2009 Jetta Sportwagen panoramic sunroof LEAK

Greetings All,

Perhaps this question has been asked and answered elsewhere, but I haven't found it. I have found a lot of info on leaky sunroofs, but nothing pertaining to the large sunroof on the 2009 JSW, so here goes.

I have noticed during heavy rains that my front driver side floorboard is getting wet (and stinking up the car). Upon inspection after removing the fuse panel cover, it appears that water is dripping down from the front left head liner that runs down along the left-hand side of the front windscreen. This is right in the corner inside the door jam, and even though I haven't had any electrical trouble, the water drips directly down across all of the fuses! Great stuff.

There are many well documented threads on how to clean drain plugs on the older sunroofs. Does anyone know how to check the drain on this sunroof? Do I have to tear out the headliner to deal with this problem?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Ryan

Time to take it to the dealer for some warranty work!!

Not surprised that its leaking; that's a lot for glass to gasket properly.

2009 sprt wagen leaking pana roof

That response doesn't help very much. I am far from a dealer and like to do small stuff my self, does anyone know where the sunroof drains are as I cannot find them and my roof is leaking like a sieve.
Thanks

Despite the fact that it is a Pano, the main reason for leaks is still clogged drains.
Look up procedures for regular roofs, and try to find 4 drain holes (2 front, 2 rear).
P .

The other possibility is that the drain tube is detached at the corner of the SR and the headliner will have to come down. I vote for taking it to the dealer. It may not be a simple fix.

PaulGiz said:

Despite the fact that it is a Pano, the main reason for leaks is still clogged drains.
Look up procedures for regular roofs, and try to find 4 drain holes (2 front, 2 rear).
P .

Click to expand...

truman said:

The other possibility is that the drain tube is detached at the corner of the SR and the headliner will have to come down. I vote for taking it to the dealer. It may not be a simple fix.

Click to expand...

I agree with both of these. The roof drains on the pano roof are pretty much the same as on all other sun roofs, except for the fact that the rear drains are further back towards the rear of the car. The front drains are identical. If the drains are not clogged (likely with a relatively new car) they were probably not connected properly in the factory. The drains are a plastic tube that is attached to a fitting under the roof frame. It sounds like the water is just draining down inside your A-pillar. Do you notice any wetness in your roof liner? It is also possible that the drain hose (tube) is broken inside the pillar. IIRC the end of this tube is in the front wheel well, and you have to remove the fender liner to see the end. You could remove the left front wheel well liner and then pour a little water into the drain hole and see if/where it comes out. My manual recommends cleaning out the tube from the bottom, so while the fender liner is off try sticking a long piece of string trimmer line into the drain tube and slowly and carefully pushing it up until it comes out the drain hole under the roof. This is the recommended cleaning method (believe it or not the manual actually recommends using an old speedometer cable - but string trimmer line works just as well).

Since fixing a broken or detached tube requires removing (at least partially) the roof liner; it might be worth a trip to the dealer if cleaning out the tube does not fix the problem.

Good Luck

Don

just had the same thing happen to me, water was dripping right onto the window controls and floor. you cant see the drain holes but they are there. I used weed trimmer string as someone suggested in another thread and cleared the clog. the pictures in the bentley manual didnt really show much as to where the holes are except the general area. guess this will be an annual task.

You might want to check out the post about the water ingress settlement. It relates to leaking drains. I believe your vehicle is listed. Not sure but my 03 wagon had a recall 4 the drains. One free cleaning I guess by the dealer. You should speak with the dealer and see if they will clean the carpet, as it could lead to molding.
My drain was actually dislodged from the drain nipple. You might want to locat your drain nipples and check if you can't get it to the dealer right away,it wasn't that difficult on my 03. You might also want to check to make sure this is the problem by dumping a small amount of water down the drains in the sunroof and see if you get water coming out on the inside of your car. Good luck with it.

My 65 deluxe microbus ragtop leaked.
My 70 bug convertible leaked.
My 72 bus sunroof leaked.
My 84 rabbit convertible leaked.
My 88 jetta sunroof leaked.
My 2000 passat sunroof leaked.
My 04 jetta wagon has no sunroof or ragtop.

Good luck!

Just today I discovered that the rear headliner of our pano JSW is wet and there was water on the rollup cargo cover. The car is not even 2 years old, and has 41K miles. I'm going to make some calls tomorrow... Any advice?

[URL="https://wateringresssettlement.com/"]https://wateringresssettlement.com/[/URL]
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=281923&highlight=water+ingress

After some more rain the leak had become heavier. After pulling down a portion of the headliner and pouring water into the drain well, it was clear to see the water leaking from the rubber nipple to the hose connection. This glued connection has failed. My vin# didnt qualify in the settlement mentioned above (I contacted the administrator). Went to the dealer and they replaced the nipple and hose which comes as a single piece. expecting some rain today and tomorrow. I was surprised at how large in diameter the hose is and how soft, like surgical hose. I guess thats for when water freezes in it.

Our '10 JSW pano headliner was wet and dripping in back. With 41K, VW paid for a new headliner and drains. Nice. (Hope it doesn't leak again...)

Leaking issue with mine in Toronto

Wow. Last Wednesday I noticed a dribble of water on my left sock every time I braked. Turns out that we were having a lot of rain in Toronto and water was coming in from above the drivers footwell, as well as at the hood release (so much for the fuses and CECM!). My '09 Sportwagen is an American car still under warranty so I brought it to Buffalo for service. They determined that water is coming down the cabin side of the A-pillar and want to replace the sunroof frame (though they couldn't conclude that the drains weren't plugged). Except now they are saying that my car isn't covered for warranty because I exported it ... every other warrantly service and claim has been covered by the Buffalo dealership (Northtown) before, and now this! So mine too, is having issues. I would like to know if it is a plugged front left drain before replacing the frame.
BTW, mine is parked indoors evenings and nights and outdoors daily at work.

I doubt its the frame. It could be clogged. I used a length of trimmer line from my weed whacker and although you can't see the hole up top it is there, I feed it in until it came out behind the wheel well cover. Mine was clear.

I did some exploratory work by lowering the headliner from the driver side door. Remove the screw behind the ABS cover on the A pillar and just pull back the cover a few inches. same for the B pillar. Then remove the sun-visor and grab handle. Now you can "gently" pull down the headliner enough to look in and see the hose. It looks like surgical tubing and when I poured water into the sunroof well (sunroof open) I saw the water come out the wheel well but also leaked (a lot) from the rubber elbow fitting (which is glued to the hose) right at the sunroof frame. The complete hose is only $15 US. The hardest part is taking down the headliner without damaging it. Mine was covered under warranty. The tech did a good job not to damage mine. Not sure if he found a way to do it without taking the whole thing down. I was surprised how big and soft the hose and elbow was. I guess to keep the flow going and resist damage in cold weather.

did you check this, my vin# didn't come up.

https://wateringresssettlement.com/Class_Info/VIN_Lookup.aspx


https://wateringresssettlement.com/

Thanks for the info. It looks like I will have to roll up my sleeves when it comes to seeing if VW is going to honor the warranty - everything online still says that I have to take my car across the border to have warranty work done, and I have had all my warrantly services done in Buffalo at no charge ... now this!
If they don't cover it then I will DIY it ... so I appreciate the help. Did you have the drain replaced too? What if it was the cracked item?

the drain hose and elbow fitting comes glued together. the elbow is connected to the drain well at the sunroof (1 in each corner). Mine was leaking at the glued portion. The entire hose/fitting was replaced.

Here is a picture of my leaking drain fitting. The brown is the drain hose, the white is the fitting and the black behind it is the sunroof track.

This is how I gained access to the area.

As many people there are that have problems with leaking drain tubes on their cars I'm surprised that my Beetle hasn't had this problem. I might have to go and clean them before too long just to make sure they are clear though. I haven't done it yet because it hasn't been an issue for me.

Looks like you found the problem. Thats exactly where mine was leaking from. Dealer took care of it under warranty. I tried to take pictures as you did but couldnt foucus my phones camera in that area.

This car is over 36k mi, so no warranty for me

My 2009 JSW leaks at the drivers door from the sunroof as well. My VIN was not found in the search on the settlement site, but I cleaned the tube with a piece of stringtrimmer cord and poured some water in to check. Water came out of the drain .... and the inside trim as well.
My thought is the South Alabama heat has cooked the glue holding the rubber nipple on the hose.
I am going to try to seal the area with the plastic tube and ferrule tricl posted elsewhere.
Pretty poor product support to have so many continuing probelms in this area.
One wonders about the German engineering and craftsmanship! Or perhaps the Mexican.....
At any rate the rubber and glue may work wonderfully in the Northern European climate, but USA heat may be different.
How about a little VW support?

the complete tube is only $13 dollars from the dealer. Just some time on a saturday may get you done.

I pulled down the headliner and found the fitting leaking at the connection with the hose. The glue did not seal the hose to the fitting all the way around.
I pulled the tube the rest of the way out (with a little prying with a small screwdriver) .
It was stick very well in one spot, not at all anywhere else.
I reglued the hose into the fitting with Dow Corning 732 I had from some aircraft work. This may not be the best glue for this application, but here goes. On later thinking this seems to be polyurethene tubing and something like goop fix anything might be better.
After the sealant cured for a few hours I also taped over the tube and fitting just in case. To help out a little I also smeared some of the 732 on the inside of the fitting and tubing to seal for the inside too.
Just a little work to finish building the car for VW. Glad to help.

Great posts like those above from enthusiasts make it possible to own and drive these cars. Otherwise the cost of ownership would be unaffordable.

Thanks,

JDB

I used fast-flow silicone made for windshield and sunroof applications. I removed the hose with a pretty trick set of long reach pliers, that have two half-circles at the end, so when you grip they form the shape of the hose, and had exactly the right diameter. I pulled the hose end out from the headliner, and taped it open end facing up to the a-pillar door frame. I applied the silicone inside the tube and sealed the gap between the fitting and the hose. Let it dry the rest of the day, re-installed and so far it tests good.

I am however, still worried about the rear drains. I don't know how to gain access to those. They appear not to be leaking since the drain cleaning service, so hopefully those ones are okay.

Both rears are still leaking. Anyone had any luck getting access to those? Ughh!

haven't had the pleasure to work on the rear hoses yet. Are you out of warranty? This is a covered issue.

yep, out of warranty. 61k.