Volkswagen: bora leak, leak points, cowl area

Question
hi,after heavy rain my Bora 1.6 05 plate has a few inches of water gathering on the floor of the back seat (behind drivers seat, no windows open, no sunroof.) Any ideas where the water is coming from?

Answer
Hi Isabel

I'm trying to resist my sarcastic urge to tell you that the water came from the sky, but I couldn't do it ;-).  The two most common leak points are the sunroof and the cowl at the back of the engine compartment.  There are drains in the cowl area that often get clogged up with leaves and other organic matter.  If there is standing water in there, you need to do some serious demucking.  You may also have disconnected sunroof drains.  There are hoses that run from the sunroof frame to drains inside the front door jambs and behind the rear bumper.  To test them, pour water into the sinroof surround and you should see water pour out in the front door jamb and from behind the rear wheel well.  As far as the windows and sunroof, the module that controls those is mounted to the floor (thanks VW).  You need to get all standing water out as well as any water hiding under the carpet.  You then need to get that car into the sun for a while.  As we don't have Boras in the US, I'm assuming you're from the UK, so I'm not sure where you are going to find sun.  You may need to resort to a hair dryer and extension cord.  Hopefully when everything dries it will work.  I'll have by fingers crossed.

Rob