so sealed the speaker area with silicon just to be sure and the shop i took it to said there was a bad seal around where the fresh air comes. i guess that would be the seal around the inlet for the cabin filter. I tend to think that isnt it but it could have been... but as of late, the car has been dry as best i can tell... i think there is still some residual dampness in the larger thick pad that is below the carpet as the floor starts to angle up towards the firewall. other than that, its been dry...
when we were testing, we sprayed the windshield, doors etc... didnt find any new water coming in...so if there is indeed still a problem, it really only leaves water coming in from below... i will continue to monitor things and report if anything changes.
Has your car interior remained dry since your last post?
I have a hypothesis about some of the passenger side water leaks that various people report.
Today I removed the wipers and L/R fresh air intake plenum covers to install the OEM chirp siren. On the passenger side, there is a removable plastic panel below the plenum cover whose only function is as a water shield. It prevents any drips that make their way past the plenum cover retainer at the bottom of the windshield (the rubber strip along the base of the windshield glass where the intake plenum pops in). I noticed that there is quite a bit of wobble to this shield, which is very flimsy, and if bent just a cm by hand forward of the plenum retainer, water droplets can fall right onto the top of the cabin air filter. Having the car parked on a steep uphill incline would exacerbate any such dripping onto the cabin filter. I have not had any leaks (knocks on wood...) but honestly, the panel is so flimsy and flexible that if one were warped or not popped in place correctly from the factory, I could see how water droplets would fall directly onto the cabin filter, causing water intrusion onto the passenger side floor.
Part #33 in the diagram:
https://volkswagen.7zap.com/en/usa/golf+variant+sportwagen/gov/2016-796/8/819-819030/#33
On a side note, when I removed all four door cards to install the warning lights and 3-position door checks, I ran a bead of silicone caulk around the speaker frames. When I removed the front speakers to install the door checks (not necessary on the rear doors), I noticed that some areas of the gasket (close to the rivets) were highly compressed, while areas farther away from the rivets were barely compressed, indicating that water could conceivably breach. While at it, I also ran a bead of silicone around the plastic pop-in panels (designed for accessing the window regulators). These too are held in place by an extremely flimsy pressure fit that could be prone to leaking (and rattling). If you can't tell by now, I'm pretty paranoid about leaks
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