stevenh

OK, I know there has been a plethora of threads about interior condensation recently, I myself started one a while back IIRC.

I am still having an issue with it, but have made the following checks:

All cabin carpets, including under the floormats are dry.

Doorcards are dry.

No apparent signs of water ingress in the passenger compartment anywhere.

All windows cleaned recently, to help avoid moisture.

The car WAS leaking a little water in through the o/s/r light cluster which was replaced when the accident damage was fixed prior to me buying it.

This has been back to the dealers twice now for a re-seal - the second only today so I have yet to check whether it has been successful or not (too cold for the hose!) but I would hope they would test it themselves.

Tuesday morning when I went to drive the car to the dealers I had ice on the inside of my windscreen! And by the time I had driven the 40 mins to the dealers with the aircon on full blast, I still had some condensation on both the front and rear screens (albeit small amounts).

So now it is supposed to be fixed, but I see my rear window, and the bottoms of the nearside side windows start to mist up tonight (-2) when my wife's Picasso sitting right next to the Octy shows no signs of misting at all - and that has been sat still all day.

On further investigation, I have noticed a waxy substance that seems to have been 'spread' in the corners of where the rear wing meets the floorpan, and in the zig-zag in the base plate in-front of the rear light cluster, normally behind the side boot trim. (Think i'd better nip out and take a photo to help...).

OK - the first photo with arrows shows the location of the wax stuff.



The second shows further round the corner



and the third shows the resealing of the cluster (messier than the first, but hopefully more successful!)



When I scooped some of this wax stuff out it was a little damp below it, the leak used to form just below where the black flexi cable on the RHS of the first image crosses over the ridge so maybe some of the moisture was getting trapped and held by the wax?

Anyway, does anyone know if this wax is dealer fit, or will it have been added when the bodyshop did the repair?

Should it be there at all, or is it some kind of run off that should have been cleaned up?

I tried to remove the trim from the other side of the boot to compare, but can't work out how to remove the CD changer in the dark!

A job for the weekend perhaps.

This is becoming a bit of a personal mission to cure this damn condensation - I know I may not solve it completely, but surely a 3 year old car shouldn't ice up on the interior!!!

P.S. To the bloke with the leaky estate...now you know where to check as well

Cheers,
Steven.

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imcarm

Cheers for this The dampness in my VRS estate is (looking at your second pic) right about where the yellow hook is - I'll have to take a few pics of it to make things clearer I think.

mbames

mmm, I'll have to check my estate as well - however I wet rear passenger footwell.

I am tending to think mine might be AC related - but I as yet I have not been able to spot the pipe that runs through the bulkhead to see if it is blocked....

cheezemonkhai

That waxy stuff look s a bit like waxoyl ,which is a sealing wax used on cars.

Did you say your car has had accident damage?

Maybe there is a small crack somewhere allowing water ingress, i have seen that before on rear ended cars (albeit much much older ones).

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AJB

I'm pretty sure I remember seeing waxy stuff there on mine, in which case it would be factory applied. Looks like a bit like waxoil, as someone else said.

Mine's always misting up too.... Very annoying, and I've never managed to figure out why - there don't seem to be any leaks anywhere - at least no carpet ever seems to be wet... I'd wondered if it was just that the front and back screen slope a lot, and so point at the sky more than most cars....

The one leak it did have (fixed by the dealer under warranty once I'd tracked it down) turned out to be in the seam that the bootlid seal presses on to, in near the top right hand corner of the bootlid. Running water onto that seam caused it to leak in, run down the inside of the rearmost pillar (C pillar?), and then drip off a bracket that plastic panel holding the back speakers attaches to.

I noticed it as I've got a rubber mat in the boot, and it was getting a small puddle after heavy rain. I'd ignored it for ages, though, as that's about the same place as water drips in when you open the bootlid anyway, so I'd just thought it was that.

KenONeill

I'm getting occasional misting issues too. As the car's just over 4 years old, I'm wondering about whether or not the aircon needs regassing, and neither the service log nor Haynes are any help. Is there a sight glass anywhere so you can check whether or not the dessicant in the ac gas has been used up?

cheezemonkhai

I know i got my air-con re-gassed after i had had the car two years and the reduced any misting up. Also make sure your pollen filter is dry.

My car had nothing that looked like waxoyl in the boot, just a line of sealent over the joins which was also painted in the body colour.

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

musky

No leaking on my 4x4 hatch but I get damp seat belts at the front

KenONeill

Cheers; that's one job for the next reasonable weekend, and one for Easter then I think.

mbames

I have noticed a damp front drivers seat belt in my Octy estate (with sunroof - if that counts?!), but I also have the wet rear passenger footwell issue, which is a larger concern at the moment.

Give the rain that passed over Boscombe earlier, I expect that when I leave work shortly, the car will be full of water!!!

stevenh

Does anyone else gain a certain comfort from knowing they are not alone in their soggy Octavia?

Maybe we should start a club! H2Octy

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cheezemonkhai

TBH that waxy stuff makes me ask if your car has had a rear end shunt and repair.

You could always paint some black under guard on the seams on the underside of the car see if that helps stop the leak and help you locate it.

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

Tuck

i get mist in the back window but put it down to the bad design of boot. i dislike the fact when you open the boot all the water runs off the roof lid into the boot space and when it drys steams the back window up. looks like the rear window heater is going to be used for more than keeping your hands warm.

stevenh

I know my car has had bodywork before!

I posted previously about it's history (stolen from previous owners house in Liverpool, used in house break-in 2 weeks later, accident recovered - only cosmetic mostly the o/s/r wing where the photos are!).

What I was wondering was, if when they did the repair, did THEY put that wax down, or is it dealer fit?

I will try to remove my CD changer this weekend (can anyone point me towards a how to?) and compare against the other side.

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OctaviaBuzz

i've been having the odd bit of misting, and found water in the boot after an extensive search.

exactly here except on the passenger side of the car. i'd love to say it was damp, but it was pretty wet. I thought it was coming up from the black gromit, and was going to silicone it up on saturday.(technically thats today i guess)
anyway, i'll check up inside the light housing aswell, just in case, and report back afterwards.

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OctaviaBuzz - '02 Octavia 1.9SDi
Current Status: 82k miles, currently averaging 51.5mpg
My dry weather transport - CBF600N

KenONeill

Are those 2 black objects on the boot sidewall in OctyBuzz's photo 1-way air extractor vents? I can't remenber seeing anything about them in the manuals.

imcarm

They do appear to be vents of some sort, although mine were covered with sound proofing, which seems to defeat the object of having vents as they won't be able to circulate air very well when covered with foam.

Does anyone else have this sound proofing in the pull down compartment on the drivers side in the boot?

stevenh

Who are you calling OctyBuzz?

Them's ma photies!

So is my car a freak or what with these vents?

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imcarm

Nope mine has them (vrs estate) - Although like I said they were covered with a slab of sound proofing.

KenONeill

Sorry Steven. My car has those covers, not blocked by anything other than the trim cover for the RH side of the boot, which is why I was wondering what they were for.

150HP&counting

Think am now another one to join the H20 club, late last week when we had the strong winds and rain(am in sheffield) passenger footwell could have actually had goldfish swimming in there!!!

Am guessing that i may need to check pollen filter area as i heard this is a probable cause for passenger footwell water ingress?

I too had the iceing up of front windscreen couple days ago, when it had been cold over night - NOT GOOD on a newish car, even my bloody old AX didnt do it for god sake.

Be happy to hear of any good outcomes to this problem.
I have condensation on every window just about most mornings recently - a pain it is!

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What is: Octavia vRS... Black Magic yet again... with plenty planned
What was (May she RIP): Blk Magic Octy (Not quite a VRS) L&K,Climate,Heated leather,Cruise,Xenons,
MODS(so far): Custom Code Phase II JBS-Forge-007P DV, Forge/Samco TIP, 18" Ace 205's, ABD/JBS CAI (*Wooosh), Audi TT 312mm Brakes

VRSPhil

My vRS has the waxy stuff in the same place. It's also on the other side behind the CD changer so it must be from the factory.

I have also found water in my boot, I have resealed the N/S light cluster and two of the grommets in the bottom of the spare wheel well.

Glider

Steve, i noticed you mentioned you had ice on the inside of the car, your Air con doesn't work below 5 degrees C to protect the air con pump.

stevenh

Update:

I got my Mrs to run the hose over the rear of my Octy on Friday whilst I sat inside the boot.

The water is coming in from 2 places:

The seam below the rear light cluster (red X below) and a little bit from the Wiper arm washer.

The car is booked back in to get them both looked at and hopefully repaired!

I am not sure if there is something behind the trim or bumper below the o/s/r cluster! Missing bolt perhaps?

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wuozopo

I have water coming in via the n/s rear light cluster (on vRS hatch). This forms a puddle which runs down into the well under the CD changer (currently not fitted!), and also in the same position as your arrow indicates. I too have done the sitting in the boot while it 'rains' to trace leaks. It ain't easy! So far I have sealed the gutter (under the trim) and the windscreen which leaked following replacement (common fault I'm told by local dealer). Also resealed the pollen filter housing (ditto common problem) and cleaned the whole thing out of leaves etc. So far the front is 'dry'.
How do you reseal the rear light cluster? I also get a small amount of water getting in under the hatch seal but I can't work it out. Is it supposed to be glued on? Looks like something puttylike was in there before.