I've got that problem too.  I think I may have figured out where the water
is coming from, though I haven't  tried fixing it yet. Each door has a
rubber tube near the hinges where the wires pass from the body to the door.
Not long ago I replaced speakers and snaked new wires through the tube.  The
rubber tube was full of water. A clue.  I'm thinking now that somehow water
that normally flows through the door and out the bottom is being diverted
through this tube and into the van.  Maybe leaking in at the hinge for the
vent window? Anyway, no proof yet, but this is where I'll be looking first.

Gary
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Thoma" <thoma@MINDSPRING.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 10:58 AM
Subject: Another Back on the List / Mysterious Leak

> Hey all,
> The van is parked for the snowy (salty) winter here in Cleveland, and
while I have the time I'm going to try to solve the mystery of the the
underdash leak that plagues my '87 and plagued my '82 before it.  Just where
the heck is the water coming from during rainstorms.  A small puddle
inevitably forms in the passenger and driver footwells whether I'm driving
or not.  It's not coming from the windshield molding as that's sealed tight.
It's like there was a hole on the roof that leads directly to a spigot
somewhere under the dash.  I'm assuming this must be a pretty common Vanagon
problem as it's happened on both of mine.  So what's the consensus?  Please
don't tell me I have to tear the entire dash apart. :-)
> M. Thoma
> '87 1.9TD Weekender
> '98 Jetta TDI