can anyone tell me where water might be entering my car from under the dashboard?

Question

It's a 2001 vw golf, with a very wet floor.

Answer 1

The problem lies with the drainage of water at the windscreen.
Open the bonnet and clear the muck/leaves and make sure the whole where the water drains is always clear.
As the water cant find a way out from the whole it then comes inside the car

Answer 2

The possible causes are:

A blocked drain from your ventilation/heating system.
This is common on many makes of car - the heating/ventilation system is designed to allow rain water to drain out before it enters the cabin. The drain can get blocked by dust, leaves and other debris, which means the rainwater fills up the bottom of the heater housing, and eventually over-flows into the car's footwells. Unblocking the drain lets the water flow out as intended.

Leaking heater core.
This is less common. The heater core carries hot coolant from the engine - the air in the heater flows over this to get heated. If the heater core is leaking, the coolant will leak into the car's footwells. If this is the case, you will notice the level in the coolant reservoir under the bonnet is dropping.

Leaking windscreen seal.
This is difficult to fix, simply because it is difficult to trace exactly where the leak is occurring. If this is the cause, there will be dampness higher up in the footwell, behind the dashboard and above the heater outlets.

Answer 3

It's probably coming in from the airvents in front of the windscreen.(by the wipers) Check to see if the drain holes are clear. Leaves and other debris can build up over the years and can block the drain. Whats happening is that water can't get away and it's flooding over the heater intake, then onto the floor of your car..

Unlikely to be the heater as you would experience a lot of steam

Answer 4

If the problem occurs only when the air conditioning is in use, you have a clogged A/C condensor drain line. Its a simple fix and involves blowing some air up a tube from underneath the car.

The reason you see this on the passenger side is that this is where the condensor is that takes the moisture out of the air.

It should be a very easy, quick fix wherever you take it.

Answer 5

Try the pollen filter, often it gets clogged up with debris and once you have cleared it your fault may go away. However it could also be that there is a leak from the windscreen. Try checking the pollen filter first, if you have no joy then maybe take the car into a Volkswagen specialist and ask for a leak test on the windscreen.

Answer 6

had a mk 2 golf there should be a plastic cover for the wind screen wiper motor bout 6 inch wide spanning the width of the car. if this is missing or not sat correctly water can seep in behind the dash and you will get wet feet. also check the rubber seals fot the clutch and accellerator cables they can perish and let water in

Answer 7

If it happens from rain, it may be coming in under the hood near the windshield, if that's the case, lift the hood & try blocking that, at least I've seen a few cars that do this, insulating under the hood near the dashboard took care of it. Just a thought

Answer 8

Considering the torrential rain we have had in the UK (4 inches in 12 hours here), It could be from a blocked scuttle drain (grille in front of screen), from leaking wiper wheelbox seals, bad windscreen bonding, a bad firewall grommet allowing water splashes to enter from the engine compartment whilst driving in flood water (more so if the plastic inner wheelarch is misplaced), even a poor crash repair.

Answer 9

It's those vents just in front of the windscreen. I had a Renault 30 once. The first thing that happened when I set off after a rainy night, was that my knees got wet.

Answer 10

A leaking heater core/matrix.

Consider using some Radweld or Bars leaks to seal up what might be a small leak in the core or connecting pipework.