2020 Taycan water in battery area & inside car

[Scotty]

With a lot of rain over 2 days in Los Angeles I had one inch of water under drivers seat and back seat driver side. Turns out the sealant used to seal battery compartment is defective and water entered under driver seat ( drain plug under car in area). New sealant being sent from Germany. Take until mid march to get car back. Covered under warranty

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[naiza3k]

Do you have any photos showing where it was defective?

sorry for what’s happened on the taycan…

 

[Gadzoo]

There is a service bulletin about this:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2021/MC-10191715-0001.pdf

 

[Scandinavian]

We had horrendous rain yesterday, with more than a months rain in a few hours. And wind gusts over 20 m/s. Even a mini trombone along the coast!
My car was parked in our driveway and not touched all day. I knew about the weather warning so checked the car was properly locked and closed. No windows slightly open or so. Also confirmed by the green tick in the app with all items closed etc.
However I found the following in my car this morning. Water in the foot garage on passenger side! And the mats on the front are damp as well. No trace of any water entering on the doors, door covering, leather, roof cladding etc. Just the floor being soaked?

I strongly suspect that the rain water has entered via the air intake on the front. It is on the right side and since both front and rear floors are wet seems likely. I can not see the carpet sucking the water all the way up the front passenger floor else..

Now I think I have had enough niggles with this Porsche car and need to see what alternatives I can find. It will not be another Porsche EV for quite some time though. Totally fed up with this garage queen!

 

[MrJones02]

It seems as if the end-point of some drainpipes is somewhere in the battery tray / protective plate, from where it gets released through those water drains as mentioned in the TSB above. (newer cars apparently have 6 of those, my MY 2020 Turbo only has the 2 in the middle, in the TSB they also only mention those 2).

Those drains get clogged easily, so in heavy rain water is comming in faster than it can release, waterlevel goes too high and will find its way to the foot-garages if not properly sealed.

The day after driving in the rain I would find like 5 gallons of water on my garage-floor (water that slowly made its way through the clogged drains). Can imagine that would have been atleast an inch of water in the battery-tray.
Last week I cleaned my water drains and removed the membranes.
Now have 90% less water on the floor after driving in the rain.

 

[Scandinavian]

It seems as if the end-point of some drainpipes is somewhere in the battery tray / protective plate, from where it gets released through those water drains as mentioned in the TSB above. (newer cars apparently have 6 of those, my MY 2020 Turbo only has the 2 in the middle, in the TSB they also only mention those 2).

Those drains get clogged easily, so in heavy rain water is comming in faster than it can release, waterlevel goes too high and will find its way to the foot-garages if not properly sealed.

The day after driving in the rain I would find like 5 gallons of water on my garage-floor (water that slowly made its way through the clogged drains). Can imagine that would have been atleast an inch of water in the battery-tray.
Last week I cleaned my water drains and removed the membranes.
Now have 90% less water on the floor after driving in the rain.

I can understand that this can happen if you drive in the rain. In my case the car did not move at all. It is a 2020 so fewer drains perhaps? But if the car is not driven, just heavy rain standing still, where would it enter. To have drains from say roof rails or cabin air intake drain down on the battery seems bad engineering!

And the driveway was not flooded!

 

[MrJones02]

I guess its also the water from your windshield/roof that gets routed through some pipes to that lowest point of the car? ... so even if it just sits outside during heavy tain, and the drains are clogged, you eventually end up with a whole bunch of water in that battery-tray. (atleast thats my take on it)

 

[Scandinavian]

I guess its also the water from your windshield/roof that gets routed through some pipes to that lowest point of the car? ... so even if it just sits outside during heavy tain, and the drains are clogged, you eventually end up with a whole bunch of water in that battery-tray. (atleast thats my take on it)

You are right, that could be the issue. But seems silly to end drain pipes in the battery tray? I found the technical manual and it is described there how to take out the drain plugs and seals.

This problem most likely has been caused by the battery repair I had done, and then they have not sealed things correctly?? According to the service bulletin it will be another battery out procedure, so the garage queen comes in Again!

 

[MrJones02]

I would think with clear drains, it might not get a chance to accumulate enough water in that tray. Your leak/bad seal might be located 1 inch from the bottom, if water-level would never get the chance to go that high, you probably will never notice.

Must be a reason why newer taycans have 6 of those drains instead of 2 on ours.
(and 4 of them are without the membrane that obviously clogs up pretty fast as nothing but water can get through)

 

[ciaranob]

Man you guys have me wanting to get after those drains and check for dirt accumulation - mine a Nov 2021 build of model year 2022 so actually don't know if the 6 drains were std in mine! Car at dealer for heater so will have to wait 'til I get it back to look around - at least I have a 4-post lift to make it somewhat easier to examine!!

All that said we get truly intense tropical downpours here in Houston which I've driven through and TBH never seen any water ingress - fingers crossed

 

[PNWTaycan4S]

I had the "water in the passenger footwell" issue a couple of years ago. It was the battery drains per the service bulletin as Robert pointed out. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2021/MC-10191715-0001.pdf

The dealer removed the back seats and carpet to get everything dried out, including the foam under the carpet. Pulled the battery to do the reseal and removed the membranes in the plugs. In on a Saturday and done the following Friday.

I've not had any water intrusion issues since.

 

[whitex]

It seems as if the end-point of some drainpipes is somewhere in the battery tray / protective plate, from where it gets released through those water drains as mentioned in the TSB above. (newer cars apparently have 6 of those, my MY 2020 Turbo only has the 2 in the middle, in the TSB they also only mention those 2).

Those drains get clogged easily, so in heavy rain water is comming in faster than it can release, waterlevel goes too high and will find its way to the foot-garages if not properly sealed.

The day after driving in the rain I would find like 5 gallons of water on my garage-floor (water that slowly made its way through the clogged drains). Can imagine that would have been atleast an inch of water in the battery-tray.
Last week I cleaned my water drains and removed the membranes.
Now have 90% less water on the floor after driving in the rain.

Maybe what you need is a suction pump connected to the drains to actively pump the water out whenever present. Too bad Taycans don't have the bio-hazard mode that Teslas do - it creates positive pressure in the cabin, which could help evacuate water if needed (Porsche could add a water sensor and trigger cabin pressurization when needed, even while parked).

 

[Scandinavian]

Well the service bulletin worked wonders. Below a picture of the flow of water after I managed to loosen the drain halfway. This was after about 5 minutes of flow and it kept going. That drain plug was quite full of dirt.

well worth doing , getting done, because there was quite an amount of water in there!

easy to do as well.

 

[Scandinavian]

I think I was too quick to think this was over. I had the dealer check my drains in other parts of the car a few weeks ago since clearingbthe drain plugs did not solve the issue. Told all was well and I should see no more trouble.

That did not work however. After some heavy rain again over the last couple of days, I found my mats in front wet again. I looked at the little flap in the passenger side floor, where the VIN number is stamped, and found quite a bit of water again. My service advisor said they have similar problems with other Porsche models as well. Some drains from roof or ventilation seem clogged and lets water into passenger area.

When I asked what could be done about it, he said he did not know, but perhaps get annoutdoor cover!!

I know this was the first year of production 2020, but the troubles with my car seem endless. I have nearly 1 hours drive to the dealer and have to visit so frequently. With the very weak market for Taycan now it is close to impossible to get rid of the Trashcan as well.

 

[Scotty]

I think I was too quick to think this was over. I had the dealer check my drains in other parts of the car a few weeks ago since clearingbthe drain plugs did not solve the issue. Told all was well and I should see no more trouble.

That did not work however. After some heavy rain again over the last couple of days, I found my mats in front wet again. I looked at the little flap in the passenger side floor, where the VIN number is stamped, and found quite a bit of water again. My service advisor said they have similar problems with other Porsche models as well. Some drains from roof or ventilation seem clogged and lets water into passenger area.

When I asked what could be done about it, he said he did not know, but perhaps get annoutdoor cover!!

I know this was the first year of production 2020, but the troubles with my car seem endless. I have nearly 1 hours drive to the dealer and have to visit so frequently. With the very weak market for Taycan now it is close to impossible to get rid of the Trashcan as well.

Your dealer gave you wrong information. the battery cover under the car must be resealed with a new adhesive Porsche recently released . In addition the plastic inside each drain cover must be removed per the service bulletin this is causing the plugs to clog. If the dealer does not completely reseal the battery cover then the problem will continue with water going under drivers seat and read seat. now for some more bad news.there is an additional service bulletin out regarding the AC pressure sensors and (campaign 268TU)and thermal management control system you need dealer to perform or you soon will lose your AC and battery could overheat. In addition 2020 Taycan's need to have the high voltage heater replaced since Porsche announced they are defective and failing after 3 years If the dealer performs a thermal management test it will show the heater etc passing . But in fact both the sensors and heater are defective and should be replaced. You can search this forum for more info re campaigns. You should find another dealer who better understands how to fix the issues

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