[dreamin]

Sorry this goes on a bit

For a while after heavy rain we found that the front passenger carpet under the mats was sodden with water.

After a lot of head scratching I was convinced that the water was coming in from behind the dash, running down and soaking the carpet from underneath.
However one morning, wifey who drives the car daily to work reported that there was water dripping from the sunglass holder onto the gear lever. So the plot thickened, the water must be coming from the roof but how. The carpets were getting wet from underneath the mats

?

when I got home from work every thing had dried out (except the carpet) no drips to be seen.

So still puzzled I left it till the next time it rained. Wifey next reports that there is a damp patch on the top of the windscreen pillar trim on the passenger side where it meets the roof lining.

I put two and two together and guess that water from the roof is running down the inside of the pillar trim and somehow getting on the carpet by running behind the trim beside the fuse box and down behind the trim where your feet go. So I removed the pillar trim and waited for the next downpour (you don't have to wait long in april).
Sure enough the next rain gives us a steady trickle of water coming of the edge of the headlining straight onto the electric seat switches

After rolling out the towels I had decided that the sunroof was definately the culprit. So what do I do next?

Easter weekend came along so I had a few spare days to investigate, so I removed the headlining !!!

Now this was a bit tricky I admit, especially as it is supposed to be removed through the boot. The problem being that it is wider than the boot

Anyway I set up a hose on the roof of the car with a nice steady stream of water running across the roof and down the windscreen. I settle down in the passenger seat (reclined!) and wait. and wait. and wait.

Whilst the water is pouring I can seen it seeping through the outer sunroof seal and dripping into the gulleys and running away down the four drain pipes, but I can't see any drips into the car. I'm even more puzzled :think:

Then, after about five minutes theres a sudden gush of water straight into my lap! at last.

Upon investigating it appears that its not dripping from the actual sunroof itself, its dripping from above this on the underside of the roof skin. as I can't quite see where its coming fromwhere from I have to remove the whole sunroof assembly.

I can then see whats happening. The sunroof assembly bolts onto a sort of pressed steel frame that runs around the sunroof opening. the water is seeping out between the sheets of pressed steel running towards the front of the car and accumilating on a ledge. After so long it overflows, runs onto the headlining across to the pillar and so on.

So how is the water getting between the steel? It appears to seep through the sunroof outer seal on one of the curved corners of the sunroof opening and then is drawn upwards

(A bit like putting a rag over the side of a bucket of water, the water will travel up the rag).
Because the edges of the steel is exposed on the corners of the sunroof opening there are four places this could happen.
Our car is parked (reversed) on a very slight left hand and downward slope, so the water heads for the front left hand corner.

After using wifeys (frighteningly hot) hair dryer to dry out the water I sealed the four corners with a form of silicone sealant. The actual gaps were so small I could barely get a finger nail in them.

I re-assembled the car (after shampooing the sunny-biege headlining and pillar trims. It now looks new!) the next day and since then we have have had no leaks.
Incidently I had purchased a new sunroof seal as a precaution which I still haven't yet fitted.

You may be wondering why I never took the car to VW......does anybody honestly think they would have found this problem first time around?

 

[Hipflyguy]

Well done dreamin.....!!

Not only for identifying this prob and fixing it yourself.... But to put such a longthy, well worded explanation on the forum, has kept me away from work for about 5 minutes... You deserve a prize just for that... :clap:

 

[Mark II]

:clap: :clap: "Excellent deductive reasoning - by jove Holmes I think he's got it!!"

Re: VW - you're probably right, plus at least you know the care you took fitting everything back right....which doesn't always happen with dealers as it should.

 

[meld3]

When I do this sort of thing - why do I always have enough parts left after reassembly to build a smart car ???

 

[Mark II]

When I do this sort of thing - why do I always have enough parts left after reassembly to build a smart car ???

I hate the bit when you're cleaning up and you move your spanners, only to find a spring washer lurking beneath - "Oh b*gger, what was that off"

The very thought of the nightmares I might have wondering what part would 'let go' at the critical moment have usually had me stripping the whole assembly again only to find 2 hours later that I'd replaced the blasted washer with a new one and not thrown the old one in the bin - the only plus point is that the 'hot blue air' does save heating the garage in the winter months.

 

[dreamin]

I hate the bit when you're cleaning up and you move your spanners, only to find a spring washer lurking beneath - "Oh b*gger, what was that off"

The very thought of the nightmares I might have wondering what part would 'let go' at the critical moment have usually had me stripping the whole assembly again only to find 2 hours later that I'd replaced the blasted washer with a new one and not thrown the old one in the bin - the only plus point is that the 'hot blue air' does save heating the garage in the winter months.

I didn't have anything left over, but after refitting headlining I found that when I came to fit the sunvisors I couldn't because the plugs for the vanity mirror lights have to be plugged in above the lining. Doh. :blush:
down it all came again............

 

[daviebhoy]

Had the same problem with mine , water coming through the sunglass holder in the headlining . It was in for about a week in VW garage in Ireland. They new all about the fault with sunroof and said they'd repaired the problem before.

Thankfully down in Spain now so rain seems to be a thing of the past although the air -con is taking a hammering