How to Clean Sunroof Drains w/ pictures!

I have recently had trouble with water in my New Beetle. Even with the wonderful resources here at TDI Club, I could not find a refrence for this problem. I decided to write up this quick "How-To" on cleaning and locating the drains on the 1998-2006 New Beetle with a sunroof. I spent two hours figuring it out and this is what I got.....

The Sunroof on the NB has 4 water drain off holes. 2 are located at the two front corners of the sunroof:




I have read that weed-whacker "wire" works well too, but in this case, I just used a 4 foot legnth of 12 gauge power wire to try and clear the tube. Like this:



They drain down the front windshield pillar towards the bottom corner. Just behind where the tweeter is inside the car, remove the trim and locate the red tube connecting to the black grommet. This is what it looks like and where it goes:





After making sure that both the DS and PS drains are clear, you can move on to the rears. These are not usually a problem as some here have said, but the grommets at the back are usually blocked due to heat "melting" the rubber together. Here are some photos of their location:




With the plastic cover on there, I thaught it was better to trim the grommet so the part that had "Melted" together was now clear:



They drain from a grey plastic trough at the resr of the sunroof tract, inside the headliner. The black rubber tube is only about 5 or 6 inches long, and is a real pain to re-install as I found out. Here is a photo.



And that, as they say, is all folks!

Be careful with running the wire or anything down there. In the other post I read here, they said there is the possibility of knocking the tube off the sunroof fitting. Seems like they had to open the head liner to get it back on.

I had heard of using speedometer cable to clean the tubes as it is stiff enough and flexible, and "scours" the sides. Also saw it here:

http://volkswagen.msk.ru/body/nb/nb_60_sunroof.pdf

Well, after doing this myself, I dont see how a "Wet Noodle" like a legnth of 12 gauge wire could possibly dislodge the tube from it's housing. The point is, that I got so frustrated the rotten smelling water in my trunk and car that I found a way to fix it, and wanted to share with the club.

I really did not have any problems except for the PS rear tube being pulled off. In the end, it was for the best because I got to see how these germans put my car together for myself. I find things like mechanical engineering facinating and like to discover things on my own.

Thanks for sharing! I wasn't saying your procedure wasn't worthwhile, just be carefull when sticking anything down there. I feel lucky to have all of this information at hand.

Great thread...

Just as a side note some of you might just have a kink in the hose that is causing the plug. I had to shorten and cut out my kink. But this is a very good write up. I just wanted to share my experience.

Germans did not assemble your car, BTW, they just designed it. (Hecho en Mexico!) BUT...thanks for this write-up, I am in the midst of dealing with this and this by far the best explanation of "how and why" I have found. Kudos!

I have found that most of the time leaking is due to the poor glued connection of the tube to nipple that slides onto the drain at the roof scupper.
The water just runf out between the nipple and tube and then down the headliner and window pillar cover to the fusebox, glove compartment and floor.
Also in the rear (if equipped) onto the floor or trunk.
Same poor design forever.
I have never had my sunroof blocked by anything, but all four tubes have leaked.
Of course I keep my sunroof closed ao there is little that can collect in the scupper and drain.
I have had a rear drain tube kinked, but I probably did that myself getting into the overhead to fix the leaking tube on the 2009 JSW.
I don't know if it was kinked before, but it is easy to kink when you are putting it back in place after tugging it free to reglue the tube into the nipple.
You have to pull the nipples completely off to reglue with GOOP glue. When you do pull them off you will see that they are only tacked in tow small spots on opposite sides of the tube leaving 80% unsealed.
A leak waiting for some heat/cold to disturb the fit between the two.
A REALLY poor design and a continuous headache until properly repaired.
It would probably cost $.05 to do correctly in the first place.

I have this problem in both of our ALH mk4 vehicles (Golf and Wagon). All the lines are clear however when it rains the front floors are consistently sopping wet...

Would i be best to re-glue the 'tube to nipple' connection? is this the connection underneath the headliner? i.e. remove forward headliner to fix?

On my Golf I cut off the tips of the front drain nozzles as my carpet was soaked. Lots of water came pissing out of both sides. I wonder where the rears drain on a Golf.