How do you clean sun roof drains on 2003 Jetta wagon TDI

BERyan

New member
Joined
Sep 7, 2010
Location
Camarillo, CA
TDI
Jetta 2003 wagon, beetle 2003
My sunroof is leaking every time it rains. It leaks out through the lights behind teh sun visors.

I've tried cleaning the drains with compressed air and I see water dripping out the bottom of the car, but I can't see a drain opening under the car.

I'm able to push a small diameter air hose down about two feet in the right and left drains but can find an outlet point. I can hear air hissing inside theh dash board beside the door.

Any guidance on how to clean to stop the leaking in the rain?
 

cow0man

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Location
Tx
TDI
99 Jetta, 05 Jetta
There should be two outlets. I will try to be descriptive, as I do not have a picture. They are located just inside the the driver and passenger doors. They look like a rubber hose that has been pinched and left flat. Usually if you just squeeze them, you should see water come out if there is any in the line. I had seen a procedure published once, but do not recall where, but it stated to pour warm water near the drains in the sunroof and to squeeze the rubber nipples. Also, it mentioned something about running a piece of wire down the drain tubes, but have not seen a reason as to why if you are able to keep the drains open.
There was a TB on it.
A VW dealer near Seattle wanted over $100 to do a 5 min job.
PM if you you cannot locate and I will get pictures this weekend.
 

KLXD

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Location
Lompoc, CA
TDI
'98, '2 Jettas
Problem with using compressed air is that you can blow the hose off the nipple up where it connects to the drain.

Use string trimmer line for a snake, not wire, and rotate it as you push it in.

Sounds like it might be too late for cleaning the drain for you.
 

belome

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Location
Mid MI
TDI
2002 Jetta GLS TDI 5-speed
Have you had it in for the recall yet? Maybe they will unplug it during the recall.
 

mrGutWrench

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 29, 2002
Location
Carrboro, NC
TDI
'03 Jetta Wagon, 5-speed, 563K Miles (July '23)
(snip) Any guidance on how to clean to stop the leaking in the rain?
__. There are a couple of failure modes. One is the plugged drains -- that lets the water back up and overflow into the header area (the light area). Another problem is that the frame of the sunroof has metal drain pipes that are only a couple of inches long. There are plastic tubes that attach to those metal pipes; if they get pushed loose, the water leaks into the area above the sunvisor pivots. From there it can easily run across the top of the headliner to the area where the lights are.

__. Unfortunately, it's really hard to get in the area where those metal pipes join to the plastic tubes. Some people have had some success fishing down the drains from the open sunroof but it's really hard. Do a search on "sunroof drain tubes" on this forum and also the "A4" forum for more details. (PS This is the failure mode that's often caused by too much air pressure if someone is trying to "blow out" the blocked drains.)
 
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