Darn leaky sunroof

rgbnov53 · May 13, 2020

Hi, I'm new to this forum and I hope I'm in the right place. But I'm having issues with a leaky sunroof. I've dropped the headliner a bit and I see the hoses and how they're hooked up and determined the one I'm looking at is worn out and I'm going to replace the hose at a later date but my concern is when I put some water in the channel (imitating heavy rain getting by the seal) I get water dripping off the housing. I'm assuming that housing is stress cracked or something. I would like to seal it from the top since I'm not going through replacing it or having someone else do it for a arm and a leg. y question is has anyone else been up this creek too? It's a 2013 jetta sportwagen. Has anyone removed the wind screen? If that were removed, I might be able to get a good covering with some sealant.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

JesseTDI · May 13, 2020

First off, welcome! You may get better responses in the MK6 Subforum further down the page. Your sunroof drain tube are likely clogged and need to be cleared out, its a fairly common issue and I believe there are even a few YouTube videos you can seek out to help you fix this issue. Good luck.

rgbnov53 · May 13, 2020

thanks

redbarron55 · May 14, 2020

If you have water leaking high in the headliner the problem I have seen is the leaking of water around the tube where is is glue or welded in just two spots around the inside of the nipple that pushes onto the drain pan.
I have posted pictures in previous threads.
Basically the white nipples are spot welded to the hose in two places and when the tube shrinks a little water just pours out the slight gap.
I pulled the tube out of the nipple and reglued it with Goop glue, but others have used RTV and other sealants.
I have had two JSWs a 2009 and a 2013 and both had the same problem.

T Dot · May 18, 2020

After 96 hours of rain, I discovered mine leaks too. The dealership is scheduled to fix this under warranty. Yours should be covered under warranty too. My brother told me about this warranty fix.

Now the question is, who is responsible for cleaning the headliner or ensuring all the water on the floor and trunk is gone?

How can I ensure on the future the leaks are fixed?

iamatt · May 18, 2020

Never buy a car with a sun roof again.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

JesseTDI · May 18, 2020

Every sunroof will "leak" if the drains are clogged. Its a simple fix. A little extra maintenance and or unclogging the drains once every ten years is a small price to pay for my sunroof.

T Dot · May 18, 2020

JesseTDI said:
Every sunroof will "leak" if the drains are clogged. Its a simple fix. A little extra maintenance and or unclogging the drains once every ten years is a small price to pay for my sunroof.

Can you please recommend a DIY video I can follow in the future.

I too wanted a no sunroof car, but I was left with slim pickings and had to pretty much take this car. It’s the only car that had everything I wanted.

Thanks in advance

JesseTDI · May 19, 2020

T Dot said:
Can you please recommend a DIY video I can follow in the future.
I too wanted a no sunroof car, but I was left with slim pickings and had to pretty much take this car. It’s the only car that had everything I wanted.
Thanks in advance

There are lots of tutorials on YouTube. I can't recommend one because I got a diagram (exploded view) of the whole sunroof assembly including drains from a friend at a VW dealer and used that as reference. Just go to YouTube and type in 'MK6 Golf Sunroof Drain' in the search bar and it will come up with 6+ videos all between 5 and 15 min long that should give you all the answers you seek. Best of luck.

DivineChaos · May 19, 2020

there are many tutorials on YT of cleaning the drains and replacing or fixing the tubes. One guy just replaced a section of line to get rid of the coupler on the end that causes leaks. he found some nylon line that goes over the nipple on the sunroof and put a coupler on the existing line and spliced them together.
Some have the silicone in the sunroof fail (its 3 main pieces) center, front and rear sections.
Others have put a dab of silicone on the end of the nipple and around the end of the hose to help seal the end. And most people have snipped the end off the rubber thing on the rear drains.
I myself found tons of black rotting gunk in the rear lines. you must snake the lines out every few months. Depending on your conditions. Pine trees are the worst and fastest way to plug the drains. bottom line is they mist be kept clean and the moving parts must be kept lubed with a dry water repellent silicone lube. I sprayed the whole insides with it. the drain channels and into the drain tubes. Yes they are a bit finicky and temperamental. But they are nice when you want to use them. And i still have to find where the front drains dump out. the rears exit in the rear wheel arches. have to pull the carpeted arches.

T Dot · May 20, 2020

I followed this: https://youtu.be/zOcIRLpQDVg

SMH I found out it was not covered under warranty, so I did it myself. I found the above while searching on YT for MK6 drain fix or Jetta Wagon panorama fix.

It’s $200 to diagnose at the dealership. My question is, if they find it during that - what is the extra cost to pull the bottom plugs and clean them out? I assume $150hr.

Anyways it has taken me 4-6hrs to pull apart the rear.

I removed the following in this order:
rear latch cover
top hatch trim
side (L+R) hatch covers
plastic surround square (which keeps the side panels in place)

With those removed I can then removed the:
rear interior panels
pull down the headliner slightly down to gain access

I’m airing out both side panels behind the cover. The insulation is soaked.

My 2 problems were the rear bottom plugs. All plugged up with dirt. I took them to the sink and see if water would flow out. Nope! No even a drop. Cleaned them out with a chopstick and water flows so easily. MAKE sure they are secure when you put them back or it will just unhook and drain into your trunk again.

alecw81 · Jun 11, 2020

T Dot said:
After 96 hours of rain, I discovered mine leaks too. The dealership is scheduled to fix this under warranty. Yours should be covered under warranty too. My brother told me about this warranty fix.

Now the question is, who is responsible for cleaning the headliner or ensuring all the water on the floor and trunk is gone?

How can I ensure on the future the leaks are fixed?

Will this ONLY be covered by the 24month 24k mile CPO warranty?

I am literally 400miles out, but a few months from 24.

At this point, I'm looking to remedy the issue, clean it up, make it smell clean inside, and trade it in.

The leaky moonroof issue is so ****ing ridiculous.

I've owned a half-dozen cars with moonroofs/sunroofs, and none have ever leaked a drop.

Rafer · Jun 12, 2020

DivineChaos said:
there are many tutorials on YT of cleaning the drains and replacing or fixing the tubes. One guy just replaced a section of line to get rid of the coupler on the end that causes leaks. he found some nylon line that goes over the nipple on the sunroof and put a coupler on the existing line and spliced them together.
Some have the silicone in the sunroof fail (its 3 main pieces) center, front and rear sections.
Others have put a dab of silicone on the end of the nipple and around the end of the hose to help seal the end. And most people have snipped the end off the rubber thing on the rear drains.
I myself found tons of black rotting gunk in the rear lines. you must snake the lines out every few months. Depending on your conditions. Pine trees are the worst and fastest way to plug the drains. bottom line is they mist be kept clean and the moving parts must be kept lubed with a dry water repellent silicone lube. I sprayed the whole insides with it. the drain channels and into the drain tubes. Yes they are a bit finicky and temperamental. But they are nice when you want to use them. And i still have to find where the front drains dump out. the rears exit in the rear wheel arches. have to pull the carpeted arches.

I pulled my rear drain lines a month ago and sprayed water and then air down them until I saw it leaking onto the floor. Fast forward to today my spare tire compartment had a few inches of water in it again! I snaked the bottom of the drain in the wheel well with nylon line and the water is still draining into the car. I am about to attempt to remove the driver side rear interior paneling so that I can find out what is going on. Hopefully I don't ruin anything.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

Rafer · Jun 13, 2020

I posted this in the recent Water leak post as well. I found the reason why my spare tire area was filling with water. The line has been disconnected from the rubber grommet in the wheel well.
Shown here is the driver side rear panel below the D pillar. I am pointing to the rubber grommet that exits the water out of the vehicle so long as the tube is connected! I will be sealing it up with black ATV and it should never be a problem again. Good luck folks!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using Tapatalk

Joe Romas · Jun 23, 2020

Just to clarify about is it covered under warranty.

Only if you bought a car from a VW dealer AND it has a CPO bumper to bumper warranty.
Reports here are it's covered along with a head linder replacement but there is a $50 fee under the CPO warranty.

JELLOWSUBMARINE · Jun 23, 2020

Joe Romas said:
Just to clarify about is it covered under warranty.

Only if you bought a car from a VW dealer AND it has a CPO bumper to bumper warranty.
Reports here are it's covered along with a head linder replacement but there is a $50 fee under the CPO warranty.

Maybe you are right, but, VW wouldn't touch my stained headliner. The headliner had light water staining that I, at the time, attributed to non proper closing. It had VWs recommended alignment procedure for chatter/binding $50. (I also later realized it was due to a battery change... opps)

Working as a Ford dealership tech years ago I never had issue covering the "effected part" also. VW seems much tighter although maybe it was the dealership that I WAS dealing with at the time.

The CPO "other than emmissions" warrantee have multiple end dates with $50 deductible. The CPO $0

06bluebeetletdi · Jun 24, 2020

alecw81 said:
Will this ONLY be covered by the 24month 24k mile CPO warranty?
I am literally 400miles out, but a few months from 24.
At this point, I'm looking to remedy the issue, clean it up, make it smell clean inside, and trade it in.
The leaky moonroof issue is so ****ing ridiculous.
I've owned a half-dozen cars with moonroofs/sunroofs, and none have ever leaked a drop.

Do you have a TDI. If you do, cpo is 2 years unlimited miles.

mydecember1985 · Jun 30, 2020

This is the reason I bought a non-sunroof one after the fix.

It's pretty much the only reason we turned in our first one. I would've just taken the check for the fix. Our sunroof was serviced by the dealer about once a month for a whole spring-summer. It was horrible. Florida rain was so bad for 3 days straight I literally had a puddle in the rear floorboards.

Hope it was an easy fix and you can get rid of the musty smell

mydecember1985 · Jun 30, 2020

JELLOWSUBMARINE said:
Maybe you are right, but, VW wouldn't touch my stained headliner. The headliner had light water staining that I, at the time, attributed to non proper closing.

It took 2-3 phone calls fighting back and forth with the dealer to replace our headliner, but it was gross. Looked like a hat with all the sweat rings from years and years of not being washed

Darn leaky sunroof

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