2002 Passat Water in jack Well

I have a 2002 Passat FWD sedan 1.8T. The car has about 48K miles and is about 4 1/2 years old.

This past week we had our first flat tire - we seem to have picked up a nail. When I went to get the jack out of the well to the left of the spare tire compartment I found that there was water in the compartment and the screw rod on the jack had rusted (as had the tools). Due to the rust the jack would not work. Luckly we were near a small flower shop and the owner brought out his own scissor jack and we could change the tire.

There is no water in the trunk or in the spare tire well. How did the water get into the jack well? This is the first time I have ever removed the jack or the tools, so the leak, or whatever, could have been there from day 1. VW says this is not their problem since the car is more than 4 years old.

A new VW jack is $140, plus more for the tools plus even more to find the leak. I purchased a nice scissor jack for $30 today and will use that unless I can figure out what is causing the leak.

Thanks.

Vic Roberts