Sunroof leak???

JWaltersTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2004
Location
Portland, Oregon
I have an 05 MK4 Jetta, and it rained relly hard at work last night. When I got in the car this morning I noticed drips of water coming from the right hand map light switch. I opened the sunroof and did not see hardly any water in the track. Has anyone had this issue or know where the water could be coming from. It probably leaked 2 dozed drops of water from the switch. There is no debris in the sunroof tracks.
 

vwlogue

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2004
Location
Alexandria VA
TDI
7th VW: 2011 SportWagen TDI & 6th: 2000 Golf TDI
Squeeze the nipple (no pun intended) by the door hinge. Chances are the rubber drain lips are stuck together, and water can't drain out.

Then roll back the moon roof, pour water slowly to the drain hole (there is one on each side) and check that water is draining out through the nipple with full force. Test both sides.

If water doesn't drain out or is slowly draining, carefully stick a wire (bend the tip into a U as to not make a sharp point) into the nipple opening and try to clear the jam inside. Test the water drainage again.

If it's still blocked, stick the wire into the roof drain hole (do this last only), but be very careful not to disconnect the hose from the drain hole. I accidentally disconnected mine last night. I had to remove the hanging hand holder, slipped my fingers under the headliner, took out the blue hose, put a bent wire in the hose tightly, fed the other end of the wire through the drain hole, and pulled it out from the top to get the hose reconnected -- not fun because the there wasn't much space and I didn't want to ruin the headliner by pulling it down to hard. I should've cleaned the nipple first because it turned out the problem was there.

I sprayed the inside of the nipple with lube spray to keep the lips from sticking, and I cut out one lip to prevent it from sticking again.

I also had to remove the visors and drain them out; somehow they collected tons of water inside. There was water in the space behind the steering wheel airbag too. What a mess.

I'll be checking the drain nipples every time I clean the car from now on.
 
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bradfa

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Joined
May 1, 2005
Location
Rochester, NY
TDI
No TDIs anymore :(
I've the same problem. I've now cut the ends of the nipples off in the front door area so that should help the draining. I've poured water down the front drains now, and flow is very high, so hopefully the problem won't happen again. I"ve also a MK4 '05. There was a bit of dirt and other crud in the end of the nipple on the passenger side, although not much on the driver side.

Pics to describe the area where mine leaks, and only on the passenger side. Never had any water come out of driver side.

 

bradfa

Veteran Member
Joined
May 1, 2005
Location
Rochester, NY
TDI
No TDIs anymore :(
To bring back one from the dead. It rained pretty good today. Found that the leak isn't actually from the area where the sunroof motor is, but more above the driver side. When making left turns, the water runs out and into the sunroof motor area and out where my pic shows. Still can't figure this one out. May have to drop it off at the dealer and have them look at it for me. :confused:

I used to have a little sunroof flaring thing (dunno what its really called) installed on my car. I took it off last fall and started noticing a little leaking. It has been off all winter and I still see leaking this spring. I'm tempted to just put it back on to see if it stops the leaking? I'm kind of at a loss for ideas now, but something isn't sealing right up there.
 

otbBlaine

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2006
Location
Orange County, Ca
TDI
2002 Golf
most sunroofs leak, it's a big hole in the roof for cryin out loud....sounds like the drain tubing is plugged and needs to be cleaned out.
 

2004STARWARSTDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 19, 2004
Location
LAKELAND, FL
TDI
2004 Platinum Gray GLS Jetta / 2006 Silver Jetta with DSG
Sunroof leaks

The sunroof has 4 drain hoses! 2 nipples(one on left door, one on right door) near front door hinges which have to be squezzed because they stick shut. Two small nipples behind rear wheel wells. One on right side and one on left side. Hard to find because they are a lot smaller than front ones.:)
 

WDM

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Location
B.C.
TDI
Jetta Mk IV Wagon/2005/Reflex Silver
As has been mentioned in other threads, lengths of weedeater cord work well for "cleaning" the drains also. Stiff enough yet flexible, just run the cord down the drains from the sunroof. I don't believe one can access the rear drains at the sunroof.
 

daedalus

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2005
Location
Pittstown NJ
TDI
05 Variant TDI Black w/Gray
2004STARWARSTDI said:
The sunroof has 4 drain hoses! 2 nipples(one on left door, one on right door) near front door hinges which have to be squezzed because they stick shut. Two small nipples behind rear wheel wells. One on right side and one on left side. Hard to find because they are a lot smaller than front ones.:)
Could someone please post some pics of the nipples?

Tnx,
 

bradfa

Veteran Member
Joined
May 1, 2005
Location
Rochester, NY
TDI
No TDIs anymore :(
I know my front drains aren't plugged, cause I cut the nipple ends off :eek: and water flows very fast down the tubes. Verified via a 20oz bottle of water being poured into the sunroof track.
I haven't checked the rear nipples in a while, I'll do that. I have to find a hill to park on to test the rear nipples though, as the water just flows to the front (the sunroof is slanted towards the front of the car when parked level).

Should these things really be clogging this fast? I don't park under any trees, ever, and my car isn't a year old yet.

I understand its a freeking big hole in the roof :eek:. I thought these fancy Germans had figured out a way to make a giant hold not have water come thru it ;).

I've got my sunroof deflector thing (I still don't know the real name for it) on now, and no leaks this morning, and it rained again last night some. I'm baffled.
 

NegativeEd

Veteran Member
Joined
May 27, 2004
Location
Danbury, CT
TDI
2010 Jetta Dieselgate
Quick question regarding the drains... are the rear drains for a Golf in the same area? I have an 02 and I originally thought that the water in my spare tire well was coming from one of the drains in the trunk, but I plugged that up. So when it rained again, the water stayed in the trunk... so it's either coming from the sunroof... or somewhere else in the trunk area...
 

03VWGolfTDIOwner

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2013
Location
Lower Mainland, BC, proud Canadian!
TDI
03 VW 1.9 ALH Beetle Auto 192000km (April 2019 - RIP my '03 Golf)
I have a question here.
It seems that my parents Jetta TDI has an issue.
Here is what I checked out
1. poured water into the sunroof area drain that was affected.
2. the water went right into the passenger footwell, right into the car. it was dripping near the far right of the glovebox at the bottom.
3. the other drains have water coming out where they should
4. I used weedtrimmer line, on both sides, from the drainage area out, and also in from the sunroof and no luck. The line did not come out at either end!!!

Question, is it an onerous process? any information or forum link will assist.
 

RT1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2006
Location
Central New Jersey
TDI
2005 Golf 1.9 TDI w/tiptronic 09A
I have a question here.
It seems that my parents Jetta TDI has an issue.
Here is what I checked out
1. poured water into the sunroof area drain that was affected.
2. the water went right into the passenger footwell, right into the car. it was dripping near the far right of the glovebox at the bottom.
3. the other drains have water coming out where they should
4. I used weedtrimmer line, on both sides, from the drainage area out, and also in from the sunroof and no luck. The line did not come out at either end!!!

Question, is it an onerous process? any information or forum link will assist.
Most likely the drain tube has popped off the drain nipple at the door. Pry the rubber nipple out of the door frame and re-seat the tube. It's not on there all that tightly. If it sounds too easy I found the easy fix is likely the first thing you should look for, so go for easy.

If it's not that easy and the tube and drain are still connected at the door then you might have dislodged the tube at the top, off of the drain pan. If that's the case you need to drop the headliner to get access. YouTube has several good demonstrations of how-to. I just went through that exercise solving a stinky soaked carpet on the drivers side only to find it wasn't the tube connection at the top, it was right at the door.
 
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