Additional Info - Wet driver and passenger carpets

Hello all,

Not sure if this info will be of any use to anyone, but thought I'd share my recent experience with the dreaded rain water problem going into the front driver and passenger side. After ensuring the scuttle area and drain ports (including doors) are clear, I found the following:

1) Scuttle tray had very fine cracks in the area shown in the photo. Probably due to age and heat damage. Instead of buying a new one, I took it out, turned it upside down and filled it will clear silicon. It did the trick.



2) Radiator control cable was routed to the hole below the passenger side rubber drain valve (green arrow). This was causing water to drip from the drain onto the cable and causing some water to go into the cabin, even thou the cable was routed through a rubber grommet. So I took the cable out (green arrow)  and routed it to the hole above (yellow arrow) and blanked the lower hole (green arrow) as shown in the photo.



3) Both driver side and passenger side sunroof drainage pipes were not directed external to the body (pipes were trapped in the A pillars) , hence the water was going into the body, thus causing large amounts of water to accumulate inside and cause a lot of damp.



I removed the door frame seal and roof material to get access to the drain pipes and pulled them.out completely and checked they were clear.

I used an old broken clutch cable and a flexible Mercedes oil dipstick (needed for passenger side as it very very hard to route due to courtesy light wiring obstruction) and routed them through the drain holes to the sunroof.  Then attached the cable / dipstick to the drain pipes and taped them and then routed the drain pipes through the the holes so they drain water external to the body.




Finally I cable tied the drain pipes on both sides of the sunroof ports to ensure they never come loose.





I checked this morning after heavy rain last night and see there is no longer a puddle of water which is a good sign. Will monitor over the next few days too.

Hope this helps.

A rain divertor, and clean rain drains go a long way to making sure your bunny is running wet free.  

The other issue as mention for those with roof racks is nice to see.

Other things to watch out for are pucker drains in the door panels that when the scrapers are worn out allow leaves and junk to plug them up.

plugged rain drain


Reroute the hoses to a feed-through grommet to clear all obstructions.



Make a debris guard:
Hood Vent Leaf Guard - Topless Rabbit Forums




on the bottom edge of the widest door part is a rubber plug that can go missing and any water that gets past the scrapers can drain on the drivers and passengers side under the seat.



Keeping Rabbits/Golfs/Cabriolets wet on the outside only.

Well some good news and bad news……I thought I would check the rear drains and found blocked with rust.

The rear left drain port looks ok….. however rear right side port has rust holes…..good news it that the holes are above the drain port not below.

Can you advise best way to repair this damage?? Should I use silicone or chemical metal or welding?

Also I am going to source silicone pipes for all 4 drains and ensure they are long enough to route external to body, including the poorly designed rear drains.

Most leaks are due to incorrect or poorly fitting inner door liners. the water comes in behind the door card.

Another to watch for is the windscreen rubber seal. Although it may look perfect and be a tight fit they can let water pour through, esp corners. An easy fix pumping some sealant in both glass and body side of the seal all way around. Ideally in the summer when any dampness has had the chance to dry out

So after further investigation, I removed the rear bumper and found there are 11mm approx holes on both sides and coincidentally the original drain pipes are 11mm O/D…..I'm guessing they have have shrunk over the years and water going inside the arches which is not good.

I'm not keen to drill any holes in the panels so I plan to source PVC pipes long enough to attach from sunroof port, going behind the c pillar, through the 11mm hole and extra length to go through the large hole down the bottom as the pics show.

I will go for see through PVC pipes so it's easy to see any blockage in future.

Will update as I progress.

So managed to repair the holes with glass fibre and aluminium mesh……new pvc pipes installed and routed external to the body, including the rear ones (routed under car)..  don't know how long it will last…..time and rain will tell.