Scuttle foam contour line

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I didn't take any pics, as I just replicated, what was there. There was little evidence of water getting past the "tounge and groove" seal.
It might be relavant that I had the windscreen removed and refitted, and I removed the scuttle before the screen work was done, and, (very carefully), refitted the replacement afterwards.
I don't think a windscreen fitter would give removal and replacement of the scuttle much attention. So, I'd recommend you remove the scuttle yourself, before having a windscreen fitted.
Mac.
 
Little Dog said:
I thought the foam was there to direct any water to drains. If it stopped vibration only a couple of lumps of it would do the job.
I looked at the holes in the scuttle (metal side of scuttle), looked at where they would drain to. One was all over the vacuum and turbo waste gate switches so that got taped over. Then I positioned my foam strips to direct water to one central drain.
What I have is very similar to the factory foam route.
Click to expand...
The original foam seems to be open cell (or maybe my examples are just super degraded) though which is an odd choice if the main purpose is for channeling water
 
Sorry no pictures but it is not standard. My objective was to get the water to a central point. Then I was able to catch it and drain it away:

IMG_0375.jpeg
 
20240405_201106.jpg

1.4 petrol BBY

I see what you mean now, that is a good method to protect the car @Little Dog.

I was working on a diagram above.
  1. Chosen on my car as it drains in front of the wiper alloy housing and drips away to the floor probably splashing onto a drive shaft or steering rack.
  2. No good the water lands on top of the intake manifold and cannot escape.
  3. Throttle body and intake manifold no good as a drain location
  4. Gear link cables and mounting bracket on top of gearbox plus the big bundle of wires that exit the fire wall, not ideal, but chosen.
I'll keep checking this design hasn't introduced water to areas that cannot cope with getting soaked.

IMG_6576.jpeg

There are no cut outs on this vehicle. You must route the window jet hoses differently to my car?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
timmus said:
This was a phased-in modification to allow for the change in windscreen washer jet design.

Cheers,

Tom
Click to expand...
So one could deduce the new cut out designed was not there to release water into the engine bay but accommodate a new jet design.
Thank you @timmus

But because they are there @Little Dog has been able to make an ingenious modification to protect the Tdi engine bay from water damage :) đź‘Ť
 
I tried closed cell foam, but it was too dense to conform to the varying gap.
I'll stick to my belief that if the screen to scuttle seal is good, very little water will end up under the scuttle. The OEM foam is not for water diversion. The point that may be drains, are, I think, simply at the point where the metal fold changes.
Mac
 
I’ve checked out the product I used for this job. Bought it from Screwfix but in the small print on the lable is the manufacturers name, Stormguard.

It is clear from the pre rectangular screen washers arrangement that the purpose of the foam was something other than draining water. Vibration control?

Water shouldn’t get in but it does. Go there and it’s full of water or the foam is rotted.

I grease the lip of my plastic scuttle with silicone grease and if the fit isn't great (how many cars still have a genuine Audi screen) I run masking tape across the screen and plastic scuttle and seal slight gap with clear silicone sealer.

Water still gets in there. So I decided to direct the water to a collection point and drain it away via a funnel and length of garden hose.

The routing of foam was not too dissimilar to factory. I just made sure nothing of importance could be dripped or splashed on. In particular I sought to keep dry vac valves and the selector tower that fails due to water ingress.

Perhaps at the design stage they didn’t expect water to get in, but it does. Or it doesn't matter anyway because painted aluminium doesn’t rot, but foam does. Then water goes where gravity takes it.

Having had water ingress cost me for a selector tower I thought it best to tweak the foam routes slightly to control drainage.

What have isn’t as factory but it works.
 
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Little Dog said:
I’ve checked out the product I used for this job. Bought it from Screwfix but in the small print on the lable is the manufacturers name, Stormguard.

It is clear from the pre rectangular screen washers arrangement that the purpose of the foam was something other than draining water. Vibration control?

Water shouldn’t get in but it does. Go there and it’s full of water or the foam is rotted.

I grease the lip of my plastic scuttle with silicone grease and if the fit isn't great (how many cars still have a genuine Audi screen) I run masking tape across the screen and plastic scuttle and seal slight gap with clear silicone sealer.

Water still gets in there. So I decided to direct the water to a collection point and drain it away via a funnel and length of garden hose.

The routing of foam was not too dissimilar to factory. I just made sure nothing of importance could be dripped or splashed on. In particular I sought to keep dry vac valves and the selector tower that fails due to water ingress.

Perhaps at the design stage they didn’t expect water to get in, but it does. Or it doesn't matter anyway because painted aluminium doesn’t rot, but foam does. Then water goes where gravity takes it.

Having had water ingress cost me for a selector tower I thought it best to tweak the foam routes slightly to control drainage.

What have isn’t as factory but it works.
Click to expand...
Same as I used:
Screenshot_20240407-120738.png
Mac.
 
Hello all,
If you are planning this job the first step is to release the window wiper from the spindles.
A week in advance remove wiper nut plastic caps and spray the penetrative oil daily around the two nuts on the wiper arm.
Removing the wiper arm is discussed elsewhere on the forum.

Tools for scuttle foam replacement.
  • Toothbrush for cleaning hard to reach areas
  • Multiple plastic trim tools
  • Storm guard jumbo foam rubber weather srip
  • Dedicated sticky stuff remover (or brake cleaner)
  • Cloths and car polish
  • Scissors
  • Camera phone to take a picture of the old trim contours
  • Silicone grease
  • Silicone sealant to fill the gap between the clip and window
Good luck
:) đź‘Ť
 
Interested in this thread from a few weeks back as I needed to remove my shuttle to fix a crack (pic 1) and fit some heated water jets.

So cat amongst the pigeons; my 2001 1.4 AUA doesn’t have the foam tape! I am now thinking this may have been fitted to stop possible creaking noises rather than channel water ingress

83CD62B0-32F9-40AE-B381-C61A4A180B96.jpeg 492ADD1D-4B00-4006-BD23-8877B608BB33.jpeg
 
birtyA2 said:
Interested in this thread from a few weeks back as I needed to remove my shuttle to fix a crack (pic 1) and fit some heated water jets.

So cat amongst the pigeons; my 2001 1.4 AUA doesn’t have the foam tape! I am now thinking this may have been fitted to stop possible creaking noises rather than channel water ingress

View attachment 122771 View attachment 122772
Click to expand...
Certainly looks like it has never been there. Do you get creaking noises?
 
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