My S2 coupe bit of a rebuild and repair thread.

[B5NUT]

Yes that would be useful, would prefer that than having the ignition being on just so I can listen to the radio. The S2 battery is quite small so would rather have most things switched off if possible.

[B5NUT]

Stripped back the tape this morning. These two wires are easy enough to sort out
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This wire was going to the fuse holder
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This is what I don't understand. So the red/black wire looks factory as it goes into the harness tape, so why cut it then put a different colour wire on
3-wire.jpg

Desoldered the the addon wires and soldered the connection block wires together, then placed heat shrink over the damaged sheath.
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Finished with a bit of Tesa tape. That's the wiring done on the car, it's the only place I have found where someone has been hacking around.
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[B5NUT]

Got this far today
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Does anyone know if it's possible to remove the carpet without removing the dash. If I remove the airbag module could the carpet slide out?
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[Nuvo]

Yes it's possible, I'd recommend you remove the heater ducting at the base of the heater box too.

[Mikes2]

A piece of laminated A4 card between the carpet and the heater ducts helps - you just pull it forwards. You'll need to remove the footrest.

[newsh]

Yes, footrest has a couple of almost invisible plastic pins which you need to push through. It will then come loose and you can retrieve the pins to fix it back later. I think it’s two, maybe 3?

[B5NUT]

Thanks for the information on the foot rest would have spent a large amount of time trying to figure that one out!

Had a productive morning, carpet is out
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So it would appear the car had a few leaks
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Now the outer corner door seals are missing and new ones have been ordered and the inner ones are in a bad way so again new ones have been ordered. Other than the sunroof, which also waiting on a new seal. Should I be looking anywhere else for leaks. Or just sit in the car and get some with a hose pipe to spray the car and see what comes in?
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So the underlay has gone a bit rotten in one area. Could I just use normal carpet underlay of a similar material or would I be best trying to find special Automotive underlay?
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Carpet is ready to be cleaned
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Will give it a good hover first then hit it with an array of cleaning products and machines.
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[Tractor Dave]

Woolies sell good underlay for a reasonable price.
The carpet responds well to a jet wash. Soak in carpet shampoo first then power wash out. I normally do this in the summer mind as it takes a good while to dry out.
I'm not an expert on Coupe leaks but have you blown out the sunroof drains? The seal is just to stop wind noise really. Check the drip tray is correctly positioned as well.

[B5NUT]

Thanks will take a look at Woolies.

Will be using the pressure washer as well as carpet vax.

I've got the VAG tool for clearing out the sunroof drains and they are clear.

Drying the carpet is going to be a challenge It's a nice day today so will be leaving it in the sun as much as I can, but it will be coming in the house and will get heaters & dehumidifiers on the job. Thankfully the coupe carpet is not a bad a the A4 B5 carpet as that has inches of foam stuck to it and that took days to dry out.

[Tractor Dave]

I used this on my Avant.
https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-138...deadening-felt

[B5NUT]

Thanks. Any idea what the OEM material is? It looks like a wool underlay.
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10-oem.jpg

[Bowie69]

I think it is all cotton waste based stuff, the one Tractor Dave cites will be good.

[K Simmonds]

Haven't check this thread for a while, more excellent work, I like your style sir!

Arghhh... Coupe leaks, right, where do I start.

I wish you better luck than I had with my 3B, though you seem to have a lot more patience than I do so hopefully you can crack it. After all when they left the factory they didn't leak so it should be feasible to stop the water getting in again. A few of the obvious things have been mention and you've either checked or are in the process of sorting them out.

A list in no order of priority whatsoever and unlikely to be comprehensive. And remember water will track until it finds somewhere to pool, so it could in theory be at the back of the car.

Potential culprits are...

Blocked sunroof drain tubes.
Rusted out sunroof drip tray (highly unlikely).
The Radio aerial base gasket.
Boot seal.
Door seals.
Rear lights.
Blocked scuttle drain holes or leaks from around the in car ventilation intake or fuse box.
Poor fitment of or damage to the trim sections below the windscreen.
The door card seals that you've pictured above. (I'm hoping this might be your issue).
Missing/damaged bulkhead grommets, though given the car isn't currently being driven this is also highly unlikely.
Bonnet cable grommet.

To your knowledge has the the car ever had any new glass fitted, especially the windscreen? As their all bonded items and as you know water will find pin holes as well blatant mistakes.

If it has had a new windscreen and the door card seals you've ordered don't sort it I'd bet on it being something to do with the absurdly leak prone (if disturbed) A-post trim arrangement, it could be this anyway but as a rule this area is okay if left unmolested.

I did all the above and made an about an 80% reduction to the ingress, so I sat in the car while a mate hosed it down which found a couple of tiny leaks around the door seals which I fixed by banging the seals in the relevant spots.

My car had been treated to a new screen and the A-post trims had not been refitted very well at all, so I redid the job of fitting them myself following every step in the factory manual to the letter, I actually had to hairline crack the very top corners of the screen to be able to fit them to something approaching the correct tolerances. Covered the cracks with super sticky black exterior trim tape which made them very hard to spot.

It still leaked over time, so I lost it and gave up, removed all the sound deadening (my car was a light weight project and that stuff will hold a surprising amount of water) and drilled three 10mm drain holes each side at the lowest point of the floor pan. If I was American they'd have been 9mm and not done with a drill. This fixed it.

[B5NUT]

Thanks for the information. I don't believe the car has had a replacement screen. However it's due to get one in the next few weeks.

Think my best option is the hose pipe, with the carpet out I should see any leaks. As I know my sunroof drain holes are clear and there is no evidence of water damage in the roof area. However I don't get any radio reception so I think the aerial module is dead.

Boot seal is on order, and from the looks of it you can now only buy the right door seal as the left is NLA even from tradition. Will check all the seals around the bulkhead see if any any look in a bad way.

[K Simmonds]

No problem, happy to try and help.

Yeah, your best while it's stripped out is the hose pipe option, this should highlight the problem(s), it might be blatantly obvious it could be somewhere really unexpected but that's defiantly the way to go.

Who's doing your screen for you? If you can get in touch with company first and as politely as possible make it clear that you will not accept substandard work and try get a fitter that done at least one before. To be fair to the fitters from most glass replacement service's they don't get given enough time as they have to fit a certain number of jobs into a day. There are also some plastic wedges you require to get the glass to sit at the correct height so that the A-post trims will go back on properly, without those they don't stand much chance and I don't think they ever have them in their vans as our cars are all at least 26 years old now.

Oh hell. That's just reminded me I was supposed to be uploading all the pages of factory data regarding Coupe screen removal/re-fitment for a member in South Africa who waiting on a Pilkington screen to be delivered and fitted, hopefully he's still waiting. I even ordered a tripod to try and make the images from my phones camera clear, that arrived but was junk and I got refund. This was just before Christmas and my most recent adventure into alcoholic land and which made me forget, dam it. Bloody stuff, wish I'd never touched it now. I will have another go in the next 24 hours at getting the info as well as all the diagrams on here, as with that data and the right tools it's not actually that bad, though time could still be an issue for the fitter. I doubt there's a problem with copywrite now. I'll have to come up with some type of home made phone stand using books or something as my hands are nowhere near steady enough any longer to hold my phone totally still for reliable close up's.