Water in the footwell - mold

Hi,

Last weekend, I discovered mold in the rear left footwell.
Okay, so quickly remove the driver's seat, verschandeln the carpet, lift the carpet and remove the soundproofing mat so that it can dry.

Today, I see that the metal is wet again, but I can't find any visible signs of water leakage.

At the weld seam of the inner sill, I noticed a small leak – so I took a look in the footwell area.

OH SHIT

The water was about a centimeter deep, roughly the thickness of a finger. The textile fiber padding was completely soaked, and everything smelled like disgusting mold. I was so shocked that I didn't take any pictures until after my first attempts to wipe it clean.

Beneath the textile damping mats, there are two plastic mats at the front that (obviously) have sand-filled chambers (those gray things).

Okay, everything has been removed.

Okay, I'm going to go for a ride now without any covering, to see if I can spot any entry points or if the water has always been there.

I will buy new soundproofing mats because I don't want to constantly drive around with mold in the car .

Again, about 50 euros wasted on alcohol...

If the water has been there for a while, it's clear why it hasn't gone away.
The textile damproofing layer is reinforced with bitumen (or a similar substance) on top, which naturally provides excellent sealing.

Here are some more pictures of the massacre:

Hello Martin,

Does the Golf have air conditioning? If not, a check of the water level in the reservoir is necessary -> possibly the drain channels are blocked and the water is slowly leaking through the spray bar. The next possible cause is the lower part of the windshield. For example, in the Audi 80, water ingress through the windshield is a standard feature.

Please also check the following:
- the operation of the sunroof (if applicable)
- All bristles in the splash guard or on the vehicle floor (correct seat position).
- holes in the doors where the door handle mechanism is located.

@Yankee, could you please put your avatar or similar content in a section of your website that is not password-protected? Every user who accesses this thread will receive a message asking them to enter a password.

Thank you for the tips.

I will probably have to drive around like this for now, because with this weather, I'm not doing any tests outside to see where the water might be coming in, otherwise I'll end up with an ice rink in the car .

What's frustrating me is that I couldn't find anything anywhere that looked like a leak. And the amount of water that was down there couldn't have gotten there "unseen."

The spray booth mats are dry!

Hey, as soon as the frost is gone, I'm going to take my car through the car wash a few times.

Greetings.
m;

The sealing material behind the door panel might also be the issue. In my Golf II, it was just a film, and it leaked occasionally. In my girlfriend's Polo, it was made of a kind of foamed material and was broken in three places. However, it's not easy to see, you really have to look closely at that black material. Here too, a considerable amount of water had entered the interior.
You wouldn't have noticed it at all, you could only see it after you removed the cardboard from the door.

Hi,

The interior of my old Escort was once completely flooded, about 2 cm deep, and that was after just half a day of rain. After wiping it dry, everything was fine again (despite an intensive search, no leak was found), until suddenly, after 8 weeks, there was again a bucketful of water in the interior. Reason: Depending on the car's position, the water would run down the driver's side window, between the window and the rubber seal, down the interior door panel, and then through a leaky adhesive joint between the door panel and the interior trim, into the interior of the car.
Water always finds the most unlikely paths, so be careful when searching for leaks.

Regarding the advice from previous commenters: please check the lines and pipes to see if they might be frozen due to the weather.

Regards,
Sure, here is the translation of the text from German to English:

"Micha"

If you're constantly stepping in snow with your shoes, it can happen in this kind of weather, and you can end up searching high and low for the leak.
I once had that in an AUDI 80, manufactured in 1979.
Back then, it was exactly as you predicted – I had a layer of ice forming in the footwell in the morning.

@Yankee, could you please put your avatar or similar content in a section of your website that is not password-protected? Every user who accesses this thread will receive the message to please enter a password.

Thank you for the information! I hope the problem no longer exists.

Hi,

Before I throw away all those moldy parts, I would rather soak them in alcohol and let them dry thoroughly.

Best regards, Rainer.

Hello dieselmartin,

Is your car parked on an uneven surface? I've experienced something similar. Water seeps through the filled groove of the rubber seal that sits on the metal lip of the door opening, and ends up in the footwell. In my case, it's due to the way I park, specifically the rear right side. I had to search quite a bit to find the exact spot where the water was entering. It's right where the interior door sill trim, made of KST plastic, is divided. The part that runs from the rear B-pillar and ends just inside the arch of the rear door opening. There, it lifts the water and channels it as a thin stream into the footwell. I figured it out by using paper towels.

Best regards, Robert.

No, usually the car is parked in the garage.

Otherwise, if nowhere else, then at least here.

But thank you for the tip.

I'm increasingly thinking that the GSD process eventually went wrong, and things started to go downhill. Now (hopefully he's free again), I certainly can't find a ticket booth anymore.

If it's warmer, we'll flood the box - if I do that now, I'll have 10 cm of ice on top .

"I guess I'll just keep driving around in my car with the 'sport' package."

m;

hi Martin,

dieselmartin wrote:

.... I increasingly think that at some point, the GSD process went wrong, and the soup started flowing inwards.

When I read this sentence, I remembered that my 1Z once leaked. I searched for a long time until I found the leak.
It was a detached drain hose from GSD. The roof lining directed the water into the side panels on the A and B pillars, and the water stopped in the footwell. Surprisingly, the roof lining was completely watertight from the top, and there were no visible signs of water on it. I only noticed the problem after I had disassembled it.

If the hose is disconnected, I shouldn't be able to pass a pipe cleaner from top to bottom, right?

That's actually the next thing I was planning to do.


m;

dieselmartin wrote:

If the hose is disconnected, I shouldn't be able to pass a pipe cleaner from top to bottom, right??

Yes, then you'll reach Nirvana...

@dieselmartin:
You can best remove mold with a steam cleaner.
The mold spores are then also dead, and the steam cleaner leaves no residue or marks on the fabric.