Audi S3 weird water build-up

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hussain.ali15

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Hi everyone, hope you’re all doing great.

So I bought a salvage 2017 Audi S3 (UK). For some reason there’s a pool of water in the passenger rear footwell. I suck all the water out every night, but the next morning, Poseidon and his pool of water are back. Any ideas what might be causing this recurring water build up?

Thank You!
 
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Uwe

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I suppose the first question one might ask is: What's the weather like and where is the car parked overnight? Outside?

If it's clear water, there are only two places I would think it can come from: Rainwater from the outside, or condensate from the HVAC.

-Uwe-
 
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hussain.ali15

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Raining but the car has been parked inside a garage overnight so it hasn’t been getting wet.
 
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Dana

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I wonder if those A3 doors fill with water? Our (older Mk6 platform) 2012 (5N) Tiguan started holding water in the left rear door last fall and I haven't properly dealt with it. I driveway-style poked a stick up any holes that felt like they may be factory drains but there's trim that covers the area so I need to pull that, and perhaps the inside panel/window reg, before my speaker and/or door starts to rot. In my case, water treks into the left rear carpet days after a rain if the vehicle sits on the perfect angle. This is just enough that you don't want rubber floor mats back there but not exactly standing water (yet).

I know the Golf 7 guys were bitching about rotting speakers (unrelated to sunroof leaks) in other forums so your MQB based A3 may suffer from something similar?
 
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hussain.ali15

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Hmm. In other forums I have seen people talking about scuttle drains getting blocked but I wasn’t sure if this would be the case for mine. Unfortunately the pool of water caused the B&O amp to go pop :(
 
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DrPeter

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Hello,

After living in Florida and working at the dealerships trying to find water leaks every summer, I have found the best way to narrow down and eventually pinpoint a water leak is to start isolating it by removing trim and using visual clues.

In your case you may need to remove the pillar trims, door sills trim and if needed, pull back the carpet/padding and sometimes it helps to remove the seat and prop up the carpet/padding.

Once you have the suspect area exposed, use a light dusting of 'baby (talcum) powder' on the body panels where you think the water is coming from, so that any water dripping or flowing in will disturb the powder. When you 'see' the water flow trail, follow it till you get to the source by removing trim and dust again.

You may need someone using a garden hose to simulate rain, as you remove interior trim and inspect. We actually had put together a rain maker using PVC pipes and cheap shower heads so that you could do water leak diagnoses with one person, turn on the rain maker and park under it till you find the leaks.

Hope this helps,

drpeter
 
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hellride

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Most common water leaks I have found to be the drains around the sunroof getting clogged. It'll cause the water to overflow and run down the pillars on the inside flooding your floor board. Open the sunroof and on the corners you'll see a drain hole. Carefully use a wire hanger or something that is sturdy enough to be pushed all the way through. Of course then you mentioned salvage, so that opens the door to another level of potential problems.
 
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