underside of the carpet soaked with water. The top of the carpet was bone dry to touch. Have had roof lining out and checked sunroof and side windows with no luck. Strange how it's under the carpet thats wet, unless someone out there knows how this happens. Help please, Steve.

Steve,
I can't remember the detail but the seal between the rear wings and roof gutter, somewhere near the corner above the lights can fail and cause this. I think the alpine seals and possibly the side window seals failing can do the same.

When I lifted my carpet it was all wet under there and the floor was rusted through. Since replacing the floor it has been bone dry without resealing any windwows or the gutter, so I concluded that the floor had rusted from the outside in and let the water in, but if yours was doing that I assume you would have noticed the holes in the floor

Check the tailgate window seal after some heavy rain the other week i found mine is leaking and getting in there.

cheers guys, will check out tomorrow. Steve.

Whenever I buy a TDi200 or 300 the first thing I do is to take out the boot carpet and rubber mat.

The problem is that moisture gets trapped under the rubber mat, never allowed to get air to it to dry and so rots out the boot floor.

My advice: take them both out and store them until you want to sell the car.

I've put in various things in the past, smaller bits of carpet, pieces of plywood etc etc all of which allow air to circulate better. Allows the boot floor to dry and let's you see if there is a leak problem or not.

Cheers
Dave

Thanks Biglad, mine is a 53 reg td5 but i expect it could have the same problems as 200 and 300 tdi's. I'll pull the mat out as you say and go from there. Steve.

thebiglad said:

Whenever I buy a TDi200 or 300 the first thing I do is to take out the boot carpet and rubber mat.

The problem is that moisture gets trapped under the rubber mat, never allowed to get air to it to dry and so rots out the boot floor.

My advice: take them both out and store them until you want to sell the car.

I've put in various things in the past, smaller bits of carpet, pieces of plywood etc etc all of which allow air to circulate better. Allows the boot floor to dry and let's you see if there is a leak problem or not.

Cheers
Dave

Click to expand...

Good call Dave!

I havent had a boot carpet in mine for a year or so, I took it out and put a rubber mat in it's place which i whip out occationally to clean the mud off, it's the spongy underside of the carpet that holds the water.

Mine is now bone dry and has been for ages.

Alpine windows on mine - telltale drip marks on the loadspace cover.

Check wheel arches where rear belts fix, these corrode and the water from the wheels splashes up and soaks in under the carpet and runs into the boot floor..........bin there dun that.

regards

Dave