# 01 Golf - water in the right side cubby of trunk moving to floor under seat?



## DanylBritts (Aug 29, 2006)

after several days of rain i went into my backseat to grab my guitar and noticed a large amount of water in the rear passenger floor of my car. i felt around where the carpet meets the bottom door trim / b-pillars and didnt feel any water running down, nor did i see any stains in my headliner. i contemplated spilled water because i drove people home after playing a show, but didnt find a bottle and realized no one sat on that side of the car. 
after removing the backseats and attempting to soak up as much water as possible without removing the front seats, i started attempting to deduce this leak. i did a days worth of research here on the tex and checked almost every possibility sprung fourth by you, my fellow enthusiasts. i had only a short period of time after work to look around at my dads shop but what i came up with didnt make too much sense, so perhaps you all can help!








my dad and i ran some water in the sunroof (while it was open) and angled the car to see what, and how much, came out from the 4 corners. water seemed to come out all 4 corners, except the rear passenger side seemed a little.. hesitant and slow. we only managed to pour about 1/2 a cup of water through the sunroof and out the rear. most came out but we didnt measure how much made it from top to bottom. (i did have to feel around for the rear pass. nipple and after just grazing it with my finger tips, more water started to flow out. i just couldn't get a hold of it enough to squeeze and attempt to shoot out any debris)
we pulled back some interior trim from the passenger front seat, back to the rear hatch. the side trim revealed some water at the bottom of the compartment where the trunk light and rear right sunroof hose connect before the nipple. (lol, nipple) theres a wiring harness connected to a rubber boot at the bottom, surrounded by a shallow puddle of water. 








after some more water tests with the sunroof, we realized the hose was not leaking, not a bit of moisture had come out on the waters trip from top to bottom. we peeled the little boot off the brown drain hose just a little and saw moisture around the hose. 








even more strange, after disconnecting the light, we saw it had developed some rust. so now we're a little bit more confused. how is there enough pressure from either parked or driving in the rain, to shoot water up through/around that boot, if infact its the drain tube/boot leaking? perhaps its behing shot upward through a hole in the interior? or a bad seal on the tailight? (if there is one?)








my last idea is that the ishtty seal on my hatch lid is causing this build up of water?








i thought not because in that recess behind the passenger side interior in the trunk, there is a little 1/2 inch tall barrier down the middle. the side closest to the hatch seal is dry, but just over the 1/2 inch wall is a shallow puddle of water. (the barrier is along the green line)









my guess is that water is somehow coming through the drain tube boot, just before the nipple, and leaking in that little corridor in the corner of the car, and because its higher than the rear passenger floor, its traveling downward towards the floor causing the buildup. there was easily a 1/2-1 cup of water throughout the floor and just shy of a 1/4 cup in the hatch drain tube recess. 
after a while of poking and prodding, i was a little stumped. i soaked up as much water as i could find and called it a night. in conclusion, my questions are;
1. how do you access the rear passenger drain nipple without removing the bumper?
2. is there any way for the drain tube to gather enough pressure to shoot water around the boot and cause rust on the trunk light?
3. is there a seal on the tail light that could be damaged/loose and cause leaking into the flooding?
thanks and brews to everyone who is reading this and those willing to give me your input. i should prob. make a DIY for this once i start figuring this all out. the Leaky Sunroof DIY is for a Jetta and is just slightly different for the 4 door Golf in terms of the nipple location.


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## DanylBritts (Aug 29, 2006)

TTT!


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## DanylBritts (Aug 29, 2006)

*Re: (DanylBritts)*

so after tearing out the interior i checked the source of the leak. its hard to say which is causing the abundance of water. the seal seems to have a drip into the spare tire well. and at the same spot where the seal is leaking, the foam backing on the taillight is drawing water behind the taillight down the side of the car and into the rear passenger floor. here are the pix
here is the simultaneous seal/taillight foam leak point








this smudge trail is the water's path on the inner side of the seal. (im holding the top portion of the seal back to show there is no damage, its coming from underneath the seal, not in the middle)








here you can see where the water is being drawn into the foam and down into the car, hence the puddle in the back corner behind the light








ultimately, it could easily have been loose taillight bolts and that made a bad seal around the foam taillight seal and easily let water in. 
some perhaps useful info on the car: the guy i bought the car from said it had been rear ended but professionally fixed. the guys was a pretty legit guy, graduated UCLA, had a govt. job. was a good dude, 2 kids and jazz. this was his first new 0 mile car and babied it till i got the keys at 65k. i would assume he wasnt lying and had it professionally fixed. 
now where the taillight and that foam are wet, right there the edge of the taillight frame sheet metal feels a little concave till it starts to curve down the left side of the light and then feels flat. 








im assuming this could have slightly been damaged and not repaired 100% and the slightest bend could allow water in. the taillight frame it seems factory but i should probably take off the driver side light and check that taillight frame aswell.


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## DanylBritts (Aug 29, 2006)

*Re: (DanylBritts)*

so i did a little more snooping and testing and am a little closer to figuring this out. i poured some water along the rear pillar and noted where it went. 
its getting in between where these 2 sheets of metal meet. (the blue line is just below where the seam is, and the circle is where the water enters the vehicle. 








still water is getting through the seal (as if its traveling upwards along the seam, via suction or something) (i reused this pic)









and if you look upwards behind the taillight, you can see the underside of those same pieces of sheet metal where the water leaks through. 








i have a plan and im just going to use some outdoor non adhesive caulk and basically divert the water. its coming in through a bad seam (bad weld maybe?) on the outside of the rear pass. pillar. hopefully the silicone will fill the gap and help divert the water appropriately http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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