wascally wabbitt
Go Kart Champion
- Location
- Southern Maine (aka Northern Mass)
- Car(s)
- 2017 GTI S
Hey all, I've noticed a pattern where water my GTI's rear passenger door jamb seems to remain wetter than the others, and water seems to pool on the jamb and rubber seal after opening the door. None of my other doors seem to do this. In the past I've seen very small pools of water, usually a single hexagon's worth, in the rear passenger monster mat. Today I checked after about 5 days of the car sitting. I found a big ol pool of water under the mat. The car sits on a slight slope that elevates the rear passenger corner, which would explain why it pooled near the center tunnel area.
The other door jambs are bone dry.
Not happy. I baby this car and the last thing I want is it rusting out from under me. I want to fix this. Have any of you guys seen this before, what could be the cause, and how would you recommend I start troubleshooting? Thanks!!!
EDIT :
The other door jambs are bone dry.
Not happy. I baby this car and the last thing I want is it rusting out from under me. I want to fix this. Have any of you guys seen this before, what could be the cause, and how would you recommend I start troubleshooting? Thanks!!!
EDIT :
- The GTI was taken to a professional window tinting shop in June 2020.
- Tinting windows involves removing the plastic/fabric door covers because they cover the bottom of the windows.
- Within a few months of the tint job, I occasionally noticed tiny drops of water on the hexagonal pattern in the rear passenger floormat.
- These appeared infrequently enough that I never really gave them a second thought.
- assumed they were simply from opening the door in the rain
- HOWEVER, the GTI was garage-kept and not driven in the rain whenever practical.
- Since October 2023, the GTI is parked outside nearly all the time.
- Its current parking spot elevates the rear passenger corner relative to the rest of the car (that corner is highest).
- Since then, I've noted water excessive retention in the door jamb and a couple occasions where water more obviously pooled and even spilled over door jamb seal.
- This happens to the rear passenger door jamb even when all other door jambs are dry as a bone.
- Other doors / door jambs appear to drain as intended.
- The latest incident noted in the OP was the most egregious, where a few tablespoons of water pooled in the rear passenger footwell.
- Since the rear passenger corner is the highest corner of the car, the water gathered in the corner of the footwell near the raised tunnel in the floor.
- Curiously, the top of the floormat was dry.
- Water was thawed and removed with paper towels. Floormat was removed so the carpet could dry. Car was driven around for about 90 minutes with the AC on max temperature and fan speed. AC fan dial was set to floor vents only, and fan slots directed at passengers were all shut to maximize airflow directed at the floor.
- After driving around for ~90 minutes, carpet felt dry to the touch.
- About 4 days later, it still feels dry to the touch, but cold weather makes it hard to be 100% certain. Will be leaving a desiccant canister in the cabin for now.
- After researching online, learned that car doors are designed to allow water to roll off the window and into inside of the door.
- The door itself is a hollow shell, and water rolling down the window is intended to drip through the inside of the door and leave the door's bottom via designated drain holes
- The plastic door card attaches to the door via a couple screws and 6 pop-fit plastic retainer pins
- These plastic retainer pins pop into holes in the metal door
- Therefore, holes in the cabin-facing side of the door present potential points of ingress that car designers need to address. These points include but aren't limited to:
- Holes around door card retainer pins
- Door card's retainer pins have built-in rubber-like washers, to create a seal
- Several holes exist in the door to accommodate wire looms
- Door speaker hole is another potential leak point
- Speaker carriage has a mounting flange with preinstalled flange seal. Known leak point.
- Holes around door card retainer pins
- The interface between plastic door card and metal door was inspected
- Found bottom of door card is not installed flush against the door itself
- Could slightly prop open door card to inspect within
- Door card mounting pin not 'popped' into pin hole in door
- Found snail trail of dried water emanating from this mounting pin hole
- Bottom edge of speaker appeared to have a faint snail trail of dried water. Not as obvious as dried water from door card pin hole.
- Car was parked the opposite way from normal, with rear passenger wheel as the lowest corner. Clear packing tape applied on the outside of the window, over the seam where the bottom of the window meets the door.
- After rain and snow, door jamb and carpet appear dry
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