Water in battery area? ? ?

UVK

Member
Hiya,

Well i've had my A2 for roughly a month now and love the thing to bits - but -

When we first bought the car (1.4 TDi - 2001) there was a damp, musty smell - the previous owner said that the interior boot area had been wet vacced. I later found that the passenger side rear footwell was absolutely saturated with water (though the mats were bone dry)! I had the carpets out and dried everywhere thoroughly and re-fitted the interior. I thought that would be the end of it but the smell remained - seemed to fade over time but then started to get stronger again?

Well today i was going to pick a table saw up so removed the rear seats and false boot floor. I thought while i had it all out i'd just check the battery area - only to find it swimming again! ! ! :mad: When i mean swimming i mean that a couple of goldfish could happily live in there! My assumption that the previous standing water was from a reckless valet was out of the window!

Now as i look into the battery area, the only logical place that water can be entering the car is through the grommet which feeds the power cables to the battery? I want to remove the battery to check beneath but wanted to pick peoples brains here first in case i lose the code to my radio etc (which i don't have the code for). I really want to get this sorted as bad, soggy winter fast approaches. Not only that but its mildly embarrassing when passengers constantly harp on about the damp whiff! ! !

Any advice - Please! ? ! ? ! ? :(

Chris
 
Thanks a lot David! I did do a search for anything similar a week or two ago (not sure what i typed) but didn't return any results that were similar to my experiences? :eek: Honest i did ! ? ! ! ? ! :p

I feel *slightly* better knowing that it is a fairly common problem. I guess my next question is the cost of said seals and how difficult it is to remove the rear bumper? I never envisioned that a solution to the problem would involve removing half the rear end! :confused:
 
I did mine this weekend. One wheel at a time, both liners out, bumper off, replaced the left vent, put a new cable in the right-hand side, and then put it all back together. Total work time (for me) was around 90 minutes to get it off and about that to put it back on again. That's working in the rain, with the right tools, the right bits (the plastic washers) and having done it before. On a lift, it would now probably take me less than 60 to do the whole thing.

Tx25 and 20 is all you need... maybe a small screwdriver and flat blade to push the centre sections of the plastic rivets through and the flat blade to lever them off.

- Bret
 
... and I don't remember documenting it elsewhere, but at least the replacement process for the rear wheel arch liners is much easier if you put the section in the top of the spring in FIRST. Everything else will just fit into place, then, but that bit is the important one. I've also now lost the direct screws into the bodywork behind the dampers on BOTH sides... they just turn and turn and don't come out. Will have to fix that at some point.

- Bret
 
Big thanks chaps! Really helpful info - just hope that the flaps/vents are the culprits? Does anyone have a pic or a part number for the replacement parts? I take it they are a dealer only part?

@ David (riverlad) This is completely off topic but how did you get your animated avatar to upload on here? I tried uploading a GIF not so long ago only to be greeted with a pop up stating that animated avatars are not allowed (or words to that effect)? Share your secret! :p
 
Cheers Olly - thats reassuring - i ended up contorting the rear carpets to dry it out originally so that i didn't have to remove the front seats (which would have meant disconnecting the battery due to the airbags). Duly noted for future reference. ;)

Chris
 
I`ve had the battery out of our car a few times now and never had a problem with the radio loosing its code so you ahould be ok there.

This only applies to later model cars (from 2002 I think) which have an infotainment CANBUS link and series 2 radio unit. They 'remember' the original radio code but early cars don't and you will need the code if the battery s disconnected.

Cheers Spike
 
This only applies to later model cars (from 2002 I think) which have an infotainment CANBUS link and series 2 radio unit. They 'remember' the original radio code but early cars don't and you will need the code if the battery s disconnected.

Cheers Spike

Thanks Spike - I will be upgrading the head unit at some point - hopefully i won't need to disconnect the battery before then? Whats involved in obtaining the code for the radio - the perforated section in the audi handbook that had the radio code has been removed.

Thanks for taking the time to find the part number Bret - you're a star! :D
 
Well thanks again to everyone who diagnosed my problem correctly? I've half finished the job i started early this evening - just need to refit the wheel arch liner to the N/S and then i'll be done - failing light and enticing smells coming from our BBQ put a stop to further work for the day. The N/S vent seal was very brittle and not sealed tight against the body so replacement of both vents *fingers crossed* should be the last of water entering the boot/battery area?

I agree with you Bret - the job is fairly straight forward once you know where the screws are and how things need to be removed/replaced. . . i think my total job time will span more than double of that from a veteran but i know my car a little bit better for it now. :eek:

It looks as though the O/S vent has been replaced at some point in its life - it looked a lot newer than the N/S vent and was in no where near as poor shape seal wise (still looked new). Judging from the overspray on the O/S wheel arch liner there has been a repair/replacement of bumper or wheel arch so this was probably when that vent was replaced? It was an absolute pig to remove - the N/S vent more or less dropped out! I figured that since i bought 2 new ones i may as well fit them both.

Now my question is can i get replacement torx screws from any motor factors or are they a dealer thing - same goes with the plastic rivets. The reason being that the corner/side? that has had paint work done to it has the majority of the screws and plastic rivets missing from the arch liner - no doubt some cheapy back street garage carrying out the work without much due care and attention? If only our cars could talk and tell us their past eh! ? ! ?

Any help would be great so that i can get this all wrapped up and done before the onslaught of rain is on us again - couldn't have wished for better weather to tackle this though. We've had a good 4 days of sun and nothing but so everywhere is bone dry and should hopefully stay that way! :)

Cheers

Chris
 
Hi Chris,

That's great that you are all sorted now. I know the plastic rivets are about te only thing that are cheap from thevAudi dealer. I don't know about the torx screws though.

Cheers

David
 
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