Path of water that can't exit sunroof drain tube normally?

aktartt

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Location
Austin, TX
TDI
2000 Golf
Can someone explain the full path that water takes into the footwell when the sunroof drain tube is blocked or disconnected? I understand why the A pillar will fill up, but how does the water then curve inward so that it drips down from somewhere above the clutch pedal? Thanks.
 

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
from all 4 corners to each wheel well. its a strait shot. Start with a thin piece of wire and snake it, if it goes though, attach a piece of CLOTH, not paper towel. and pull that back to lean it a bit. The usual problem is that they dry rot. not hard to take the headliner out.
 

aktartt

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Location
Austin, TX
TDI
2000 Golf
In my case, it wasn't a blockage but a serious kink. No idea how it got so pinched, but this explains why I had a persistent problem of soaked carpet in the footwell after a heavy rain but not after moderate showers. So happy to have a new drain tube now!



 

dweisel

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Location
Wheeling, West Virginia
TDI
dweisel isn't diesel anymore!
Not sure how the other models are set up,but on the Beetles the drain tubes are hooked up to a fitting at the end of each track the the sunroof moves on. Any water entering around the sunroof flows in this track like a gutter. Once the nipples get plugged the water simply overflows the track gutter and runs into the interior. The water beads up on the headliner material and runs off like water on a ducks back.
 
Last edited:

Mongler98

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Location
COLORADO (SE of Denver)
TDI
98 Jetta TDI AHU 1.9L (944 TDI swap in progress) I moved so now i got nothing but an AHU in a garage on a pallet.
in my case, it wasn't a blockage but a serious kink. No idea how it got so pinched, but this explains why i had a persistent problem of soaked carpet in the footwell after a heavy rain but not after moderate showers. So happy to have a new drain tube now!




holy molly
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Location
PNW
TDI
2000 & 2003 Golf GLS (2005 Mercedes E320 CDI)
You have a problem with water getting into the cabin. There doesn't sound like there is a certainty that it's the sunroof drains. I would first suggest checking them to see if they are draining properly. If you pour water along that sunroof track and then check to see if the water is flowing out the corresponding drain then that'll tell you if you're blocked or not. I use a turkey baster to better control the application of the water (shoot it down the fronts; the rears you just have to hold your freak-out-instincts back and send water toward the back/abyss. Front drains exit down between the door hinge area on the A pillar. The rear drains are harder to locate, but they're up and behind the rear wheels (between the bumper and rear wheel-well.

Also, DO NOT use wire to snake those drains as that risks puncturing the tubes. Use something like weed-whacker line (there's something else that folks say is great to use as well but I cannot recall what that is). AND, DO NOT use compressed air; you risk blowing the tubing out of connection joints.

Since you have a Golf that means you have a rear window washer. This is another place where fluid can escape into the cabin from. Upper C pillar area has a bunch of connectors, and if there is a case in which someone hasn't used washer fluid that's adequate for cold temperatures (or the rear squirter has blocked up) pressure can end up popping the hoses out of the connectors.
 

aktartt

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Location
Austin, TX
TDI
2000 Golf
As it turns out, getting the kinked drain tube replaced didn't solve the problem. After the next big heavy rain, the driver's footwell was soaked as much as ever. So I thought maybe the windshield had developed a leak (it's windshield no. 3 because of instances of rock damage on the highway). I took the car to Binswanger for a leak check. The windshield was fine, but they found a lot of debris under the cowling and cleaned it all out. They said it was a common cause of leaks and didn't charge me a penny. Since the Binswanger fix, there hadn't been a heavy rain until last night. We got 3 inches in about 6 hours. This morning the footwell was dry as a bone. Finally, problem solved!
 
Top