Water in doors?

[bevans]

Hi,

I looked at a very nice 2001 Toledo 2.3 V5 on Saturday. I am very close to buying it but it did have a couple of bits wrong with it, I just wanted to know if they are serious?

1) When I opened the doors water seemed to come out of them, I have searched online and this seems to be a known problem with Toledo's. Something to do with a build up of wax blocking the drainage holes? Now as a Toledo novice and not having much (any) mechanical ability is this something serious / easy to fix?

2) Disks had rust on. Now I know the car had been stood for a couple of weeks (still fired up beautifully) and I understand that you get blotches of rust on the disks even if it's stood for a couple of days but when we took it for a spin it sounded like the front passengers side disk was rubbing. I don't know if this is because of the rust (most of which rubbed off after the 5 min test drive)?

3) On revving the engine (stationary) there was a metallic kind of sound which seemed to be coming from the induction. Not concerning as such but just a little out of sorts. Again I don't know if this is just how they sound?

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Muttley]

Water on the sills: this is usually caused by the seal between the ancilliary carrier (wot carries the window mechanism, speakers etc) and the door frame starting to leak. It's a bit of poor design (carrier should fit inside the door frame at the bottom,not outside) and a self-adhesive closed-cell foam seal that breaks down after a few years. The fix is not difficult, there is an improved seal material available from a dealer and you have to disassemble the door partially. The first door might take you a couple of hours, the rest a lot less. If left alone, the water will eventually leak inside the car and pool in the floor well under the carpet - check by prodding the carpet in the rear seats to see if it's wet. At this point you also need to take the carpets up and dry them out.

As you already said, disks will rust - they are cast iron after all. If the rubbing noise persists after a few stops, then check to see if the rust has all rubbed off - rear as well as front. Might indicate a stuck piston, caliper or a handbrake problem.

Can't comment on the engine, have never had a VR car - the engine design appeals but the fuel consumption exceeds my fiscal resources

 

[Slimy]

My V5 has a metallic rattle when accelerating, it's a loose heatshield on the exhaust. I'll get round to fixing it eventually!

There is a huge amount of induction noise on the V5, most is smothered by the airbox but you can usually hear at least something. It's more important that it spins up smoothly from idle, that means the MAF sensor is fine.

My car also has leaky doors, I have the proper sealing material to fix it but not got round to it yet. You can get it done at SEAT, I think the going rate is £100-£150 but that's mostly labour. And yes, my discs also turn brown after being stationary for a week.

Hang on, you weren't looking at my car were you?

 

[bevans]

Thanks guys.

Reassuring to know that the door issue is not insurmountable, think I might go for it (subject to anything else becoming available in the next 24hrs).

 

[Slimy]

Thanks guys.

Reassuring to know that the door issue is not insurmountable, think I might go for it (subject to anything else becoming available in the next 24hrs).

Go for it. Don't forget, it is a nine year old car, so there will be things to fix. But the beauty of these cars is that they're the same problems that everyone else has already fixed and can provide good advice. I think out of the time I've been on here, there's only been one problem that someone had that wasn't part of the normal fault list.

Oh yeah, and there has been one account of someones car going up in flames, which isn't exactly fixable...hopefully that will stay as a one-off!!

 

[bevans]

Went for it.

2002 2.3 v5 72k on clock, full service history.

12 months MOT, 6 months tax. Black with beige (or cream whatever it is) half leather interior. £2,400 from a dealer, doesn't seem badly priced.

Drove it home, so smooth, so much power. Absolutely love it.

Noticed a little whiff of damp though so need to get those doors sorted ASAP. Also couldn't work out how to use the cruise control?

 

[Slimy]

Went for it.

2002 2.3 v5 72k on clock, full service history.

12 months MOT, 6 months tax. Black with beige (or cream whatever it is) half leather interior. £2,400 from a dealer, doesn't seem badly priced.

Drove it home, so smooth, so much power. Absolutely love it.

Noticed a little whiff of damp though so need to get those doors sorted ASAP. Also couldn't work out how to use the cruise control?

Yeah, that seems a good price for a dealer car, and it sounds like you're already enjoying it!!

The damp will be the doors, all that door water will be soaking into the car. And while you might not see it on the carpet, there's two inches of very absorbent sponge underneath! Keep the car in the sun for the next few days and it'll help dry things out. And get the doors fixed.

The cruise control is fairly easy to use. The left stalk is the control, the end button is for setting the speed and dropping it by 1mph, the one on the front is to switch it on, resume speed, and increase by 1mph. First thing, make sure it's on, you might as well have it always switched on as it still needs setting before it will do anything. The front switch should be in the middle.

When you get to your desired speed, press the end button and let the car take over. If you've not had cruise control before, it's a very odd feeling, but you'll soon get used to it. If you want to go slightly faster, flick the front switch to the left. Slightly slower, push the end button.

The gas pedal will let you go faster for overtaking, if you release it the car will drop to the cruise control speed. If you press the brake or the clutch, the control will deactivate. Flick the front switch to reactivate it again.

 

[Cupra Kid]

Damp could also be a pollen filter, again common on that year of leon/ toledo. Open the doors and look up from under them and see if the drain holes are clear, solving your water problem might just be as simple as cleaning debris out the holes.

On the positive side now the V5 is a great engine, I came within days of buying one but another MK2 popped up at the last minute. Plus you dont have half the problems the guys in the turbo engine cars have.

 

[bevans]

So I phoned my local VAG specialist and they reckon the 'bodge' job is to reseal it (£85-90 + VAT per door) or the best solution is to replace all four door panels! (£100 + VAT per door plus labour).

I'm not getting it done at that price! Unfortunately I am not in the least way practical minded so doing it myself isn't really an option either........ need to find somewhere cheaper!

 

[AP_V5]

Have you tried reading this thread for the door leak problem its really very good.

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=44216

 

[Slimy]

So I phoned my local VAG specialist and they reckon the 'bodge' job is to reseal it (£85-90 + VAT per door) or the best solution is to replace all four door panels! (£100 + VAT per door plus labour).

I'm not getting it done at that price! Unfortunately I am not in the least way practical minded so doing it myself isn't really an option either........ need to find somewhere cheaper!

I'm sorry, but that 'best solution' is bo11ocks!! They're replacing solid pieces of metal with solid pieces of metal, that's not where it leaks! Their 'bodge' job is what needs to be done, but even that is way overpriced. That's two hours labour per door plus new tape, it doesn't need to take that long.

You need to find a better local VAG specialist!

 

[andycupra]

the correct job is to reseal the door carriers, but in a way the dealer is right in that the way they reseal the doors is not to remove the dodgy seal and replace with new rubber type seal, all they do is run sealer over the top as this is what the seat 'fix' says to do.
Sometimes this works, sometimes not.

They are saying replace the carrier as this will come with a new seal, and would do the job. But only for a couple of years.

Im tempted to say ill do it for a much cheaper price having done two cars and can do it fairly quickly not, but i wont as ill get into trouble for advertising...

 

[bevans]

the correct job is to reseal the door carriers, but in a way the dealer is right in that the way they reseal the doors is not to remove the dodgy seal and replace with new rubber type seal, all they do is run sealer over the top as this is what the seat 'fix' says to do.
Sometimes this works, sometimes not.

They are saying replace the carrier as this will come with a new seal, and would do the job. But only for a couple of years.

Im tempted to say ill do it for a much cheaper price having done two cars and can do it fairly quickly not, but i wont as ill get into trouble for advertising...

Haha if you're in Southampton you're more than welcome to give it a go!

I'm gonna phone around some other places, seems to be quite a few VAG specialists round here so one of them must be able to do it for reasonable money. I do know a mechanic that I used on all my old cars but he's very much a bodge it to keep it running kind of guy, when I mentioned the door issue to him his suggestion was just to drill more holes in the bottom of the door to let the water out!

 

[andycupra]

to clarify, that wont help.

 

[bevans]

Much better, a guy my boss always uses will give the car a full service (plugs and all) and do all four doors for £245 (inc parts) and he'll do it this Friday.

Fine I could probably get it a little cheaper if I got the service done at Kwik Fit and attempted the doors myself but: 1) I wouldn't trust Kwik Fit to change an air filter let alone do a full service; and 2) I'd rather not spend a weekend breaking my doors only to have to later take them to a mechanic anyway!

I'll let you know if it fixes the problem!

 

[andycupra]

I would say thats a good price, assuming he does the job on the doors properly and he uses the correct plugs.. (i say that as on the turbos the plugs are £40 as are titanium.. although im not sure about yours, they may be cheaper plugs)

People on this forum tend to replace the seal with 'seal cord' which is a rubberised seal and does the job well.
Dealers simply use silicon sealant and cover the old seal and area in that. For some it has worked, for some not.

 

[Slimy]

the correct job is to reseal the door carriers, but in a way the dealer is right in that the way they reseal the doors is not to remove the dodgy seal and replace with new rubber type seal, all they do is run sealer over the top as this is what the seat 'fix' says to do.
Sometimes this works, sometimes not.

They are saying replace the carrier as this will come with a new seal, and would do the job. But only for a couple of years.

Im tempted to say ill do it for a much cheaper price having done two cars and can do it fairly quickly not, but i wont as ill get into trouble for advertising...

Andy, if that's what the bodge job consists of then I totally agree, it's a 50/50 chance of it working and not really worth doing. I thought the official SEAT fix was to replace the tape with a bitumen-like substance. I got a roll of the stuff off a fellow SCN'er, it is really nasty stuff and probably a nightmare to work with, but even looking at I can tell it'll sort the problem.

I also agree with the carrier replacement outcome as well. The new carrier will come with the rubber seal that is known to degrade over time, I've not seen any reports (yet) of the sticky replacement failing.

 

[andycupra]

Andy, if that's what the bodge job consists of then I totally agree, it's a 50/50 chance of it working and not really worth doing. I thought the official SEAT fix was to replace the tape with a bitumen-like substance. I got a roll of the stuff off a fellow SCN'er, it is really nasty stuff and probably a nightmare to work with, but even looking at I can tell it'll sort the problem.

I also agree with the carrier replacement outcome as well. The new carrier will come with the rubber seal that is known to degrade over time, I've not seen any reports (yet) of the sticky replacement failing.

My understanding is that the brief that went out to dealers from seat was basically to leave the carrier in place and cover it in sealant.
The black rubbery sticky seal cord that we all tend to use on here is not something that most dealers are aware of. Certainly not the 3 or 4 around here..

the first time i used the seal cord it was a hot day and i couldnt even get it off the backpaper it was so sticky and would have been a nightmare to use even if i could have. So i stuck it in the fridge for a while and it was much easier to use.

 

[Slimy]

My understanding is that the brief that went out to dealers from seat was basically to leave the carrier in place and cover it in sealant.
The black rubbery sticky seal cord that we all tend to use on here is not something that most dealers are aware of. Certainly not the 3 or 4 around here..

the first time i used the seal cord it was a hot day and i couldnt even get it off the backpaper it was so sticky and would have been a nightmare to use even if i could have. So i stuck it in the fridge for a while and it was much easier to use.

Excellent, just one more reason for me never to take my car to a dealers to get work done! Good job Midland VW is about ten minutes away from me!

Cheers for the fridge pointer, when I first got it I gave it a tug and couldn't see how to actually unwind it in one strip!

 

[bevans]

So got the service etc done today, despite me asking him to take the old foam seals out and replace them entirely the guy apparently just stuffed a load of sealant over what was already there . He said all of the seals were fine anyway though and couldn't see any other possible causes.

He's a good lad so if it carries on i'll just take the car back to him and i'm sure he'll sort it!

Everything else is fine although he says disks will need replacing within the next year.

However the final thing that is bugging me about the car is the Sat Nav. It all works in that it switches on and I can enter details etc but it can't seem to find out where it is (which is a problem for a sat nav!). I entered my manual location and it managed to get to within about 50 yards of my house, then when I drive it seems to be following it correctly but is always out then it just tails off.

Yesterday for example it seemed to think I was driving to work through the Solent!!! (would explain the damp smell though......). When I click 'settings' and then 'GPS receiver' (or something like that) it says 25 satellites but 0 being received and that it has no GPS signal.

What am I doing wrong?