Does anybody here have experience with water ingress on a 2011+ Toaureg/Cayenne/Q7? I tried posting on touaregclub but haven't received much input from anyone there.
On my 2015 Touareg I have an issue with water leaking into the rear of the car and ending up in the spare tire well.
I picked up the car from the bodyshop where it had been for a couple weeks. It rained pretty badly while the car was at the shop and it seems they stored it outside. While driving it I noticed a sloshing sound coming from the rear. I opened the hatch, was showered with water that dripped from inside of the hatch itself as well as the trim that covers the hatch. I also found that water had saturated part of the d-pillars on both sides, and some water was also trapped inside of the interior panel below the d-pillars and was seeping out. I opened the spare area and found roughly a half gallon of water sitting in the well. I sponged out all the water then removed the spare along with everything else back there; jack, tools, etc.
The confusing part is that after driving the car again after all that, I can still hear water sloshing around. Especially during low speed maneuvers. It's a kind of slow side to side shifting of water.
Water ingress seems to be a well documented issue on the 2004-2010 models and I can't seem to find any valuable info pertaining to my year. Some people suggested removing all of the plastic caps along the bottom of the car next to the side skirts. So I removed all 6 and nothing more than a couple drops came out. Then I went and removed the main interior panels on the sides of trunk area. On the floorboard behind the wheel arches, there are a couple more of these caps. I removed those and a bit of water drained but nothing significant, and still the sloshing sound persists.
So as of now I still don't know where the water is and am not even sure how it is getting in. There is no sunroof on my car. My gut tells me it's coming in from the main weatherstrip seal around the rear hatch. The hatch had been partially repainted and it may not have been resealed properly. Otherwise, it may be coming in from bad seals on the roof rails. Or possibly some other freak situation of water getting into the unibody/frame from a poorly sealed seam.
It's a confusing and frustrating situation. Im really hoping someone can offer any kind of help! Otherwise I just have to blindly send it to a shop/dealer and hope they can figure it out. I have an extended warranty but I dont think I am covered here. Alternatively, it was suggested that I can make an insurance claim to get this covered. What complicates the situation a bit more is that I didn't have any of these issues before getting the car back from the bodyshop. That's probably just a coincedence; the repairs they did were to the front of the car on the fender and hood area. Still, it makes me wonder.
Sorry for the text wall. Ive run out of ideas and I could use some advice from people smarter and more experienced with these things.
If you have a recent insurance claim that you could lean this issue against, I highly recommend going that route. Take it back to the body shop that did the work. They may be able to "re-open" the claim.
Tell us more about the incident that caused the car to need body work?
To add another layer of convolution to this ordeal...
It's already been repaired twice for the same claim. The first shop that repaired the car did a really poor job. The fender and hood were not aligned properly, trim pieces were separating, headlight had a chip in it, etc. Since I used Geico's repair express, they sent me to another of their affiliate shops to have it fixed a second time (I no longer live in the area where the car was repaired originally).
The water issues became apparent after getting the car back from the second shop. I brought it back to them after noticing the water in the car and their stance is that since the repairs they did were to the front of the car, they are not responsible for the water leak in the rear.
On a somewhat related note, Geico adjusters have been extremely unhelpful and are often impossible to get ahold of. And I will never use an insurance's affiliate shop again.
The water is likely under the extremely heavy carpet in the rear seat area, if its like all other Euro Suv's.
I would search up the sunroof drains to the rear. Usually its the front ones that cause trouble, but they are a never- ending issue.
John Welsh said:
Tell us more about the incident that caused the car to need body work?
In 2016 the car was rear ended in a parking light with damage to the passenger side taillight; hatch was partially resprayed.
In 2019 the car had the driver front fender replaced
Streetwiseguy said:
The water is likely under the extremely heavy carpet in the rear seat area, if its like all other Euro Suv's.
I would search up the sunroof drains to the rear. Usually its the front ones that cause trouble, but they are a never- ending issue.
Im >95% certain that the noise is due to standing/pooled water in the rear of the car towards the bottom. I don't think a wet carpet would make a sloshing sound? Also there is no sunroof on mine.
Not sure about your specific car but I know that when I researched water in the spare well of my '07 GTI it turned out that the rubber wire pass-through boot thingies between the top of the body and the hatch have been known to leak. Typically, especially in my case where it's subtle, if the car is nose-down on an incline. I don't know where your excess water is but I think you might well find that those rubber boots are cracked/split if you take a good look. Or grab a couple cold ones and go to town with silicone anyway and see water accumluates going forward.
Complex.
No sun roof but is there a roof rack? If yes, could intrusion happen there?
Ok, just shot a video and the audio picked up the sound really well. You can hear it more with the seats folded down and the cargo floor folded up to expose the spare tire well. So it definitely seems like the water is trapped in that area. A lot of it...
https://youtu.be/LYnPxRMYYFs
If the YouTube link doesn't work I can try to embed the video directly
Wow, sounds like you have a small lake inside your SUV. Have you tried a VW dealer or indi VW tech? I bet they've seen it before. You could also search the NHSTA database for a tech bulletin on this.
I hate to say it, but the body shop and ins co are going to avoid this or litigate you to death if you push it. This is why everyone needs a go to body shop that is not an insurance company preferred shop.
The carpet/foam assembly in my XC90 is at least 3 inches off the steel floorpan. Lots of room to swish water around.
In reply to AnthonyGS :
Yeah. like I mentioned earlier, I learned my lesson on the insurance and body shop thing. I have always chose my body shop in the past, but this time figured I would do the easy option.
Its been a f%$#!ing nightmare.
I have an extended warranty but whatever the cause of this is, its probably not covered. I'll just bring it into a shop or the dealer and have them take a look, figure out whats going on, then go from there. I'll update the thread once I figure that out.
