Great info, thanks. Last year, after some very heavy rain, I had about 1-2 inches of water in the spare wheel well. On investigation, the water had also filled up the hidden bulkhead compartments where the 'flap vents' are located, behind the rear bumper. These flap vents were loose and not making good contact with the car's body. I replaced them last year and didn't see anymore problems. But a few weeks ago I found the rear seat was wet and there were a few dribbles of water in the spare wheel well. This is most certainly caused by leaks around the rear light cluster as the bulkhead compartments for the flap vents are still dry. I had also replaced the tailgate drain tube last year.
As much as i love VW, this is not acceptable at all! THIS IS MY STORY: My car (2014 Golf) had a strange smell that suddenly became stronger and more consistent. I went nuts trying to find out what was causing the awful smell. My girlfriend are describing it as cigarette like smell. I had read about water leaks from speakers causing water in the rear footwells, but no one is mentioning that it smells bad, and since my carpets weren't soaked i figured that it must have been something else. A couple of years ago i spilled some housepaint in one of the rear footwells (No that's not what caused the smell), and i tried EVERYTHING to get that paint stain to go, with no luck. So i decided to change the whole interior carpet, myself. A lot of work pulling seats, plastics and basically the whole interior that touches the carpet, but i found a good condition carpet at the junkyard. THEN, when i pulled the whole carpet out the smell got even worse! I looked at the isolation that covers the whole floor and i found MOLD, lots of it! Pulled out the isolation and i found mold at both sides. So i guess i had a water leak after all.. I drenched the isolation in vinegar and other strong liquids, scrubbed and let it dry. Since the smell traveled to seats etc i now have to get one of those Ozone-cleaner machines to get rid of it permanently. So VW, take car of your customers, do a recall of ALL golf mk7s !!!! This is obviously a very common issue on these cars.
@@RainbowCharade no, i never fixed the issue tbh. But after all the things i did it never got that bad afterwards. In hindsight i think the issue was water getting in from behind the speakers in the rear doors because of the sealant going bad. I sold the car to a dealer, so the problem is finally «solved»😅
Thank you I am having water behind the drivers seat same as this. But was thinking it was coming from the sun roof. But I would have to check this. Nice video
Just fixed ours with same issue. Take off the door card and you might see if its the same as ours water coming in and around the door speaker. The seals that they put on from factory don't last
I just sold a mrk7 golf estate I was cleaning the car for sale looked in the wheel well and the full wheel well full of water. Removed the water from it and sold car .NOT MY PROBLEM 👍.but It must have been coming thru the rear lights like you say 👍
Happened on my mk5 my mk7 ive just bought has tape on the rear lights when you lift the boot, hence why im here. I siliconed my mk5 lights made it abit better, looks like its same for the mk7 then.
i'm investigating water in my spare tire well on a new to me 2015 Golf TDI... If it is the tailights, I'm going to try 'acoustic sealant' You can find it in hardware stores in Canada to seal vapour barrier to studs. It has a consistenancy of the glue that you see holding the vapour barrier to the door shell.. kinda tarry , bubble gum consistancy but it never dries... I'll run a bead like caulking, but it should come apart if I need to change the taillight bulb....
@@patrickokeeffe6998 my leak ended up being from the slam vents... I silicon'd them in place and no more water in the spare tire well.... didn't have to use the acoustic sealant. there is some weatherstripping that seems to be doing the job on the taillights already.
@@patrickokeeffe6998 it's very similiar to the glue that they use to attach the plastic membrane inside car doors... yeah, it's tacky but not permanent I would say
Yoo The same in my 3door mk5 , damp hits the whole car sometimes , but not very often anymore since i removed my rear seats wich were really really sooooaked , my front left and rear mats also , and my booth and spare wheel space seems to fill up everytime, with some water like a half cup , not much but there should not be any water , I really think it has something to do with the booth lid , because sometimes it looked like it filled up there some more . or maybe the rubbers , i have also checked behind my rear side panels with the speaker grills and it was totally dry , really strange , i have yet to check my front door ... the last spot in this video behind the carpet was also a wet
Got a VWGolf with exact same problem, ie water in the boot and rear seat, driver side. Took it to VW garage at Coulsdon who were no help and were a rip off. Has drilling the hole worked ?
Yep And I've done it to my mother in laws MKVII Golf too. Be sure to put a quick application of primer on the holes after, but yes, its stops the continuous fill of water with nowhere to go which just soaks any cloth/carpeted interior trim.
Yeah ...that's one of 4 leaks ....lights ...the vents behind the bumper and the speaker seal in front and back doors ... useless....I had a Mk5 before this p.o.s and it was golden ...no probs at all ...this is like a sponge!! 😂
for me were the vents in the back; the panoramic roof drains were clogged; my dumbass unplugged by mistake the panoramic rear drain hoses near the vents; the rear logo drain hose was eaten; and now the speakers sealant. check all these points after a hard rain
Take the rear bumper off ...reseat the two pressure equalising vents on either side... then sell the car before you have to reseal the rear door speakers too!
It was coming in through the light clusters. That was 4 years ago. It's coming in everywhere now. Front passenger door + rear foot wells still soaked. The car smells terrible and mould grows. VW Golf MK7 - awful, awful car.
Hi guys, so had the same issue. I replaced the drain tube. That didnt work. So i removed the interior trim in the boot, the bumper and rear light clusters. There are 2 vents under the lights behind the bumpers. Now, what I found are to drain holes that allow the water the drain away. To my suprise both were blocked up with, wait for it, candle wax!!!! Christ knows how this got there, but after removing this, the issue has gone. Has anyone else found this?
Having the same problem - just found all the 'candle wax' you did Daniel right below the vent. Didn't know there were any drain holes in there, but I'll clean the wax off and see what happens. Thanks.
@@andyhitchcock6608 hi, I also found candle wax, didn´t know where it came from, did sealing the vents fix the leaking? (under spare wheel and under the seat behind the driver/left side) th-cam.com/video/Ox6Enx5euB8/w-d-xo.html I also have something like shiny metal ball in that what I suppose to be drain hole at the bottom, should it be blocked like this? thank you
Yes, just found the same issue! but I removed the entired drain hole, and let it pemanently without it. only one side was with water. I think I ve sold the problem
I don't know if you can get light seals? I just found the problem, I didn't fix it. I ended up drilling 2 little holes in the bottom of the spare wheel well to allow the water out and left it at that.
@@chewitt4983 yeah the water runs away. Be sure to put a bit of primer straight onto the little holes you drill and just check them every so often to unblock 🤷♂️
Did you guys manage to fix it and how? I have the same problem on my 2015 mk7. right rear side as well... mine has a small knock on the bumper but I don't believe that could cause such a problem. Haven't pulled the bumper off yet, but I can see VW giving me trouble saying it is not warrantable.
No Still leaks VW have no service bulletin amendment for this so I have simply popped a couple of 4mm holes at the lowest point of the spare wheel well :-/
@@Jefferyy I thought the same but haven't got round to it yet. My only suggestion would be to use a very low adhesion sealant? So that you can remove the light cluster at a later date if required.
@@scottybotty7289 have this same problem on the mk5, the cut out where the vent is in your video i just got some plastic and sealent and blocked that shit off gonna look at the light once more. Couldnt care less what problem sealing it causes but just dont want my ass wet in the car!
No I never sealed it up. My plan was to go into VW and ask if there is a service bulletin regarding this? They sometimes recognise common faults and supply the item to amend (such as an uprated seal). But since the corona virus has made such an impact my local VW garage has closed for the foreseeable?
Scotty Lanc I pulled my car apart a few days ago and found out the two rear speaker were leaking. All the carpet and sound proofing had to be removed, cleaned and dried. The rear lights looked good on mine with no dirty water run marks and i ran water over them to double check too. Cant believe these are this bad!!! Iv owned VW’s for years and they getting worse.
@@nickfifield1 hi Nick for me it was rear door cards off and silicone sealant around the speakers. The smell, I had to remove the seats, centre console, carpet and sound proofing. All wet and dry cleaned and it’s been perfect even during this rubbish Welsh weather!
The pit in my stomach…. I have only noticed water from my drivers side front and rear door seals. But then today I noticed a bit of fog in my passenger side tail light. Could it be the beginning???
I wouldn't stress I've still done nothing to cure the golf in the vid. I drilled a couple of small holes in the wheel well to let any water out in the meantime. I may just remove the clusters and put a very thin bead of clear sealant on the light seals in the summer? Dont use adhesive though... needs to peel off if required.
Definitely, just after do all of the following. Seal the rear vents with this flexible mastic, I've also removed the bung behind the vents, U Don't need to remove the back bumper! I've just bought new speaker for back passenger doors. Seal goes there too. Im going to order new seals for light clusters back lights. To open tail gate theres a plastic pipe that freys at end, replace that too. But immediately to avoid ur car being Literally Flooded remove the bung under the vents to allow water out, as i sealed a vent on right and was shocked, water pooled again, so it could be from light cluster or the back break light at top of the rear door . But take out them bung, some people drill a hole in them to prevent rodent, i left it open as too much rain in Ireland and I've a cat that loves rodents
I had the issue on my mk5 golf. I removed the rear bumper and there’s black vents there below the light. In my case I was missing them which left a huge hole under my light behind the bumper. Water went behind the light and into the hole and in the car. So I got water proof good quality tape and taped the whole area where the vent was off. This fixed it, some people have added sealant around their vent that might work not sure as mine was missing anyway. Initially I block off the hole from the inside of the boot but that failed after I got a new bumper so while I had bumper off I fixed it completely. Not sure how the mk7 golf is maybe this can help . Cheers
Maybe? I never looked closer I to it? We often visit the beach with kids and the dog though so is more likely a build up of sand and dirt to be honest.
Same.. first of all the cap was missing off the light, flooded car. Then changed a bulb n misaligned the cap again flooded car.. piece of crap, worst car I've ever brought!!
Great info, thanks. Last year, after some very heavy rain, I had about 1-2 inches of water in the spare wheel well. On investigation, the water had also filled up the hidden bulkhead compartments where the 'flap vents' are located, behind the rear bumper. These flap vents were loose and not making good contact with the car's body. I replaced them last year and didn't see anymore problems. But a few weeks ago I found the rear seat was wet and there were a few dribbles of water in the spare wheel well. This is most certainly caused by leaks around the rear light cluster as the bulkhead compartments for the flap vents are still dry. I had also replaced the tailgate drain tube last year.
As much as i love VW, this is not acceptable at all!
THIS IS MY STORY:
My car (2014 Golf) had a strange smell that suddenly became stronger and more consistent. I went nuts trying to find out what was causing the awful smell. My girlfriend are describing it as cigarette like smell. I had read about water leaks from speakers causing water in the rear footwells, but no one is mentioning that it smells bad, and since my carpets weren't soaked i figured that it must have been something else.
A couple of years ago i spilled some housepaint in one of the rear footwells (No that's not what caused the smell), and i tried EVERYTHING to get that paint stain to go, with no luck. So i decided to change the whole interior carpet, myself. A lot of work pulling seats, plastics and basically the whole interior that touches the carpet, but i found a good condition carpet at the junkyard. THEN, when i pulled the whole carpet out the smell got even worse! I looked at the isolation that covers the whole floor and i found MOLD, lots of it! Pulled out the isolation and i found mold at both sides. So i guess i had a water leak after all.. I drenched the isolation in vinegar and other strong liquids, scrubbed and let it dry. Since the smell traveled to seats etc i now have to get one of those Ozone-cleaner machines to get rid of it permanently.
So VW, take car of your customers, do a recall of ALL golf mk7s !!!! This is obviously a very common issue on these cars.
was it the light housings?? I have water in my boot, need to sort it out...
@@RainbowCharade no, i never fixed the issue tbh. But after all the things i did it never got that bad afterwards. In hindsight i think the issue was water getting in from behind the speakers in the rear doors because of the sealant going bad. I sold the car to a dealer, so the problem is finally «solved»😅
Thank you for the video just bought a 2018 mk7.5 off the auction with the same exact issue.
This helpful video was very enlightening. Thanks.
Great video mate. Just found a tyre well full of water in my wife’s Mark 7 Golf. Thanks for sharing! 👍
Same here,a lake with back seats also soaked, mark 7 too
@@faysalmadi4859 how did you fix it?
Was it the rear light seals. And did you fix it?
Thank you I am having water behind the drivers seat same as this. But was thinking it was coming from the sun roof. But I would have to check this. Nice video
Just fixed ours with same issue. Take off the door card and you might see if its the same as ours water coming in and around the door speaker. The seals that they put on from factory don't last
@@waverebel22 fixed how exactly?
Cheers your a star
I just sold a mrk7 golf estate I was cleaning the car for sale looked in the wheel well and the full wheel well full of water. Removed the water from it and sold car .NOT MY PROBLEM 👍.but It must have been coming thru the rear lights like you say 👍
Hope you told the buyer.. would be a nob head thing to leave em to it like that without knowing.
My first and last VW and possibly VAG.
Happened on my mk5 my mk7 ive just bought has tape on the rear lights when you lift the boot, hence why im here.
I siliconed my mk5 lights made it abit better, looks like its same for the mk7 then.
I cleaned the skylight drain, where no water was flowing.
We'll see if it helps.
Cheers. What was the fix for this ?
i'm investigating water in my spare tire well on a new to me 2015 Golf TDI... If it is the tailights, I'm going to try 'acoustic sealant' You can find it in hardware stores in Canada to seal vapour barrier to studs. It has a consistenancy of the glue that you see holding the vapour barrier to the door shell.. kinda tarry , bubble gum consistancy but it never dries... I'll run a bead like caulking, but it should come apart if I need to change the taillight bulb....
Very interesting, will it be easy to remove the light cluster with this permanently flexible mastic
@@patrickokeeffe6998 my leak ended up being from the slam vents... I silicon'd them in place and no more water in the spare tire well.... didn't have to use the acoustic sealant. there is some weatherstripping that seems to be doing the job on the taillights already.
@@patrickokeeffe6998 it's very similiar to the glue that they use to attach the plastic membrane inside car doors... yeah, it's tacky but not permanent I would say
Yoo The same in my 3door mk5 , damp hits the whole car sometimes , but not very often anymore since i removed my rear seats wich were really really sooooaked , my front left and rear mats also , and my booth and spare wheel space seems to fill up everytime, with some water like a half cup , not much but there should not be any water ,
I really think it has something to do with the booth lid , because sometimes it looked like it filled up there some more . or maybe the rubbers , i have also checked behind my rear side panels with the speaker grills and it was totally dry , really strange , i have yet to check my front door ... the last spot in this video behind the carpet was also a wet
Got a VWGolf with exact same problem, ie water in the boot and rear seat, driver side. Took it to VW garage at Coulsdon who were no help and were a rip off.
Has drilling the hole worked ?
Yep
And I've done it to my mother in laws MKVII Golf too.
Be sure to put a quick application of primer on the holes after, but yes, its stops the continuous fill of water with nowhere to go which just soaks any cloth/carpeted interior trim.
Yeah ...that's one of 4 leaks ....lights ...the vents behind the bumper and the speaker seal in front and back doors ... useless....I had a Mk5 before this p.o.s and it was golden ...no probs at all ...this is like a sponge!! 😂
I have same problem in my audi a3 and i don t now what 😭
I have got a seat Ibiza hatchback same problem in the back pool .do you have a video about that
No I don't, sorry.
for me were the vents in the back; the panoramic roof drains were clogged; my dumbass unplugged by mistake the panoramic rear drain hoses near the vents; the rear logo drain hose was eaten; and now the speakers sealant. check all these points after a hard rain
Take the rear bumper off ...reseat the two pressure equalising vents on either side... then sell the car before you have to reseal the rear door speakers too!
It was coming in through the light clusters. That was 4 years ago.
It's coming in everywhere now.
Front passenger door + rear foot wells still soaked.
The car smells terrible and mould grows.
VW Golf MK7 - awful, awful car.
Hi guys, so had the same issue. I replaced the drain tube. That didnt work. So i removed the interior trim in the boot, the bumper and rear light clusters. There are 2 vents under the lights behind the bumpers. Now, what I found are to drain holes that allow the water the drain away. To my suprise both were blocked up with, wait for it, candle wax!!!! Christ knows how this got there, but after removing this, the issue has gone. Has anyone else found this?
Having the same problem - just found all the 'candle wax' you did Daniel right below the vent. Didn't know there were any drain holes in there, but I'll clean the wax off and see what happens. Thanks.
@@andyhitchcock6608 hi, I also found candle wax, didn´t know where it came from, did sealing the vents fix the leaking? (under spare wheel and under the seat behind the driver/left side) th-cam.com/video/Ox6Enx5euB8/w-d-xo.html I also have something like shiny metal ball in that what I suppose to be drain hole at the bottom, should it be blocked like this? thank you
Its not candle wax its wax applied from factory to prevent corrosion i believe
Yes, just found the same issue! but I removed the entired drain hole, and let it pemanently without it. only one side was with water. I think I ve sold the problem
Sounds like lots of people have the same problem, should VW fix it for free, since it’s the design fault?
I am having same kind of problem changed the drain pipe problem is still there.where can i get the light seals from
I don't know if you can get light seals? I just found the problem, I didn't fix it.
I ended up drilling 2 little holes in the bottom of the spare wheel well to allow the water out and left it at that.
@@scottybotty7289 did that work scotty??
@@chewitt4983 yeah the water runs away. Be sure to put a bit of primer straight onto the little holes you drill and just check them every so often to unblock 🤷♂️
Does it happen with every 5 door
Mk7?
I wouldn't know mate?
And 3 door as tails lights, handle and vents are same.
Did you guys manage to fix it and how? I have the same problem on my 2015 mk7. right rear side as well... mine has a small knock on the bumper but I don't believe that could cause such a problem. Haven't pulled the bumper off yet, but I can see VW giving me trouble saying it is not warrantable.
No
Still leaks
VW have no service bulletin amendment for this so I have simply popped a couple of 4mm holes at the lowest point of the spare wheel well :-/
@@scottybotty7289 having the same issue, i've considered just putting some seal around the rear lights, any other ideas?
@@Jefferyy I thought the same but haven't got round to it yet.
My only suggestion would be to use a very low adhesion sealant?
So that you can remove the light cluster at a later date if required.
@@scottybotty7289 Not a bad idea, will give it a go this week and let you know how it goes!
@@scottybotty7289 have this same problem on the mk5, the cut out where the vent is in your video i just got some plastic and sealent and blocked that shit off gonna look at the light once more. Couldnt care less what problem sealing it causes but just dont want my ass wet in the car!
Hi buddy did you seal the lights up after? My mk7 is leaking like a shit sieve
No I never sealed it up.
My plan was to go into VW and ask if there is a service bulletin regarding this? They sometimes recognise common faults and supply the item to amend (such as an uprated seal).
But since the corona virus has made such an impact my local VW garage has closed for the foreseeable?
Scotty Lanc I pulled my car apart a few days ago and found out the two rear speaker were leaking. All the carpet and sound proofing had to be removed, cleaned and dried. The rear lights looked good on mine with no dirty water run marks and i ran water over them to double check too.
Cant believe these are this bad!!! Iv owned VW’s for years and they getting worse.
Hi , similar issue . How did you fix?
@@nickfifield1 hi Nick for me it was rear door cards off and silicone sealant around the speakers. The smell, I had to remove the seats, centre console, carpet and sound proofing. All wet and dry cleaned and it’s been perfect even during this rubbish Welsh weather!
Change the pollen/cabin filter too. That helped with the damp smell.
The pit in my stomach…. I have only noticed water from my drivers side front and rear door seals. But then today I noticed a bit of fog in my passenger side tail light. Could it be the beginning???
I wouldn't stress
I've still done nothing to cure the golf in the vid.
I drilled a couple of small holes in the wheel well to let any water out in the meantime.
I may just remove the clusters and put a very thin bead of clear sealant on the light seals in the summer? Dont use adhesive though... needs to peel off if required.
Definitely, just after do all of the following.
Seal the rear vents with this flexible mastic, I've also removed the bung behind the vents, U Don't need to remove the back bumper!
I've just bought new speaker for back passenger doors. Seal goes there too.
Im going to order new seals for light clusters back lights.
To open tail gate theres a plastic pipe that freys at end, replace that too.
But immediately to avoid ur car being Literally Flooded remove the bung under the vents to allow water out, as i sealed a vent on right and was shocked, water pooled again, so it could be from light cluster or the back break light at top of the rear door .
But take out them bung, some people drill a hole in them to prevent rodent, i left it open as too much rain in Ireland and I've a cat that loves rodents
@@patrickokeeffe6998 rodents? Bit small for rodents?
Hi myns the same, whats the fix please?
Don't know?
I drilled 2 holes in the spare wheel well (I got bored of it).
I got the same problem how to fix it please help!!
I had the issue on my mk5 golf. I removed the rear bumper and there’s black vents there below the light. In my case I was missing them which left a huge hole under my light behind the bumper. Water went behind the light and into the hole and in the car. So I got water proof good quality tape and taped the whole area where the vent was off. This fixed it, some people have added sealant around their vent that might work not sure as mine was missing anyway. Initially I block off the hole from the inside of the boot but that failed after I got a new bumper so while I had bumper off I fixed it completely. Not sure how the mk7 golf is maybe this can help . Cheers
Have same problem with 2018 VW Sportwagon
Me too. I don't know for sure if it's the lights or the drafters. This video was a good demo of leaking lights though.
Hello there, did you manage to fix it?
Never bothered
Just drilled a 4mm hole in the wheel well to let the water out
@@scottybotty7289 ah ok thanks, someone else showed there’s 2 holes already in place with a rubber plug and you could just push those in?
Do the Mk7 gtis have this problem?
Yes potentially
It's the same car just a different spec
@@scottybotty7289 was your leak because of previous repairs/bodywork done to the car? Or was it because of vw’s poor design?
@@CC-uh8gl had the car from new.
No repairs ever carried out.
It's poor design from VW
@@scottybotty7289 that sucks. Im thinking of getting a 2018-2021 GTI, now I have to reconsider.
sooo? how to fix it?
Dont know?
I just diagnosed the fault.
I never fixed it.
i think you have to apply silicon sealant and rehouse the light units@@scottybotty7289
is that RUST? At 0:21 and 0:24 ?
Maybe?
I never looked closer I to it?
We often visit the beach with kids and the dog though so is more likely a build up of sand and dirt to be honest.
Same.. first of all the cap was missing off the light, flooded car. Then changed a bulb n misaligned the cap again flooded car.. piece of crap, worst car I've ever brought!!