Beetle water leak from windshield cowl into driver foot well (?)

[caldercay]

(2001 Beetle with sunroof)

Recently, after 2-3 days rain, my daughter said that the
driver's side carpet was soaked. If you check the photos
in the link below, I sprayed water into the plastic cowl
cover and my daughter said water was dripping onto
the carpet, where your left leg would sit.

I took the wipers off and the plastic cowl cover and
noticed there are 2 "drain holes" about 1" long right under
where the wiper is. So I ran water down into those holes
and water again dripped into the driver foot well.

When I look up under the driver's side dash, I see there
is a flat, plastic (horizontal) panel which goes from the
dash to the firewall, so I'm thinking water is coming in
on this side of the firewall, and is flowing along this
horizontal panel and finally dripping onto the floor.

Any ideas on what the issue is and how to correct it?
I've found postings about the sunroof drain lines, but
I've not been able to find anything about how the water
should be draining for the cowl.

Picasa Web Albums - calder - beetle

[macdave]

I'd first check the sunroof drains.

[caldercay]

Originally Posted by macdave

I'd first check the sunroof drains.

Yea, I can understand how that might happen,
but as I said, I *only* ran water into that
front cavity, on the driver's side, under
the plastic cowl cover. I also ran water
onto the cowl cover before I removed it and
water eventually dripped onto the driver's
side foot well.

Maybe there's a firewall grommet that is
known to go bad?

I've a new link to an album with more photos:
Picasa Web Albums - calder - beetle

[nroakley]

I've dealt three times in the last year with a wet passenger floorboard now. I thought I solved the problem last winter when I found a clogged drain at the top of the strut under the cowl on the passenger side.

Last week, the passenger front carpet was wet again. I've lifted the carpet, pulled the pad, and run a heater to dry it out. I then put a water hose on the windshield and watched for leaks. I can see a small stream of water running down the interior firewall onto the floor; this stream is closer to the door than it is to the center console. Any ideas how it could be getting in there? The drain at the top of the strut is open. FYI - no sunroof on this vehicle. . . been there, done that.

[gburgkevin]

After a very rainy November, my Beetle's rear driver's side floor had puddled water. The driver's side floor is wet all the way up onto the firewall. I don't have a sunroof, the door seal is dry, and the car has been sitting, so it's got to be leaking in from the windshield. If you find a resolution to your problem, let me know.

My car sits a lot under the trees, so if there are drains under the windshield cowl, they could very easily be clogged with tree detrius. I'll be taking it apart tomorrow to take a closer look. My guess is there's a clogged drain or drain hose, and that when water sits on the shelf there, it can overflow into the car.

[gburgkevin]

Okay, so I finally got to look at this problem, and I'm trying to imagine worse engineering.

Under the wipers is a plastic cowl with three (four?) drain holes in it that allow water to drain off the windshield onto a metal shelf, which extends into the passenger compartment, under the top dash covers.

From there, water drains down an opening near the A pillar, but it's all open. If the path to the A pillar drain(which is really not very sloped) is obstructed, even a little, water will "breach" the lip of this metal shelf and flow right into the front foot compartment.

Advice: never let leaves, pine needles, etc. build up on the cowl at the base of the windshield. It's not a terribly hard thing to take apart and clean up, but it's several hours worth of work.

Originally Posted by gburgkevin

After a very rainy November, my Beetle's rear driver's side floor had puddled water. The driver's side floor is wet all the way up onto the firewall. I don't have a sunroof, the door seal is dry, and the car has been sitting, so it's got to be leaking in from the windshield. If you find a resolution to your problem, let me know.

My car sits a lot under the trees, so if there are drains under the windshield cowl, they could very easily be clogged with tree detrius. I'll be taking it apart tomorrow to take a closer look. My guess is there's a clogged drain or drain hose, and that when water sits on the shelf there, it can overflow into the car.

[B-Power-B]

I too have been dealing with water puddleing up on the front passenger side. It seems to be coming from way up towards the firewall. I have checked and recheck all of my sun roof drains, but it does not seem to be the problem.
Did you drains on the cowl get clogged? If so how did you unclog them?

[a_laugh_a_day]

My '04 Beetle has that same issue on the passenger side; whenever it rains, it leaks into the passenger area and then the carpet smells mildewy for a day or two. I figured out that there is a missing part that lets the rain run off through the tire wells (I think it's through the tirewells). It's the cabin (or pollen?) filter cover so it's as if the previous owner forgot to put the cover back on after replacing the filter. Such a bummer. I haven't yet bought the part and to put it back on because 1) I haven't had the chance to buy it and 2) It doesn't rain enough where I'm at to make it a high priority. I don't have my notes with me, because I have the part number at home.

So my thought is, maybe there's a cover or something that's missing on the driver's side. (??)

[WonderWoman]

Your drain is plugged from your sunroof. You need to look at this link to understand how it works...

Winterize - Sun Roof Drains

[fredshef]

My daughter is experiencing the same problem in her 2000 New Beetle with a wet driver's side (and sometimes passenger side) floorboard after heavy rains. She is coming home from college for the weekend and I'd like to try to fix the problem for her tonight. However, as I recall there is a plastic part which appears to be sealed to the windshield. Is that easy to remove? Did you have to re-apply sealant when you put it back on? Any details you can give about the procedure for disassembling and cleaning that cowl drain would be greatly appreciated!

[Fl_bug]

Originally Posted by fredshef

My daughter is experiencing the same problem in her 2000 New Beetle with a wet driver's side (and sometimes passenger side) floorboard after heavy rains. She is coming home from college for the weekend and I'd like to try to fix the problem for her tonight. However, as I recall there is a plastic part which appears to be sealed to the windshield. Is that easy to remove? Did you have to re-apply sealant when you put it back on? Any details you can give about the procedure for disassembling and cleaning that cowl drain would be greatly appreciated!

This has been recalled by Vw Take it to a dealership and they should do this for you for free

[VeeDubGuy84]

Originally Posted by gburgkevin

Okay, so I finally got to look at this problem, and I'm trying to imagine worse engineering.

Under the wipers is a plastic cowl with three (four?) drain holes in it that allow water to drain off the windshield onto a metal shelf, which extends into the passenger compartment, under the top dash covers.

From there, water drains down an opening near the A pillar, but it's all open. If the path to the A pillar drain(which is really not very sloped) is obstructed, even a little, water will "breach" the lip of this metal shelf and flow right into the front foot compartment.

Advice: never let leaves, pine needles, etc. build up on the cowl at the base of the windshield. It's not a terribly hard thing to take apart and clean up, but it's several hours worth of work.

As if the wet floor isn't bad enough with the musty smell it can cause, too much water leaks in and it will ruin the drivers side airbag module. I've had this problem on my daughter's '98 Beetle. When we bought the car 3 years ago the cowl area was loaded with pine needles and leaves which I cleaned out, maybe not well enough. A few months later the airbag light comes on. Mechanic found the airbag module under the seat full of water. $503.00!! Ouch! Jeff

[zcomm]

I have a 2005 Beetle (no sunroof) with the same problem - leak from cowl to inside the driver's compartment. I couldn't get the nuts off my wipers so I took it into the mechanic today.

Even though the cowl was clear of leaves and debris, I guess the hose into which it drained was not. $100 to clean out the drain hose. Mechanic said that he sees it all the time on VWs.

[cbutz]

I have a 2001 Beetle with Turbo which I have really enjoyed but now of course am starting to have some problems, most recently the leaking inside onto the floor, front passenger side mostly, but also driver side front, and both sides back when it is raining really hard. After reading everyone's information I am pretty sure the water is coming in through the drainage area under the wind shield because I see the leak coming from beneath the glove box. I would like to take the cowl cover off to clean out any debris, but it looks like it (the cover) was sealed to the wind shield, and I wonder if it needs to be re-sealed when I put it back on. Also, I wonder where I could get a replacement for the cowl cover, besides a vw dealer or a junk yard? I haven't had any luck finding one anywhere on line so far. There is an approx. 4 cm hole right in the middle of the cover. Otherwise I intend to glue some screening to the underside of the hole. I will greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you

[cbutz]

How does one clean the drain?

[dnyed]

A straightened out coat hanger, a length of CAT5, a thick plastic strand, such as a thick Weed Eater string....lots of things you can use. Good luck to you, and everyone.

[cbutz]

Thank you for that info! Hope to be able to give a favorable report.

[silverliquid1013]

I've cleaned my sunroof drains and the cowel is clean and my door seals are fine and I still get water dripping onto the drivers side floor. I've come to the conclusion that its the windshield seal or something along those lines. :\

[cbutz]

I finally was able to get my windshield wipers off...a little liquid wrench helped a lot. Then I could take the cowl cover off. I had been able to run a thicker weed wacker line from the moon roof to under the cowl and the water drain quite well from roof to cowl but welled up under the cowl. I had vacuumed under the cowl, but eventually had to dig around the drain area to loosen packed-in debris. I found a small vac extension that allowed me to vacuum more in that area. After all that, the water drained quickly. So far, no more leaking on my floors! And BTW, if you ever need to replace the cowl cover (mine had a big hole in it) I found that the best place to find one was a salvage yard. Online parts sites didn't even seem to know what I was talking about. Salvage yard only charged $20.

[cbutz]

Forgot to thank everyone for sharing their experiences and advice. It all really helped. Thank you!