Any leaking GSW pano roofs this winter?

Discovery

Veteran Member
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Jan 15, 2018
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Montréal
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Mk7 SportWagen
No more problems with my pano roof after removing the drain caps.
Drain caps is what prevent critters from entering the drain? Service advisor told me about those...

It's been 2 day. They will do the step 2 of the recall at the same time... Funny because I'm considering doing a delete next year.
 

mxtdiguy

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Oct 17, 2017
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Mexico
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'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
Drain caps is what prevent critters from entering the drain? Service advisor told me about those...

It's been 2 day. They will do the step 2 of the recall at the same time... Funny because I'm considering doing a delete next year.

They are size of dimes. Maybe ants could crawl up the drain lines, but why would they ?
 

RIP TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 16, 2000
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
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'15 GSW SE 6MT...... '01 Golf GLS 5MT.... '96 Passat Variant....
"The itsy bitsy spider went up the Golf drain spout..."

But seriously, I think sticking check valves (not really caps) explain why, for mine, there's only leakage with extreme rainfall rate; with normal rainfall rate or car washing its bone dry. Extreme drainage probably overwhelms them when they're sticking or restricted from dirt buildup. I'd like to remove them, then do a water nozzle blast around the sunroof perimeter, but ideally remove the headliner first just in case the real culprit is the bad sunroof frame seal issue per the TSB.
 

mxtdiguy

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Mexico
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'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
"The itsy bitsy spider went up the Golf drain spout..."
But seriously, I think sticking check valves (not really caps) explain why, for mine, there's only leakage with extreme rainfall rate; with normal rainfall rate or car washing its bone dry. Extreme drainage probably overwhelms them when they're sticking or restricted from dirt buildup. I'd like to remove them, then do a water nozzle blast around the sunroof perimeter, but ideally remove the headliner first just in case the real culprit is the bad sunroof frame seal issue per the TSB.
The rear ones take about ten minutes to remove. You could check the flow rate before and after removing them by parking slightly uphill and pouring some water into the catch tray. I bet they barely flow with the "valves" in place
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
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2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
you guys better stay away from looking at Alltrack threads, people have been reporting seeing staining on new MY18 cars in the lots, as well as others that have less than 3K miles.

There are about 3-5 failure modes for water to hit the head liner and cause staining. All of them but keeping your drain clean are manufacture defects that VW still hasn't been able to solve.

I have heard from other owners that if the car is nose up and the rain heavy enough water hits the rear drains even with them 100% clean the water shed will overflow the pano drip tray and leak, not sure if this is with or without spider traps.
 

sportwagen3

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MD
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2015 Golf Sportwagen TDI SE
Yea my sunroof only leaked during heavy rain storms. Other than that I had no issues. The only problem is the dealer could never "recreate" the leak so they haven't fixed it.
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
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Island near Vancouver
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2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
I had a leak in my sunroof (I assume) a little while ago - water mark on the passenger-side D-pillar (if that's a thing - the very back).

BUT - I will completely own that. A bird had flown over my car and emptied its bowels (seriously - there had to be at least a cup of excrement) right onto that side of the sunroof. It got dried on before I was able to clean it up and so I was a lazy fool and just hit it with everything the garden hose had for a good five minutes. Not a good idea.
(And still couldn't get all of the crap off - ended up having to get a rag on it anyway).

A few decent rain dumps since then and no sign of water penetration so I'm counting this one as "lesson learned" (and hoping that's the extent of it).
 

mxtdiguy

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'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
Yea my sunroof only leaked during heavy rain storms. Other than that I had no issues. The only problem is the dealer could never "recreate" the leak so they haven't fixed it.
The difference in drain flow with the caps removed is huge. I suspect a large percentage of leaks are due to the caps not allowing high volumes of water to be drained fast enough, or as in my case not at all.

I'm going to keep calling them caps since that is the function they served on my car :)
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
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NH
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2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
spider caps!!!
 

Discovery

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I go my car back today (feelgoodman.jpg)
The problem was indeed the itsy bitsy Spyder cap. They removed it, cleaned the headliner and did the second stage tdi recall.
 

dieselpwr

Well-known member
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Mar 13, 2004
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NJ
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04 GOLF PD, 15 GSW SEL TDI
Mine is at the dealer also for its 2nd leak. Will have them remove the caps. Or will do it myself if they refuse
 

bizzle

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May 21, 2013
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Southern California
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2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
You guys keep calling these spider caps but if they're really the size of dimes than even rodents as large as mice could fit up in those tubes. Not sure why they would, but they could :D.
 

Alex22

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Western CT
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2014 Jetta
Why not wrap a little bit of stainless steel mesh around the bottom of the drain tube? You should still have the flow without the large critter opening and check them every few months to make sure they haven’t plugged up with crud.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
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NH
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It'd still prob collect debris and sludge that builds up. One thing I did notice if you look at pictures of the cars with the head liner removed. the rear tubes go almost horizontal with a huge droop as they trace back then down to the rear pillar.
 

KITEWAGON

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You guys keep calling these spider caps but if they're really the size of dimes than even rodents as large as mice could fit up in those tubes. Not sure why they would, but they could :D.

VW loves these little caps. The one for the A/C on our Treg got sealed shut with mildew and flooded the passenger side floor earlier this year. I didn't remove the cap but I probably should have.
 

Alex22

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If you really hate the pano and sunroof what about disableing/ disconnecting the controls then have a vinyl shop cover the roof to (closely) match your factory paint?
 

Mike in Anchorage

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2016 Touareg Lux, 2015 Golf Sportwagen SE, new 4 Sept 2017;2009 VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen (Ruby) sold to VW on 22 SEP 2017
Love my sunroof and am happy to have paid extra to have it.

Today, however, a truck in front of me with an unsecured load spit out a large rock that shattered the front portion of the roof.

Has anyone has the glass section in front replaced? It appears they will need to disassemble the entire headliner and replace it. I hope all goes well. Are there things I should look out for? TIA.
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
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Wouldn't they be able to just replace the glass from above, given that the front/sliding portion pops up/out/back?
 

mxtdiguy

Veteran Member
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Location
Mexico
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'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
Love my sunroof and am happy to have paid extra to have it.

Today, however, a truck in front of me with an unsecured load spit out a large rock that shattered the front portion of the roof.

Has anyone has the glass section in front replaced? It appears they will need to disassemble the entire headliner and replace it. I hope all goes well. Are there things I should look out for? TIA.
Bummer

I would think getting a replacement sent up there will take a while, are you going to park it, or find a way to seal the opening ?. Did glass fall into the car ?
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
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NH
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2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
there's safety glass (breaks into pea size round pieces) and laminated safety glass cracks but stays together as a sheet. From the broken mk7 roofs I've seen i think it's laminated.
 

Nuje

Top Post Dawg
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2015 Sportwagen; Golf GLS 2002 (swap from 2L gas); 2016 A3 e-tron
Same thing happened to my parents' brand new (like <500km on it when it happened) Honda CRV. I think they just taped it up to hold it together and keep the weather out until they were able to get it fixed (didn't take too long).
 

Mike in Anchorage

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2016 Touareg Lux, 2015 Golf Sportwagen SE, new 4 Sept 2017;2009 VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen (Ruby) sold to VW on 22 SEP 2017
Thanks for the replies. It shattered and rained glass on me at each bump on the way home. I put on a ball cap backwards to keep the glass out of the neck of my shirt. Yes, your butt can get cut on those pieces of glass as you bounce over various bumps on the road, should you ever need to know! Glass replacement is not in Alaska, and can't be shipped the fast route. Hoping to have the car back the end of next week. It is tinted and laminated, but can't hold its own weight once compromised. I'm glad this occurred on a warm [for us] and rainless day. The headliner inside must be removed and replaced to get the glass out and replace it. I'm guessing about $2500 to the other insurance company, plus cost of the rental. Cheap at twice the price.
 

mxtdiguy

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'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
Thanks for the replies. It shattered and rained glass on me at each bump on the way home. I put on a ball cap backwards to keep the glass out of the neck of my shirt. Yes, your butt can get cut on those pieces of glass as you bounce over various bumps on the road, should you ever need to know! Glass replacement is not in Alaska, and can't be shipped the fast route. Hoping to have the car back the end of next week. It is tinted and laminated, but can't hold its own weight once compromised. I'm glad this occurred on a warm [for us] and rainless day. The headliner inside must be removed and replaced to get the glass out and replace it. I'm guessing about $2500 to the other insurance company, plus cost of the rental. Cheap at twice the price.
Sounds like you passed the truck and flagged him over, nice work !
 

Mike in Anchorage

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2016 Touareg Lux, 2015 Golf Sportwagen SE, new 4 Sept 2017;2009 VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen (Ruby) sold to VW on 22 SEP 2017
Yeah. I was irritated. Trucks with unsecured loads in this state have brought out the wrath of many. In July, a child was killed while sitting in the front seat next to a parent as a rock fell out of a truck going the other direction. The kid died instantly. I felt I could not let that families woes go unmitigated so I sped up and caught the driver. He was apologetic and admitted fault. Now dealing with that insurance company in Jersey . . .
 

VWATSI

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NE
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TDI
Hello,
I've seen quite a few posts about roof leaks on alltrack SE/SEL trims.
I'm on the fence about buying one.
Can you confirm whether the fix(es) implemented by dealerships actually fix the problem permanently? I'm looking at used 2017 that were bought back by dealer accuse of the said issue, which was supposedly corrected. Thank you.
 

RIP TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 16, 2000
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
TDI
'15 GSW SE 6MT...... '01 Golf GLS 5MT.... '96 Passat Variant....
Hello,
I've seen quite a few posts about roof leaks on alltrack SE/SEL trims.
I'm on the fence about buying one.
Can you confirm whether the fix(es) implemented by dealerships actually fix the problem permanently? I'm looking at used 2017 that were bought back by dealer accuse of the said issue, which was supposedly corrected. Thank you.
Because there can be several causes of leakage, it all depends on whether all causes were correctly identified and then correctly repaired. If the answer is yes, that should the end of it. If not, its still possible to solve it if you have the patience and your dealer is responsive.

It would be helpful to carefully inspect (with good lighting) all of the headliner for stains and, if present, to possibly determine if they were a legacy of pre-repair leakage (reflecting poor finish work by the dealer) or occurred post-repair while sitting on the lot.
 

VWATSI

New member
Joined
Feb 25, 2019
Location
NE
TDI
TDI
Because there can be several causes of leakage, it all depends on whether all causes were correctly identified and then correctly repaired. If the answer is yes, that should the end of it. If not, its still possible to solve it if you have the patience and your dealer is responsive.
It would be helpful to carefully inspect (with good lighting) all of the headliner for stains and, if present, to possibly determine if they were a legacy of pre-repair leakage (reflecting poor finish work by the dealer) or occurred post-repair while sitting on the lot.
Is the water hose test at the dealership sufficient to determine whether the issue persists?
 

RIP TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 16, 2000
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
TDI
'15 GSW SE 6MT...... '01 Golf GLS 5MT.... '96 Passat Variant....
Is the water hose test at the dealership sufficient to determine whether the issue persists?
No. A storm with a rainfall rate of 0.5 - 1.0"/hr. is the acid test. My drain tube end caps would not cause a tube back up with heavy hose spray or rain rates below this.
 
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