[johnny_quattro]

I've had problems on both of my A8s with the classic cowl drains getting blocked with leaf debris. Due to the design of the car and the location of the air blower motor, the drain hole gets blocked and fills the area with water. This can be seen with the aid of a torch if you look downwards to the right of the blower motor. Photo attached showing my syphoning procedure with a length of soft plastic hose/tubing using gravity to decant the surplus water.

I've replaced the blower motor 2-3 years ago so I know what's involved in removing/replacing it but the motor sits in its own little plastic cubbyhole so that would have to be removed as well. Far too much hassle in my view so I invested in an endoscope camera that attaches via USB/OTG to your phone or tablet. The camera was inserted where the plastic tubing was located in my first photo. There are a couple of short videos attached, showing the swimming pool of water in the first clip where you can just about make out where the hole is on the left-hand side. The second video shows me using the camera to poke around a bit to clear the debris and then flushing some water to clear it. I hope this proves useful to others to visualise exactly where this hole/drain is.