[M4SK13]

Hi Guys

I am after any help on this one...went to get some shopping bags out of the back of the car and noticed they were a bit smelly/damp. emptied the boot and under the boot flap in the hidden storage where the sub woofer is; it was damp. Carpet is pretty well pinned down so could not tell where it was coming from, noticed that a flap of carpet lifted and sure enough under a plastic click lock flap is where your battery is secretly hidden!!! however my battery was sat in 4-5 inches of water!!! I kid you not.

Q1; any one seen any water collection in the battery area before?
Q2; is there a leak whole for such problem; would it be blocked?
Q3; Cause is there any drainage, water run off's I should be checking to see if they are blocked?

finally I sponges all the water out and dried off the best I could, to which there appears not to be even a drop of water than can run in there now. I did this about 3 weeks ago and check it regularly now, the carpet is bone dry no mould or damp any more. I don't know how long it had been like that it could have been build up over years of car washers or rain. No rust or unwanted marks of any kind on the battery terminals or even the earthing mount.

Any ideas or checks I should be looking at welcome

Thanks
Simon

 

[Candle]

Hi. Have you got the sun roof in yours ?

Hi Guys

I am after any help on this one...went to get some shopping bags out of the back of the car and noticed they were a bit smelly/damp. emptied the boot and under the boot flap in the hidden storage where the sub woofer is; it was damp. Carpet is pretty well pinned down so could not tell where it was coming from, noticed that a flap of carpet lifted and sure enough under a plastic click lock flap is where your battery is secretly hidden!!! however my battery was sat in 4-5 inches of water!!! I kid you not.

Q1; any one seen any water collection in the battery area before?
Q2; is there a leak whole for such problem; would it be blocked?
Q3; Cause is there any drainage, water run off's I should be checking to see if they are blocked?

finally I sponges all the water out and dried off the best I could, to which there appears not to be even a drop of water than can run in there now. I did this about 3 weeks ago and check it regularly now, the carpet is bone dry no mould or damp any more. I don't know how long it had been like that it could have been build up over years of car washers or rain. No rust or unwanted marks of any kind on the battery terminals or even the earthing mount.

Any ideas or checks I should be looking at welcome

Thanks
Simon

 

[SQ5BEASTY1]

Just to put it out there...

I had a similar thing with a second hand C4 Grand Picasso a few years back and on my first internal clean I noticed a sizeable puddle in the foot well under the carpet so sponged out and cleaned up and then pondered on the cause!

It never returned and the only thing I can put it down to is the over enthusiastic car cleaners when they cleaned it pre-auction. I have actually seen the interior of a car JET WASHED

at a dealers previously.

Hopefully your flood is something similar and not an issue

 

[SQ-Raphster]

Not sure what to be more shocked at, that you bought a C4 Grand Picasso or the dealer jet washing the interior of a car!

Thanks for sharing

 

[SQ5BEASTY1]

OT & not making excuses...but!

My A3 was stolen on a Wednesday and I was going away on holiday with the family on the next Monday. I needed something decent I could buy cash until I was paid out. £ for lb it is possibly one of the most feature rich, economic and reliable cars I've ever owned. I kept it whilst my Q5 was on order for nearly a year/5k miles and I only lost £200 when I sold it.

Maybe my guilty pleasure but I did quite like it

 

[M4SK13]

Hi Candle,

Yes I have the full panoramic sunroof. leccy tailgate and B&O sound (hence the sub in the boot). Car has not been valleted for some time however like i mentioned dont know how long it has been there. There was a good down pour of rain last night so going to check this weekend if anything come in the well again.

Thanks
Simon

 

[toasty21]

Hi Simon,

Just confirming that this has happened quite a bit with my 2010 MY11 2.0 TDI Q5, which also has a panoramic sunroof. Appears we are not alone on this too. Refer this post on another Q5: http://www.audiworld.../#post24483347.

I had raised it with dealer during warranty period and they supposedly removed headliner and fixed drainage, however it returned months later after rains.

I put up with it for a while, and just checked/drained it manually every few months, however I had recently forgotten and the water level breached above the battery terminals into the boot carpet and has corroded the terminal leads now. Goes without saying the car will not start now!

So please do treat this as a serious issue, and be vigilant in monitoring it, or else you may end up like my situation.

Pics:

And after a full bucket has been emptied... still draining..

Regards,
Matthew

 

[M4SK13]

thanks for the update; I have now sold my car on. I however fixed the issue in two ways, if you take out the polystrene black holder for the spanners there is a rubber gromit for drainage...its sealed! I put a small hold in it with a pencil and ensured water could/did pass through it. then on the right side by the fuse boxes, its fiddily but under the tail light is another gromit you may have to remove some sound proofing/matting to get to it but i did the same there too. I also loosened the parking senor unit away from the tire arch so that it zip tied to the other wiring looms but ensured to be kept dry. final fix was remove the sound proofing from under the bottom fuse box laid flat as this can act like a cloth and retain water like a sponge with that gone and the two drain holes doing the job it never came back, your photos were/are alot more extreme (probably due to time left i suppose). On a lighter note then to top it off 2 weeks before i sold it the kids broke then sun blind in the pano roof - dangling down. in which audi fitted a replacement and had to take the pano roof out at a cost of £1000 - hopefully they fixed the drain issue you mentioned at the same time.

Thanks
Simon

 

[2013Q5_user]

I just discovered the same with my 2013 Q5.

About 4 inches of water in battery well which I found only by coincidence...
Water seemed clean, not smelly, I did not notice mold smell.

Sponged out water and started thinking how it could have gotten there and how to prevent in the future.
I would think this much water should be almost audible by splashing, if it was there for some time... so I suspect it got there leaking somehow on the body frame.
Had exactly same problem on Toyota Sienna and after long search identified most likely body frame.... all the way from front of the car...

Anyway on Audi, I do not want to repeat this again, so I cut out one of the rubber plungs. Rather large hole but I chose the one under sheet of metal in the trunk... had to cut it out from under the car.
Then I attached with caulk metal window mesh... should hold pretty good. Allow water pass through, prevent small animals from creeping in and if get plugged by some miracle, easy to pop out from outside the car and replace.

The hole is relatively large... about 40mm... smaller hole would be sufficient.

Given how crazy expansive our batteries are - Varta- about $900, I prefer to keep the well clean and battery safe..

 

[Justanhonestman]

Hi guys - had much the same problem of water gathering in the boot of my previous car which had a sunroof. Found out that drainage pipes from the rear of the sunroof frame came down each side of the car behind the trim between the rear seats and the rear window.
They went down to the top of the wheel arches where they exited to the outside via a rubber grommet shaped like a little letter box about 15 mm long. The exit hole had choked up with gritty dirt and tiny pieces of moss from my house roof. The moss had forced the plastic pipe off the grommet allowing the water to drain into my boot. Cleared the exit hole and pushed a bit of thin wire up the drainage pipe several times while pouring warm soapy water into the drainage hole up in the sunroof frame. Once the water ran clear everything was re connected and had no more problems. Hardest bit was replacing the trim on the inside of the boot. So check the drainage pipes from the sunroof before drilling any holes in the floor lol.

 

[joanchelcay]

Hi Simon,

Just confirming that this has happened quite a bit with my 2010 MY11 2.0 TDI Q5, which also has a panoramic sunroof. Appears we are not alone on this too. Refer this post on another Q5: http://www.audiworld.../#post24483347.

I had raised it with dealer during warranty period and they supposedly removed headliner and fixed drainage, however it returned months later after rains.

I put up with it for a while, and just checked/drained it manually every few months, however I had recently forgotten and the water level breached above the battery terminals into the boot carpet and has corroded the terminal leads now. Goes without saying the car will not start now!

So please do treat this as a serious issue, and be vigilant in monitoring it, or else you may end up like my situation.

Pics:

And after a full bucket has been emptied... still draining..

Regards,
Matthew

Hi, I have. 2015 Q5 and I’m going to the same thing now with the battery flooded with water and the car won’t start. The dealer are telling me that the car is totaled. Where you able to salvage your car?

 

[missile]

Hi, I have. 2015 Q5 and I’m going to the same thing now with the battery flooded with water and the car won’t start. The dealer are telling me that the car is totaled. Where you able to salvage your car?

Welcome to our forum
To scrap the car for water ingress seems a bit extreme :-(