Sunroof drains - a cautionary tale

[DriverFound]

Back in late November my wife and I were heading out in her diesel Golf when I noticed condensation on the inside of my NB's windows. Uh oh. Leaking someplace...wet floor on passenger side, with water having wicked up in the carpet to under the back seat and into the luggage compartment carpet...but no water in the spare tire well.

So it was at the dealer the next morning - plugged sunroof drains...nicely fixed under warranty. A bit funny smelling but I expected that to go away by leaving the windows open to dry everything out. No such luck. Two weeks later the car was uninhabitable...this was no ordinary mildew smell but this was The Devil's Own Mildew - incredibly stinky. I tried having the carpets cleaned and the car ozoned - no good. It stank so bad it was undriveable...it stank up my clothes. Seriously.

So back to the dealer on January 20th. I got the car back on March 27th (yes, I had a loaner Jetta). They replaced:
- carpet
- carpet padding
- all rear seat padding
- front seat both horizontal cushions
- headliner
- luggage compartment carpet and seatback carpet
- AND the firewall padding, which entailed pulling the entire dashboard.

Why did it take so long? Because it was all done under warranty...thank God! VWoA didn't want to replace everything in one shot (too expensive) and I didn't want the car back until it was right. I told them I'd rather they keep it instead of giving me back a stinky car.

The complete list of parts was two pages long. Why was it warranty? I have low miles on my '02, and they felt like if they'd done their job and checked the sunroof drains this would have never happened.

Gotta say that my local dealer was great, and VWoA was remarkably cooperative...surprisingly so given their reputation.

Lesson: Keep them sunroof drains unplugged :)

[FineExampl]

Awesome! I too have had AMAZING luck with the 2 dealers i've dealt with for warranty issues. Kudos to VWoA and your dealer! You should plug the dealer. Always good to find the nice places out there. :D

[LilBit]

I'm picking up my NB this weekend and it has a sunroof. How can I check to see if the sunroof drains are plugged up? Thanks for all your help.

[Beeble]

What were the drains plugged with, and how did it get in there?

[Billsbug]

Hey, a/o 3/1/2006 a leaky roof due to a clogged drain will NO LONGER be covered by VW. This problem has haunted my wife's '03 Jetta wagon since we got it (damn Touareg was behind schedule!) and when we took it on for scheduled maintenance this month we were told that this issue is now categorized as a 'Customer Problem'.

It's just goop in there. The service mgr showed me a little trick. On the inside of the front doors, where the door hing is, there's a little 'nipple'. Move it around and pull on it and you'll see liquid come out (stay calm boys :eek13: :D ). When it all drains out, you blow it out with compressed air, like u use on your keyboard.

[DriverFound]

Hey, a/o 3/1/2006 a leaky roof due to a clogged drain will NO LONGER be covered by VW. This problem has haunted my wife's '03 Jetta wagon since we got it (damn Touareg was behind schedule!) and when we took it on for scheduled maintenance this month we were told that this issue is now categorized as a 'Customer Problem'.

It's just goop in there. The service mgr showed me a little trick. On the inside of the front doors, where the door hing is, there's a little 'nipple'. Move it around and pull on it and you'll see liquid come out (stay calm boys :eek13: :D ). When it all drains out, you blow it out with compressed air, like u use on your keyboard.

Well that's pretty lame...it would be nice if they'd give you some real instructions on where they are and how to clean them.

The little nipple things are in Golfs/Jettas - I don't think they're visible in the Beetle's door areas?

[Oyveychris]

Sooo...my beetle is a girl?

[CyberGypsy]

Sooo...my beetle is a girl?

or maybe a little boy....that small :)

[Billsbug]

Sooo...my beetle is a girl?

Hey, u choose, it's a either nipple or a little weenie...:rolleyes: :D

[dnyed]

OK, bump.

I am looking for this "nipple" thing. Please, exactly where is it on the NB? My floor is soaked! :(

[Billsbug]

Near the middle of the door between the door hinges, near that part that's covered with rubber, at least it is on the Jetta wagon...

[dnyed]

What about on the NB? The Jetta is probably different. I see nothing. Is it on the "body" side or "door" side? I am desperate! Thanks in advance, and thanks for the quick relpy!~ :clap:.

[Billsbug]

The body side.

[macdave]

OK, bump.

I am looking for this "nipple" thing. Please, exactly where is it on the NB? My floor is soaked! :(

The easiest way to get to the front drains is to pull off the trim from the "A" pillar. Then pull the plastic tube out of the drain(the tube will probably be full of water, so make sure you have something to catch the water). Next clean the drain and then put the tube back in with some sillicon sealer and replace the trim.

You can check the drains by pouring some water into the front and rear corners of the drain tray and then watch to see if it drains and that it comes out of the two drains in the rear hatch and the two front ones will drain near the back of each front wheel.

[PunkinBug]

Yeah, so today Breez and I were coming home from a German Junkyard and we were talking about different cars being a PITA to work on, and I remembered this thread, and went "OH!" and openned my door (we were stopped) to check out my sunroof drainer nipple thing (Golf). I said, "Oh! Theres my nipple!"

And she said: ".....WHAT!?"

But yeah. Totally easy to find on the Golf.