VAG - Water ingess anyone?
Discussion
So, an S4 that's only a few months old & is already showing tell tale signs of a water leak - condensation running down the windscreen & interior ice scraping required over the last few days, no obvious signs of a leak yet, just the symptoms. It's pretty disappointing & also a tad embarrassing - like a £50k shower cabinet...
My last 3 vehicles have all been VW & two of those (Golf VI & VII) have both leaked significantly, the VI being the worst, leaking from rear door seals, rear door membranes & hi-level brake light, basically just pissing in.
From my numbers that a leak success rate of 75% on new VAG vehicles.
Anyone else had significant VAG leak issues?
My last 3 vehicles have all been VW & two of those (Golf VI & VII) have both leaked significantly, the VI being the worst, leaking from rear door seals, rear door membranes & hi-level brake light, basically just pissing in.
From my numbers that a leak success rate of 75% on new VAG vehicles.
Anyone else had significant VAG leak issues?
Not significant, but my door seal on my Cupra is s
te. If it's been raining during the night, when I get in the car, I'll get dripped on my right arm for a few minutes. More so of an issue right now with the ice, the door lets in water, which freezes and I feel like I'm going to pull the handle off when I try to open the door. Condensation on the inside can be fairly bad in the cold mornings too.
te. If it's been raining during the night, when I get in the car, I'll get dripped on my right arm for a few minutes. More so of an issue right now with the ice, the door lets in water, which freezes and I feel like I'm going to pull the handle off when I try to open the door. Condensation on the inside can be fairly bad in the cold mornings too.Never had an issue with an assortment of VAGs. They've all been water tight.
The only time I've had damp windscreens, which subsequently froze overnight, was caused by condensation from snow and water brought in from shoes.
Worth checking the various drainage channels aren't blocked with leaves etc. The B6 A4 was notorious for leaf blockages in the bulkhead causing a flooded passenger floor, which often resulted in a written off body control ECU. Current Audis may need similar precautions. Worth checking a model specific forum.
The only time I've had damp windscreens, which subsequently froze overnight, was caused by condensation from snow and water brought in from shoes.
Worth checking the various drainage channels aren't blocked with leaves etc. The B6 A4 was notorious for leaf blockages in the bulkhead causing a flooded passenger floor, which often resulted in a written off body control ECU. Current Audis may need similar precautions. Worth checking a model specific forum.
rottenegg said:
Never had an issue with an assortment of VAGs. They've all been water tight.
The only time I've had damp windscreens, which subsequently froze overnight, was caused by condensation from snow and water brought in from shoes.
Worth checking the various drainage channels aren't blocked with leaves etc. The B6 A4 was notorious for leaf blockages in the bulkhead causing a flooded passenger floor, which often resulted in a written off body control ECU. Current Audis may need similar precautions. Worth checking a model specific forum.
No leaf blockages, the leak was apparent about 2 weeks from new & is steadily getting worse - didn't really pay much attention as it's almost come to be expected, but having to scrape the ice from the inside of a 4 month old car got under my skin a bit. It's definitely a build issue, sealant / membrane or whatever.The only time I've had damp windscreens, which subsequently froze overnight, was caused by condensation from snow and water brought in from shoes.
Worth checking the various drainage channels aren't blocked with leaves etc. The B6 A4 was notorious for leaf blockages in the bulkhead causing a flooded passenger floor, which often resulted in a written off body control ECU. Current Audis may need similar precautions. Worth checking a model specific forum.
After the shenanigans of multiple dealer visits & numerous leaks "identified & resolved" trying to get the VW's sorted, I'm reluctant to even go down that route - the Audi dealer is over 100 miles away & it's potential a huge pain. I think the easiest thing to do at the moment is to wait until there is a definite sign of water ingress, wet carpet, boot or so on & then contact the dealer.
Though that Audi QC may be better than this - next door is a dyed in the wool BMW man has watched me wiping windscreens down for the last 7 or 8 years while over a few 5's he has never had to do it...
Buy/sell 20+ Audis monthly, service/fix many more across VAG, had one water leak in the last year on a newish car. RS6 with a warped sunroof cassette, assumed manufacture defect. Audi agreed and replaced under warranty.
The others we see on older cars generally tend to stem from blockages and poor workmanship/re-assembly.
Frustrating for you (and shouldn't happen) but I think you've been particularly unlucky and I don't think that's representative of a wider problem.
The others we see on older cars generally tend to stem from blockages and poor workmanship/re-assembly.
Frustrating for you (and shouldn't happen) but I think you've been particularly unlucky and I don't think that's representative of a wider problem.
Just joined to say I feel your pain! Have had never ending misting on numerous VW cars in the winter. It's been a painful process to track down the source(s), the trouble is I like the cars since they're cheap to buy and DIY/run.
From new/nearly new the dealers pretend they've no idea what you're talking about! Internet forums say a different story.
My T5.1 Transporter has done it from new, no obvious signs to start with but the passenger door was showing water marks at the bottom edge. Slowly got worse, just took the window regulator off, foam seal rotting already, 5 years old and only done 20k. Butyl rubber sealed, hosepipe for ten mins, now bone dry, hopefully fixed. Had to do this before on the cars.
From new/nearly new the dealers pretend they've no idea what you're talking about! Internet forums say a different story.
My T5.1 Transporter has done it from new, no obvious signs to start with but the passenger door was showing water marks at the bottom edge. Slowly got worse, just took the window regulator off, foam seal rotting already, 5 years old and only done 20k. Butyl rubber sealed, hosepipe for ten mins, now bone dry, hopefully fixed. Had to do this before on the cars.
Novexx said:
rottenegg said:
Never had an issue with an assortment of VAGs. They've all been water tight.
The only time I've had damp windscreens, which subsequently froze overnight, was caused by condensation from snow and water brought in from shoes.
Worth checking the various drainage channels aren't blocked with leaves etc. The B6 A4 was notorious for leaf blockages in the bulkhead causing a flooded passenger floor, which often resulted in a written off body control ECU. Current Audis may need similar precautions. Worth checking a model specific forum.
No leaf blockages, the leak was apparent about 2 weeks from new & is steadily getting worse - didn't really pay much attention as it's almost come to be expected, but having to scrape the ice from the inside of a 4 month old car got under my skin a bit. It's definitely a build issue, sealant / membrane or whatever.The only time I've had damp windscreens, which subsequently froze overnight, was caused by condensation from snow and water brought in from shoes.
Worth checking the various drainage channels aren't blocked with leaves etc. The B6 A4 was notorious for leaf blockages in the bulkhead causing a flooded passenger floor, which often resulted in a written off body control ECU. Current Audis may need similar precautions. Worth checking a model specific forum.
After the shenanigans of multiple dealer visits & numerous leaks "identified & resolved" trying to get the VW's sorted, I'm reluctant to even go down that route - the Audi dealer is over 100 miles away & it's potential a huge pain. I think the easiest thing to do at the moment is to wait until there is a definite sign of water ingress, wet carpet, boot or so on & then contact the dealer.
Though that Audi QC may be better than this - next door is a dyed in the wool BMW man has watched me wiping windscreens down for the last 7 or 8 years while over a few 5's he has never had to do it...
If there is no water under the carpets, then it's likely a HVAC issue, especially as it's mainly the windscreen. Possibly a cracked heater matrix.
That happened to me years ago. There was a very slight separation in the matrix where plastic meets metal. Enough to drip small amounts of coolant into the HVAC box and condense on the screen, but not enough to register as a significant coolant loss. Eventually it did get worse and the coolant would drop, say, a mug full a month.
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