My S2 coupe bit of a rebuild and repair thread.

[Rikki Kitto]

I've always wondered how the hell mice get into cars, seen it a few times on wheeler dealers. For the S2 I cannot think of a single way a mice could get into the interior. Engine bay is another thing plenty of ways to get in. I know my S2 was stored in a barn on a farm and never turned a wheel in around 5/6 years and thankfully no mice issues. There is also no space between the carpet & the underlay so don't think I will ever have problems with it (I hope).

My S2 was stored in me parents garage for 6 years, when I finally got chance to put it back on the road mice had been living in the air box for ages and made a lovely little home out of the filter, felt bad evicting them

[newsh]

https://www.s2forum.com/forum/technical/exterior/50753-more-water-leaks

[newsh]

https://www.s2forum.com/forum/technical/interior/56828-definitive-coupe-water-leak-thread

Some reading for you

[newsh]

There’s a sticky thread about coupe leaks, loads of info although Kit has covered most of the main points.
My worst leaks have been from the roof edge trims not being put back correctly after screen replacement. Also had a leak behind the heater box which turned out to be a gap between the scuttle panels in the corner, quite a persistent drip. Bonnet pull grommet is common.

[B5NUT]

I've always wondered how the hell mice get into cars, seen it a few times on wheeler dealers. For the S2 I cannot think of a single way a mice could get into the interior. Engine bay is another thing plenty of ways to get in. I know my S2 was stored in a barn on a farm and never turned a wheel in around 5/6 years and thankfully no mice issues. There is also no space between the carpet & the underlay so don't think I will ever have problems with it (I hope).

[SteveH]

After a quick hover the carpet was hit with a chemical mixture of Vanish, vax carpet solution, dettol laundry & washing up liquid. Then scrubbing, pressure washing and a carpet cleaner it's come up nice and clean. Left it out in the sun and it has dried a little but will have to bring it in the house and get the heaters & dehumidifier on it. Mrs is not going to be happy.
1-carpet.jpg
Managed to find some wool underlay locally. As I going to be even further in the doghouse if that carpet has to spend days in the house while I wait for underlay. Looks the same sort of stuff to me just not as green!
2-underlay.jpg

Downside I had to buy 15m2 meters of the stuffIf anyone needs any underlay just let me know
3-under.jpg
Least now I can sort the underlay tomorrow and if the carpet dry's out then that can also be put back in the car. Which equals a happy wife for about 5 minutes!

Mice love that underlay, makes a nice nest. Good job with the carpet. Much harder to get a light coloured carpet clean than black.

[B5NUT]

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.

Autoglass are doing the job! Already put them off once due to the weather, but I think I need to go over to the depot and talk to them. If you have any documents that would be great. I would like to read up on the procedure so I know what's going on. I'll be watching them like a hawk, and if I see any rust around where the window frame sits then that's the job stopped and I'll have to fix that before the screen goes back in. Happened on of my old A4 B5 were the screen was replaced. I spotted the rust but never got a chance to fix it. Few year later was letting water in and the rust had spread to the A-post, and was creping around towards the door.

[B5NUT]

After a quick hover the carpet was hit with a chemical mixture of Vanish, vax carpet solution, dettol laundry & washing up liquid. Then scrubbing, pressure washing and a carpet cleaner it's come up nice and clean. Left it out in the sun and it has dried a little but will have to bring it in the house and get the heaters & dehumidifier on it. Mrs is not going to be happy.
1-carpet.jpg
Managed to find some wool underlay locally. As I going to be even further in the doghouse if that carpet has to spend days in the house while I wait for underlay. Looks the same sort of stuff to me just not as green!
2-underlay.jpg

Downside I had to buy 15m2 meters of the stuffIf anyone needs any underlay just let me know
3-under.jpg
Least now I can sort the underlay tomorrow and if the carpet dry's out then that can also be put back in the car. Which equals a happy wife for about 5 minutes!

[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.

[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]

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.

[Bowie69]

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

[B5NUT]

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

10-oem.jpg

[Tractor Dave]

I used this on my Avant.

https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-1384-sound-deadening-felt

[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.