Leaking Doors?

[Taurean]

Could someone please confirm that if they have experienced wet door syndrome.

That when the conditions are right ie, very cold, etc, that condensation forms on the inside of the windows which proves a little too much for the Air Conditioning to de-humidify.

Also when we have a freeze this also freezes on the inside of the windows. As a result it proves very strange that when you de-ice the windows outside you also have to de-ice the windows from the inside. This is a right pain to say the least.

I have spoken to numerous dealerships around my area (Manchester) and also the AA Seat assistance service and no-one is aware of dampness problem on the interior of the car and therefore can't offer any suggestions.

Can any of you help me. PLLLEEEEEEAAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEE!

Leon TDI 110 SE Imperial Blue

 

[SJFISHER67]

Wet Doors

I have experienced leaking doors too, and my Leon is about to go into the garage to be fixed and the problem sorted.

I spoke to a couple of sales men and service engineers, and although the service guys said they had no memory of such problems the sales guys DID, mines the third Leon to go back in less than a year of ownership.

It has something to do with the seals at the bottom of the doors, which suffocate the drain holes when the doors are closed, i have had to resort to inserting a plastic tyre lever between the inner door fascia at the bottom to reduce water levels in the sill area of the door.

COME ON SEAT - Sort it out!

 

[DaveP]

Sorry to highjack the thread but you mention that you have changed your speakers - to what and what kind of improvement did you get?

 

[Taurean]

Well DaveP I will forgive you.

But just this once.

With regards to your question I have replaced the factory units with Infinity units. I have fitted 655cs components in the front doors and 652.3I Kappa 2 way speakers in the rear doors. I am also powering these with the Kenwood MP3 player via a 4 channel Infinity amp. To provide adequate Bass I have Twin 10" Kenwood subs in a boxed enclosure powered by a 600 watt Boschmann amp (not brilliant quality but plenty of punch).

The result is extremely loud and crisp. I am still tweaking the frequency filters on the amp's to find the right set up between front and rear speakers.

I am now looking at getting some 17" jobbies fitted to my car to assist in the looks department (assist only as I think the Leon looks great to start with). I have been looking at Fox 5 premier's in Titanium unless someone else has any suggestions.

 

[mrkev]

No fault found

I have been reading this thread with great interest over the past week or so and thought I might reply.

I have a Leon 1.8SE registered in aug 2000 and I would say that I don't have a "problem" with leaking in my car.

I only tend to use the car mainly at weekends (walk to work) and have never noticed the water leaking into the interior. Yes, the bottom of the doors do get wet and the sill can show some presence of water but not to the degree you have descibed.

Maybe I will only really know if there is something wrong by taking the door panels off.... which I might do soon.

Just thought I'd mention this.

 

[TechNick]

soggy floor

Having previously only suffered with water collection in the door sills, this morning I noticed that a cardboard box that I had left in the N/S Rear footwell was decidedly soggy!
The car gets used every day, so it didn't have much time for water to build up.
Couldn't see any evidence of how the water got in, only that the carpet and mat were soaked through...

With so many people experiencing these problems, I wondered if anyone had come up with a good solution as to how to dry the carpets/mats between soakings?
...removing the mat from under the seat and leaving it propped on its edge within the car all day didn't seem to help much ...and there's only so much driving with the heater on full blast that I can cope with!


Nick.

 

[Mosser]

When i had a leak in my renault espace a while back, i put a 2kw heater in my car and ran an extension lead out through a window to power it,

Left it on overnight and by the morning it was bone dry!! (also had a really hot car to get into the next morning and no ice at all!!)(it was winter)

 

[TechNick]

2kw heater

hmmm, interesting idea!

...might just give it a go!

 

[Taurean]

Great idea but seeing as you had a Renault Espace you must be rather flush.

Also this must be true in order to afford the HUGE!!! bills from doing that every winters night. After all with all that (e)space to heat it must have took sometime to take affect.

Next time if you need to do this again borrow my mum, she is cheaper than the electricity that you will use and kicks out huge volumes of Hot air and therefore would prove most useful me think.

 

[Mosser]

Lol !!!, i only did it once when i decided to wash the carpet in it but got a bit too enthusiastic with the wetting dial on the washing machine!!, and it was a company car so i didnt have to pay for it

 

[RichardG]

Read my posts earlier in this thread.

The water finds it way from the window seal down the interioir panel and then collects next to the speaker. Sometimes leaking into the car through the speaker, or the mounting rivets or through the seal just below the speaker.

It's a design fault that SEAT are trying to ignore - my dealer has done all he can (replaced and siliconed everything!) and is now waiting for a visit from the area technical guy. On the day that he turns up I taking my car to show him!

The problem is, as someone has just correctly pointed out, it can take a day or so for the built-up water to seap through the seal/speaker.

Attack your dealer and SEAT UK.

They have to sort this soon - it really starting bug me.

 

[PipSqueak111]

RichardG, there are 2 forms of leaking door problem. You are correct in saying that some owners like yourself have water coming from the interior panel, but the majority of people I have spoken to that had leaking doors, had water trapped in the sill coming up over the door seal. The latter cause is easier to fix, and in many cases has been. Really, you should start a new poll, asking those that have had leaking doors whether it came from the interior panel or from a build-up in the sill. Only then can you truly guage the level of the problem with the interior panel.

Sorry if this reply sounds a bit harsh, but I think this subject was getting a bit confused.

Phill

 

[Dean Bufton]

I think it is the same problem though Pipsqueak.

I originally thought that water was collecting in the sill area of the doors. However, since having trapped water in my rear door I have since come to the conclusion that the water runs into the sill area from the door trim. Just quickly check underneath the door trim on the door, if you have that tell tale splash when you open the door.

At the end of the day, water is getting into the car via the door.

SEAT please fix!

 

[Brian27]

Fingers crossed, we do not have a water leak problem, so far, on our Leon.

As a suggestion, if a "Door Leak Protest Meet" was arranged at SEAT UK's headquarters in Milton Keynes and suitable signs and banners were displayed on the cars highlighting the door problems then I'm sure a few car magazines and local, even national press would give some coverage if notified of the event.

SEAT UK might just sit up and take some notice too.

Just a suggestion............!

 

[JonesDonhue]

My car is still sitting in the drive with 2 soaking wet rear passenger footwells, as I have to wait a week to be seen by the local dealer. This will be the second time this has happened, and I had to wait 2 weeks the last time (so they must be improving eh? )

I have just sent an email to Seat UK (a very polite one I think) asking them to confirm the presence of a manufacturing fault and details of the plans to rectify the situation. This is stage one in my campaign, if the dealer is unable to fix the car next Monday, I want to reject it as it is not of a reasonable quality considering it was purchased from new. Having previously failed to reject a Pug in the past (basically because of dilly-dallying on my part and delays as the dealer and manufacturer played ping-pong with the blame - it was too late) I am not going to make the same mistake again.

Trouble is it is an import brokered by Virgin Cars. They are next to useless on even simple things so I won't be bothering them, so I have to deal with the Dutch dealer they had used. I am sure (as someone else has confirmed) that Seat UK will refuse to take responsibility for this (scandalous). This will all get very complicated very quickly and probably get bogged down from the word go.

We want to try to avoid negative publicity for the brand as it will affect us all in lower resale value etc, so we want to work with Seat to resolve this. But we can't accept the current situation. I hope everyone experiencing these problems is writing to or emailing Seat UK?

Solidarity brothers!

Lee J

 

[RichardG]

PipSqueak111 ,

I don't think your response was harsh at all - and yes all Leons do suffer from the exterior door seals trapping water on the 'steps'. This can be rectified by cutting slots in the seal at the very bottom of the door.

But if you read back through the thread you will notice comments with regard to excessive dampness inside the cars and damp floor mats that can not be explained. I didn't realise I had any problems at all for over six months because my car got put away in the garage every night!

Earlier in this thread I posted some images of ice that had formed on the inside of my doors - graphically illustrating where the water can get in. But it does all related to the time a car is left standing, amount of rain and angle of the car.

Nevertheless is it not reasonable to expect SEAT to supply cars that are watertight? :-(

As Dean says - the doors let water in - simple as that. As it is a design fault then even the best Dealer Service Department in the country will have a hard job fixing it.

Please lets not worry about starting new threads and tightening up the subject matter - instead look at how long this thread is - if everyone wrote to SEAT UK then they could hardly ignore the issue.

Get writing those letters gents. :rockon:

 

[AndyD]

I've just got mine back from Parkstone today (it went in on Friday) and apparently, my leak was down to a 4 inch gap in the seal of the bulkhead by the A Pillar. They also found a faulty door seal on the near-side rear door.

Touch wood everything should be fine. So far I've had (in 7 months)

3 visits to Parkstone for faulty climate control (Gas Leak)
2 visits for faulty door seals
1 new engine
1 further visit for curing more leaks and build quality issues.

Seat are going to get a letter and I want some kind of compensation. To be fair Parkstone have been really good - I don't blame them, just some lazy dago who couldn't be bothered to build my car properly.

 

[JonesDonhue]

Fixed !

At last, I think my leaking doors have been cured! Great Covert of Southampton had the car for a couple of days, it pissed down yesterday and, on opening the doors, not a drop! I think they mentioned sorting out the drainage for the front doors although the flood in the back of my car was due to the back doors.

Sorted, well done Great Covert!

Lee J

 

[Mivy]

I've been battling with a leaky door problem since i first got my Leon in September 2000. Initially it was only a problem with my rear passenger door & I've taken it to my local dealer 3 times now in an attempt to get it fixed. Each time they appear surprised it wasn't fixed before.

My car's been sat in the same spot during the week as I'm working away and now both the driver's side doors are leaking. It appears to be worse when the car is at an angle - the camber on my road is steep and tips the car towards the pavement.

I'm quite fed-up with this leak and I'm finding the resultant smell of wet-wool in my car embarassing!

 

[Mosser]

My car has been sat outside my house now since sunday evening and i went out to test my vag-com and found that all the doors were full to the brim of water and the passengers door had spilled over and leaked loads of water into the footwell, and i now have a musty smell from my car and permanently steamed up windows,

The worst bit is that because my engine wont run i currently have no way to dry the carpets out!!, i cant put a heater in my car overnight cos i live in a first floor flat, and if i cant get a coil for my engine before the 8th march i dread to think what sort of state the carpets (and the smell) will be like in over 4 weeks time!,

This is not good ,

My car is going to rot away from the inside