Don't know if anyone else has had this experience--my A4 is taking on water!<br>Now I know that I'm new to Seattle and its Chinese Water Torture-type 24 hour rains, and I still regress back to youth, splashing in puddles here and there, but I'm not happy that the car has apparently sprung a leak, as none of my other, "inferior" (raise nose now) cars have done.<p>It's only on the driver's side, and the carpet's soaked from above where the pedals are through to the back seat footwell, where there is a little bit of standing water after the carpet couldn't soak up any more. Under the driver's seat is soaked too. The trunk is not wet. Any suggestions?? It's already going into the dealer next week, but based on my universal experiences with incompetent service people, I don't raise much hope that they'll find a leak, unless they could put their head through it. Alas, this '98 is going out of warranty soon, so any such leaks must be repaired soon. TIA for your suggestion.<p>Rich<br>'98 2.8Q sport, Wetted and Wet!
Before taking it to the dealer, do a little testing for yourself. <p>You can safely eliminate the bottom of the car as a source of the problem since it was sustained, driven rain that apparently caused the problem.<p>My guess is that the water is leaking from the driver's side door gaskets--front and/or rear, or less likely from around the windshield. Once water has entered the driver's side of the vehicle, gravity will guide the water to its ultimate destination--the lowest point in the car cabin.<p>A second possibility is the door gaskets on the driver's side.<p>First, dry the interior completely. You really should remove the carpet to do this, since if you don't, you will have a potential rust and/or stain problem--not to mention mildew odor which can be tough to eliminate.<p>If the carpet dries with no remaining odor, you are probably OK with reinstalling it. If it has any odor at all, your car is a closed compartment and the odor will build in the car. You probably should consider using "Febreze", which you can get at your grocery or discount store.<p>Otherwise, if the odor persists, press the dealer for warranty replacement (of course, there must be a warrantable defect--having left the window open doesn't count!) <p>Once you have dried the car COMPLETELY, and have the carpet removed, take your car to a high pressure spray do-it-yourself car wash. Direct the spray at the winshield gasket (a safe distance of say 8-12 inches) and then to the door gasgets. Use a flashlight to check for leaks periodically, or you may not be able to pin-point the leak.<p>You might also check that the driver's side windows don't bind preventing them from seating in the closed position (unlikely since you'd probably hear a fair amount of wind noise it this were the case). <p>Is there a possibility you didn't close a window completely before the rain storm?)<p>Anyway, the dealer probably has no more expertise than common sense, and has less time and persistence than you will. Just apply some common sense, and given time, you can find the leak(s). THEN take it to your dealer to have the repairs completed. Make sure that they understand that simply because you have pinpointed some leaks for them, it is still their responsibility to repair the car under the terms of the warranty.<p>In the end, having taken the time to find the problem yourself will probably save you time and grief in the long run. Dealers aren't given much allowance from the factory to diagnose problems. They get paid for replacing things, so that's typically their solution: Just start replacing things until (hopefully after 4 or 5 trips to their repair shop) they replace the right part.<p>Good luck!<p>