I drove my 99 Passat Estate today and heard alot of sloshing sounds, looked round and found the rear passenger footwell with 3" water in!

I have bailed it out now as best I can. All the window/sunroof were closed.

The battery compartment in front of the bulkhead is dry so the drain there is not blocked.

Any ideas how this water is getting in?

Is this a comman problem with passats?

Is there a VW forum?

dodgy door seal maybe? guy over the road got a brand new volvo last year, had the same sort of problem, the rear door/window seal was rubbish. poor design. maybe yours are just worn? i guess they'll be 10 years old now so maybe split?

I've got a 99 Passat Estate too - no problem with water... yet

You haven't got an incontinent dog who sits in the front, have you?

is the front footwell wet as well?
if so the problem is the door seal between the metal plate that holds all the electrics to the door, there is a seal that destroys itself, well it has on my seat leon of same age

Try this link I hope this link works

tommy

Is the window open and was it raining?

these any good

http://www.passatworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1385206&postcount=9
http://www.passatworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230249

When my Passatt was new the rear footwells filled up. This was the air con pipe venting into the footwells.

Stu

What Stu said!!! HAd exactly the same thing.

Scuttle air intake plenum drains choked with dead leaf material.

it is from ted pollen filter area drain tubes dry out asap otherwise you will need to replace control
unit under carpet and the looms very expensive to replace
if you need any more info u2u me

lots of useful information, many thanks.

If the fronts full aswell it will be the pollen filter housing where it meets the body. Very common.

The ECU's are in the passenger footwell and the water eats them if theyr left damp. And rots the wires. iv replaced half the loom under there in mine.

I'm sure one of the guys in one of the units at work mentioned a rather clever design by VW, in that they run the rear window washer pipe down the same conduit as the loom.

And they put a connector in there too - which comes apart.

Brilliant.

ATB

Simon

Exactly the same thing happened to my daughter's Mk4 VW Golf Gti.

As it was just one thing in the list of faults in that astonishingly crap car it didn't get investigated - the car was sold shortly after...
...disgraceful, considering that it was the top of the range Golf at the time. Do a search on Google to see the VERY long list of faults that the Mk4 is prone to.

Oh - and my wife's friend had a Seat that was based on a VW chassis - and the driver's window fell into the door in that one too...

[Edited on 24/2/09 by David Jenkins]

If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkwagen??