How To: Keep Your Sunroof Drains Flowing Well
July 31, 2007 – 8:30 am by Dan Volkens
Filed under Car Care, Featured, How-Tos, Rants
Not keeping your sunroof drains flowing will result in a wet, stinky interior and a hefty repair bill.
Checking and clearing your sunroof drains is a really easy How To. Anybody with a sunroof SHOULD do this on a regular basis. I recommend checking your sunroof drains each time you either wash your car or clean the interior.
It cost me $119 and some change to have the drains cleared and the carpet in my passenger side footwell cleaned up. Now, I know that one can clear a clogged drain by running a flexible rod or something similar down through the drain. Personally I didn’t want to deal with it. And making a mistake, like puncturing the drain line or accidentally disconnecting it, entails tearing apart the interior to fix. On the bright side, I had them do the brake light switch recall while I was there.
Step 1: Locate Drains
Locate the drain holes and the nipples. (hehe) There are a total of four drains, two front, two rear. The front drains empty out inside of each front door jam as you can see in the photo below. The rear drains empty out inside of the rear bumper (on most MkIV models). To check the rears, you will need to reach up inside of the extreme lefthand and righthand sides of the bumper and feel your way around.
Drain Nipple
Drain holes
Step 2: Check Drains for Cloggage
You can clear most of the gunk and garbage out of each drain by squeezing, twisting, and performing any other questionable action on each drain nipple. I would not recommend biting it because as you squeeze it, dust, debris and/or water (if it was slightly clogged) will fall out of the drain. (Man, this How To is going downhill fast lol)
Step 3: Test Drainage Ability
Once you have sufficiently cleared each drain, grab a small glass of water (only a small amount of water is needed, like a 1/4 cup) and slowly… sloooowwwlllyy… pour the water down each drain to see if it flows freely out of the nipples.
Step 4: Do Your Happy Dance
If the drains worked in testing, you should be good to go. Doing this on a regular basis should help avoid any interior water leakage. If the front drains are clogged, typically they leak down the bottom sides of the dash and onto the footwells. If the rears clog, you’ll see water damage all over your C pillars and roof. Thankfully, the fronts clog more often than not.
If this is the first time you’re doing this, and your ride isn’t relatively new, I would recommend doing this How To and having it checked out at your local dealer or shop. The peace of mind is worth it.
How To: Keep Your Sunroof Drains Flowing Well
July 31, 2007 – 8:30 am by Dan Volkens
Nice post/ how-to! Lotsa peeps have this issue and don’t know where to start or how easy it really is.
Also, if you do have clogs and get it washed out, you could follow up with a safe solution of outdoor bleach/water, just to sanitize/clean the residue.
* wrap the hell out of your interior/exterior with towels etc. I have black carpet and I’d leap if I got a spec of bleach on it..
** i am not responsible if you do get bleach on something. this is just a suggestion! ;)
oh and print function is very nice!
RIght on oneighturbo, except I would freak over my black interior as well. lol :D
I had slacked off on clearing the front drain ends, for a long time. I drive a 2002 Jetta TDI Wagon.
Last year, mine overflowed from rain water, and it dripped out of the Make-Up Mirror (vanity mirror)
above the passenger’s side sun visor. The bottom of the drain tube (nipple) was just stuck closed.
The headliner in that area was pretty wet. No permanent ill effects thus far. Larry
Oops, edit — I meant to say, the water dripped out of the Light fixture (festoon light) that’s above the visor/mirror, passenger’s side. Sorry for any confusion; Larry
Hey Larry, yeah, that’s another odd place for the leakage to occur, but the tubing for the drain runs right past that area. Hopefully you don’t have any mold or mildew!
Dax,
Dude, this is the best site I found about this problem. I can find the Niplets by the front door for the front drains, but cant find the Niplets for the rear drains. I have a 2006 VW Golf, 4 DR. Any pointers on where to look? I’ve been under that car many times, but cant find the Niplets.
Thanks Man.
Hey Madman, thanks! The rear drain nipples are inside of the bumper. You have to reach your arm up underneath and inside of it, kinda near the left and right corners of the bumper respectively. When you reach in, try to keep your hand near the front of the bumper, so that your hand is on the bumper shell and not behind the actual bumper bar/mechanism thingy.
thanks! i have an 03 jetta and i squeezed this nipple and chunks came out and almost a quarter cup of water! thanks so much for this blog!!!! i really didn’t want to have to take it in the dealership for them to fix everything else except for the problem i initially went in for. hopefully this is is because everything seems to match exactly what you’re explaining.
VW should be ashamed for not warning its customers that this problem WILL occur with time. My 03 jetta wagon started dripping water through the light fixture about a year ago. Thought it was a bad seal on the sunroof and would require an expensive trip to the dealership. But after reading this and other forums (http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2115848 and http://www.theautobahn.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-12789.html), I went out and squeezed the front driver and passenger nipples. Sure enough, wet gunk came out followed by the remaining water from the rain tray. I’m sooo happy.
I have a 2001 Jetta with a sunroof, with the same problem lots of folks have noted — wet or submerged carpets after a rain. I read various web speculations on the cause, and saw some really great pictures of the sunroof drain entry and exit points. So, I poured water in the sunroof drain and sure enough water comes out the nipples above the front door hinge. However, on the passenger side I saw some water spill out from the right side of the glove compartment and run down to the floor carpeting — a sucess for any water leak detective! I suspect this is how lots of water has been getting in my front passenger foot well, and from there somehow sloshing to the back passenger foot well.
So, I figure the drain hose is either partly disconnected or has a hole in it. I pulled back some of the interior molding next to the right side of the windshield, and found the drain hose. When I again poored some water in from the sunroof drain hole, I could feel some of it coming down the channel around the drain hose. This VW drain hose would be very time consuming to replace, involving removal of the glove box and probably much more.
My solution was simple. I went to the hardware store and bought 7 feet of 1/4 inch flexible plastic tubing to run through the existing hose from the top drain hole down through the nipple at the door hinge. To seal the hose at at the top of the drain, I bought a 1/4″ compression sleeve that slides into the hose end and has a rim to keep it from sliding all the way in. I put a washer under this rim, put some superglue on the compression sleeve to ensure it stays in the hose, and caulked under the washer before pushing it into the drain hole It fit perfectly. Don’t pull the hose tight from the botton end, just get it close. Then just push it the last half inch or so and let the caulk make the seal.
The hose went in pretty smoothly, except when it got to the nipple near the door hinge. I pryed the rubber nipple out of the body panel with a screw driver, and either at that time or earlier the original VW hose disconnected from the nipple. My new hose then pushed right through and I slid it through the nipple about 6 inches, and refit the nipple into the body. This job was surprisingly easy, and only cost $6 in supplies plus a trip to the hardware store.
Since I know this has been a big issue for dozens of VW owners on the internet, and probably hundreds or thousands who haven’t complained on the web, I took some pictures to add to the knowledge on this subject.
I should note that from my reading on this, it seems some people have wet rugs caused by problems other than sunroof drains. These other problems may include a cracked cowel outside in front of the windshield, or maybe a bad seal on a pollen filter on the driver’s side behind the battery. So, the fix above may fix your problem if you have a damaged or disconnected sunroof drain hose (or clogged drain), but there could be other problems like the two I just mentioned. I can tell you that I proved my drain hose was leaking into the car, even though a lot of water was also getting all the way through the hose and through the nipple. Maybe that’s part of the reason people think the’ve eliminated a possible problem when they haven’t. Usually, if some water is being diverted to the interior, but not all, it will not be noticable (drips within the door frame and under the rug).
Maybe if I email my picturess to Dax he’ll post them.
I poured water down the front passenger drain of my 02 Jetta and not one drop came out of the drain end…instead I watched it leak down from under the glove compartment and onto the floorboard. I squeezed the nipple but nothing came out. Any ideas on something safe to try and snake up it to remove what’s blocking the tube? I don’t want to puncture the tube or disconnect it, but I also don’t want to pay a ridiculous amount to have a repairman do it and I don’t want to wake up another morning with my floorboards flooded. Thanks in advance for any help :)
Hey Annieb, yep sounds like your drains are clogged pretty well. Maybe you could try some really long pipe cleaners (if ones that are long enough even exist… I’m not sure) but you need to be very careful. I don’t think the tubing is so fragile that it would be easy to puncture. It might be. What I’d be more worried about is disconnecting a section while putting force on the tube to clear the clog.
Thanks Dax for the response. I started to wonder, if it was actually clogged, wouldn’t the water back up through the pipe and into the car through the ceiling?? The water was dripping out under the dash. So I pulled the nipple off to confirm my suspicion that the hose had actually disconnnected altogether from the nipple and the water just ran into the insides of the frame and into the car. Felt around and couldn’t grab the drain tube through that hole in the door…so I ran some plastic tubing down through the sunroof drain, fished it out the other end where the drain nipple had been, finally grabbed the main tube and reconnected it to the nipple and poked the nipple (ha) back in the door. Checked the other drains and they were flowing well out the other ends, so hopefully this fixes the problem, and I can have a dry Jetta from now on. I’m actually pretty f-in proud of myself too…I’m 23 and female and my usual solution to car problems is a trip to the dealership and a lot of swearing and paying my right arm for minor repairs. So needless to say I REALLY appreciate the advice on this page, you saved me some $ and frustration this week and hopefully from now on!
Heck yeah annieB! Congratulations on the repair, great job. :]
Where are the from nipples on a Beetle? They are not in the door near the hinge. I have heard two different things from two different vw dealers. One says they are under the vehichle but they dont know where and the other says they are under the plastic piece that covers the guts under the wiper arms? PLEASE HELP
Hey Curtis, never fear! I have found a how-to on cleaning the drains over at VWVortex.com, so that should show you the location of the drain exits. Check it out here. Let me know if that helps!
My problem seems to be worse then everyone else’s.. i have an 03′ jetta… i noticed that my front foot wells were soaked! a friend of mine (who works oncars for a living) took off the panel onthe inside and detemined that the drainage tubes must be off simply b/c the water was going between the panel and the door frame and going underneath all padding and carpeting… well, he fixed that, but now my back passenger footwell is soaked! why is that? can that be a result of the back tubes being clogged? there are no water stains on the interior showing where it is coming from, it’s just on the floor… please help me…
Think i’m having the same problem as kim. I have an 02 golf, rear passenger footwell swimming (3inches of water!) and now the fronts wet as well. I’ve uncolgged the front drainage tubes (I think) and now gonna pull my sleeves up to check the rear ones (now i can find them thanks to this site!) If only it would stop raining so i can get a proper look… here goes..
ok. I’ve found the rear one’s and they were ok. Would just one clogged passenger side tube cause so much water in rear footwell? I also have no evidence of where water coming from, just a soaking floor. I’ll see what happens. Thanks for the great advise, really helpfull
Hey Kim and Jan, that is an odd problem for the rear footwells to fill up. Typically if the rear drains clog, the water ends up leaking onto the roof fabric and related areas. But I think it is possible for it to run down into the footwells too. The only way to tell if they’re clogged or disconnected is to run a little bit of water down each drain while someone watches for the water to exit out of the drain nipples. If it doesn’t, there’s definitely a problem somewhere along the lines.
Also check the door seals on each of your doors to be sure it’s seating properly and in good condition I.E. not dry and cracked, or misshapen. Another test you could run is to have someone run a garden hose over your car while you sit inside to watch for any water entering the interior.
Here’s a couple more DIY’s from VWVortex.com that might give you some insight into what’s going on:
Golf/GTI Rear Sunroof Drain Fix DIY
DIY: Golf/GTI/Jetta Front Sunroof Drain Fix
Hope that helps! Let us know how it goes, guys.
Hi, thought i’d let you know that despite the rain hammering down last night and today the car is no wetter.. so fingers crossed its sorted. Now i just have to dry out the carpets. thanks for the help.
Excellent! Hopefully the clog problem is gone now. :]
hopefully… and i just wanna say thanks from England.. your site is much more helpful than anything in the uk. respect! :)
Thanks Jan, I always like making contact with international folks. And that’s what we’re setting out to do here at VB: to be useful to the everyday consumer!
I have a 2005 Jetta and I believe that in trying to unclog my sunroof drain I punctured a hole in the passenger side tube and as a result it is now leaking down the side door panel and through the cloth (causing potential water damage) where the airbag is. Do you have any suggestions for a DIY fix? I am super cheap and hate the dealership. My method of unclogging worked on the driver side but created a problem on the passenger side. PLEASE HELP ASAP!!! It is raining cats and dogs in SoCal
Hey Courtney, looks like one of our other reader’s DIY’s on replacing the sunroof drain hose with some cheap components is right on time for you. :) You can find it here, as well as on our homepage.
My mint ‘94 Passat leaked on the rear pass footwells since I drove him home from Georgia several years ago. Is this a symptom of clogged tubes? Also, heater never heats up when Minnesota cold–read:today. Replaced thermo and housing. Has anyone used air power, if you haven’t some benign snake of any sort?? Have Mk1 parts for sale…Tim Pahl
Yep, sounds like clogged drains Tim. I would first use the method described in the how-to before going the route of snaking the tubes or using air pressure. Either of those could damage the tubes, and then you’ll have to tear apart your interior to fix ‘em. :]
Dax,
Thanks a lot!! water in my car has been a problem for months. I wondered were the drops on the rear side boards are coming from whenever it rains. Just recently it rained the whole day and i found out that there was a great deal of H2O on the passenger carpet. Just extracted about more than two gallons!! I brought my VW beetle to the dealership and was informed after about more than an hour that they have to strip everthing to fix the drain. They charge around $700+!!! for this job and if I want to change the carpet, I was quoted at $1,300+!! Can you believe that!! That’s hold up!! anyways thanks for the advise! appreciate it so much..
Hey Carlos, yeah sucks about the repair. That’s crazy expensive, but I bet most of it is the labor hours involved.
Thoughts on cutting the end of the nipples to have unobstucted end.
Have 2004 Golf TDI with sunroof and same issues of drain problems. Learned a few things while trying to diagnose 1 inch of water on the passenger side of the rear floorboard. After checking the drains on the front and back we found that the drivers side rear drain did not seem to drain as well as the other drains. After talking to the dealership and not wanting to spend $100 plus to have them fix the problem, I decided to take the carpet from the trunk and the headliner down and find the problem myself. Once we got to the end of the line that hooks to the sunroof my stepson decided to try to blow the line out with a little high pressure connection that goes on the end of the water hose. BIG MISTAKE THIS CAUSED THE OTHER END OF THE HOSE TO BLOWOUT FROM THE STUPID NIPPLE. This caused water to run in the inside of the fender and in the trunk. It seems to me the whole issue is these nipples. What if you were to cut the ends of the nipples off creating an unobstucted path for the water to flow. You may still have dirt build up in them but it would seem alot easier to get that dirt out with out the blockage from the nipples. Personally I still think I have an issue other than the drain lines from the sunroof but I am still investigating it.
Good call Glenn. I’m sure the engineers had some reason for designing the nipples the way they did, but it sure doesn’t look like it would work well.
Excellent HOW TO……I had been struggling for ages trying to use a metal wire to try and unblock the drain channels (as per a previous google search). Of course one side cleared no problem, the other, no chance, the amount of prodding i did, i thought i might have damaged the tubes internally. I was about to give up and go to the main dealers when i thought i would try the web one last time.
Tried a different search on google today and hey presto, found this one and within a matter of minutes, drains cleared and water was flowing like wine.
Many thanks and keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!
Right on Ramo, glad it worked!!
I’m sooo glad I found this site! I have a question though. I have had major flooding on my passenger side of my 2002 Jetta. I used a carpet cleaner to soak up most of the water. I found the plug/nipple in the door and pulled it out. I also ran a small hose through the sunroof, down the drain and out the other end. Now I can’t get the plug attached back to the inner hose as the hose is inside and not long enough to pull out. Do you have any suggestions on how to reconnect the plug to the hose that doesn’t include taking the car in to the dealership and paying them $$$$ to take apart the dash, etc.
Hey Lorna, hmmm. Did you replace the original hose with a new one? Here’s a how-to on replacing it that one of our readers wrote up for us. I hope that might give you some ideas on reattaching the plug, though it didn’t involve removing the plug. Maybe you can follow that DIY and have enough hose left to slide the plug onto it and remove the extra.
I just had this happen and freaked out. Thank you so much, Larry, for letting me know that this is an easy and inexpensive fix!
I cleaned the tubes just like you suggested and got quite a bit of water out from them. I had about 3 gallons of water that I shop vac’d out. My question is this. When it was raining I had my sun roof closed, so is there a reason that water would get in my sunroof in the first place? I don’t seem to have any cracks or problems with the sunroof. Basically is this a normal thing that happens when it rains, or a much bigger problem like a malfunction in the sunroof somewhere.
Thanks,
Jo
Hey jojo, even when the sunroof is closed, water can still leak into the frame area. Under normal functioning circumstances, it drains out through the tubes. But when clogged, it ends up backing up into your interior.
Hey thanks!
Since it was sunny today I poured water down the sunroof drains and water came out through my passenger and drivers side door hinge (normal).. but THEN “tadaaaaa” I noticed there is a leak streaming down near my hood release (under the stearing wheel column) and water coming down on the corner below my glove box. So at each end of the car I’ve got a leak trickling down to my floorboards. I’m beginning to think this is not a debre problem, but a much more complicated one going on inside where my electrical components are. After checking for clogs in the drains, what’s the next step if the problem persists? Please don’t tell me it’s a trip to the vdub service department. I’m a poor college student. :-(
-jojo :-)
Hey jojo, if the water is leaking around those areas, you may still have clogs in the drains… or… the bad part, the hoses could be either partially/fully disconnected somewhere along the line or have a puncture. What year is your car? This could be covered. Maaaaybe. Worth a shot at least. There is also a DIY on Volksbloggin on replacing the sunroof drain hoses with heavier duty stuff.
I have a 2005 Jetta and my warranty just expired. I will definately have to try this project this weekend, I guess it might be kind of fun :-\ It’s only sticking rubber tubing down the existing drain so I guess it cant be that hard for a chick to do :-).. Plus if it doesn’t work it’s easily reversable.
Another question though. Why are my driver and passenger sides leaking at the same time if they are completely two different tube channels? Just a coincidence?
Thanks, Jo
Probably just a coincidence. (I.E. Volkswagen secretly programmed the drains to clog at a specific time in the car’s life) hahahahah :] Good luck with the project!
Hello Dan,
I googled the problem about my passenger foot well leaking and was directed to your site which is really helpfull the only problem is ive got a 3 door mk4 gti with no sunroof ive checked everything and im still waking up in the morning to find a wet foot well any ideas would be great, because vw dealers in the uk want about $120 an hour just to poke and prod my car
Hmm, that’s an interesting one Gareth. I’m not positive, but the drains are probably still in use even though you don’t have a sunroof. Have you checked whether you have the drains, and if so are they clogged?
OK, well the drains were definitly clogged and my floorboard is soaked only on the drivers side. Is there a drain in the floor to release the water. Afterwards I have a horn in my trunk that sounds and my trunk automatically unlatches, and my parking lights flash. I can only say WTF? Can you help?
I don’t believe there is any type of drain in the floor. Could be wrong though. I’d run a wet/dry vac on that baby to get as much moisture out as possible, then try to let it dry out as much as you can.
As far as the other problem, I have no idea. lol :D There could be something wrong with the locking mechanism that is causing it to randomly lock/unlock or something like that?
hey
I think my sunroof drain is clogged however i dont know which one . all i know its on the passenger side.. Water drips down of from the roof at the rear passenger side window. Do you have any idea what i should do. Unclogg the front or rear?
Hey Mitchell, it does sound like the rear drains inside the bumper should be checked. Let us know how it goes!
Hello
Noticed very wet carpet in rear footwells yesterday. After reading contents of this page (very good, by the way)I suspect it might be blocked drains in sunroof. I’ve just got the car back from an extensive spell in the garage where they replaced the head gasket. Is there any chance they could have damaged any hoses etc during repair or is it more likely to just be bad luck??
thanks
Hey Greg, it does sound like just a bit of bad luck and timing, sorry. I don’t think there would be any way they could have affected the drain hoses in any way. I may be wrong, so someone else can chime in!
Last night my husband replaced the passenger side drain tube, using the flex tube, compression fitting , caulking just like the website said. Went just fine. This morning when I tested it, not one drip of water came out the tube!!!!! It came out from under the glovebox….What the heck could be going on??????
Hey Elaine, sounds like either there could be a tear in the hose, or a disconnect somewhere along the lines. Or possibly the hose isn’t sealed completely at the top in the sunroof area, and water got down through the system there?
If we can’t get this solved, I’m going to seal it up with clear silicone and make a moonroof instead of a sunroof !!!!
Lol nice. :D I hope that you can get it figured out!
i used a stripped down speedo cable as my “snake”
This is just superb. The dealership quoted $94 the other day. I read your blog, took a bottle of water, followed the instrutions, and I am $94 richer.
Do you have a bigger blog on VW issues?
Hey Patrick, we don’t have another blog ourselves, but the biggest site on the ‘Net would be VWVortex.com would be a great place to start.
Did a google search and came up with this site first. Explained the problem perfectly – great illustrations too. That is how the internet should work – sharing of useful information!
Did everything you suggested to unclog the drains and prove they were draining properly. Thanks… now just need to clean up the carpet.
I just googled “leaky sunroof problems with volkswagen beetles” and came upon your site – wonderful! I have my 2002 beetle in for extensive water damage due to clogged/disconnected tubes that you describe here. I had inches and inches of water in both the rear/front passenger side – enough to have to bail out. The mold/mildew that is now in the car is a health risk. My question is this – WHY in the world would this not be covered under my extended warranty? WHY wouldn’t this problem be considered a recall issue – this is obviously a defect of some kind if all of these people are having the same issue. I have a child whose health I am now concerned about – this mold is quite extensive.
I have a 03 Jetta wagon and, thanks to you, have un clogged the front drains, in fact I did cut off the pinched portion of the bibs. Seemed logical to me, but I can’t seem to locate the rear drain outlets. I looked with the flashlight, and felt up in the hole behind the bumper but didn’t find anything. Are you sure they are back there on the wagons?
Thanks
Hey Jimmy, very cool. I haven’t done this on any of the wagons yet so they may actually be in a different location, given the different body type. Let’s see if someone can point us in the right direction for that.
I have a 02 Wagon and do not have a sunroof but have had some flooding on the driver’s side rear foot well. I think that I feel a nipple thing underneath the foot well where the car is wet. Could that be possible?
Hmmm, there could be a problem with water drainage from the wiper area right in front of the windshield, though I’m not sure Julie.
After having leaks for a couple of years in my 2002 Beatle I resolved today to try and fix the drains. What I found is that that two rear drains were plugged with caps from the factory and had never been taken out. I took them out and they now work. I found the drivers side drain to be blocked and after several tries was not about able to unclog it with flexible wire with a soft tip on it. I decided to sacrifice a bike tire pump and found that the rubber house on the pump fit tight inside the drain house. From there a couple of light pumps and the drain was unclogged. Thanks for all your help. The notes on this site should be standard issue for anyone who has VleakyW.
Hi, I have a 2002 VW New Beetle, I’ve tried searching for these drain tubes, but I can’t find them, where exactly are they located. Looked at the inside of the door jams and just hinges and wiring. Looked underneath the car and still no sign of tubes. Please please Help help. Thanks, Thanx. Ron
Hey Ron, here’s a how-to on the New Beetle drains. Hope that helps!
I wish I had found this website yesterday. I just spent $300 dollors getting a clog fixed that was leaking into the front passanger floor. It would have even been another couple hundred to clean the water out. I see from other comments that some dealerships fix the problem for $100 which is pretty annyoying. Anyway, thanks to you guys, hopefully I will be able to prevent this from happening again and I wont waste my money anymore.
Does anyone have any tips on getting the water out of my car now? It’s starting to smell pretty bad, not to mention that all that condensation from the water is creating an internal fog that won’t go away, which makes it pretty hard to see while I’m driving.
Hi Casey, yeah that sucks. Let’s hope it just doesn’t happen anymore, but if it does, you can save some cash. :) Your best bet is to get a wet/dry vac and try to get as much water out of the car as possible. Then maybe a hair dryer/fans or similar to dry it the rest of the way. What will make it especially hard though is this time of year, if it’s cold in your area. I hope you get it patched up!
hi everybody. i have a 2005 jetta wagon that has been to the dealer 4 times in the past year regarding wet floorboards on the passenger side and driver side, both front and back…..alternating first the passenger side, then the driver side every time it rains heavily. vw has modified the ends of both of the nipples on the front and as of yesterday when i tested them w/ water…they were clear. however water is still entering the car when it rains. i would like to investigate potential cloggage at the rear drains, but am having two problems doing this. first, i cannot seem to access the drains at the sunroof b/c when the sunroof is open, it is in the way of where i think the drains would be. second, i cannot find the rear drains under the car anywhere. any help in locating these rear drains would be much appreciated! i am furious that my first new car wreaks like a wet dog and only has 30k miles to her name!
Hey suzystel, sorry for your troubles. Yeah, the sunroof drain design seems to be pretty much garbage, and will need to be looked at maybe once or twice a year to make sure clogs are cleared. This thread on VWVortex.com has photos of the drain locations on the MkIV generation Golf/Jetta. Hopefully that’ll help you find those rear ones. They’re hidden well up into the rear bumper area.
hi i have a 2002 jetta 1.8t with the sunroof, ive been having the smell problem and i did your how to thing with the drains. The drivers side was clogged but i was able to get all the water and gunk out by squeezin the nipple, the rear nipples seemed fine, but the passenger side seemed to be draining slow and i wasnt getting any gunk out of there. So while I was pouring water into the front passenger side drain i noticed that water was coming out in the corner nearer to the door underneath the glove box onto my passenger side carpet, what should I do to get this hose fixed? Can I fix it myself?
Looks like there’s either a clog somewhere along that line or a disconnect/hole, mdvdubber. This article, that one of our readers wrote, shows how to go about replacing the line. I don’t know if that’s the route you want to take, or even if needed, but that might give you some insight into what to do.
Thanks for the link Dan. Unfortunately i have scoured that area under my car based on the photos from that link and there is nothing that resembles a hose, drain, or nipple (he) back there. There are however several rubber plugs in the framework in that area, which gives me an unsettling feeling. I guess I’ll just have to go back to the stealership (argh) and ask them to literally show me where those drains are, as they should know since they have claimed to have “fixed” them four times already. Sigh.
Thanks so much for this site…
Here’s my situation… 2001 jetta with a sunroof, driver’s side floor/mat is quite wet, the others a little wet.
I’ve “unclogged” the nipples as best I can with a coat hanger… I’m trying not to damage the tube inside by poking too hard or too deep. 3 of the tubes seem to be working fine, but the tube closest to the drivers side is slurping a ton of water, and it’s not clear if it’s coming out anywhere!
If this drain was clogged, I would think it wouldn’t drain at all, but it guzzles the water.
My hunch is that there is some kind of leak inside the frame, and the water is filling up “inside the frame”, which is probably rusting the car from the inside out. I guess some of that water is seeping through the driver’s side floor somehow.
I’m going to try to fish a brake cable further down the drain, but assuming that does no good, I was thinking of putting a rubber stopper in the “problem drain” so that the water could just drain through the other 3 drains. Any thoughts on this approach? Does anyone know what the tube inside the frame is composed of?
Yeah, Jonathan, most likely there is a clog further up the drain hose and the water is backing up. Then most likely leaking out somewhere into the body of the car. Plugging the bad one sounds like a decent idea, but I’m not sure if the other three will handle the extra water drainage output that the fourth takes care of. Is there a way you could make that a temporary fix?
Thanks for the reply… I think it is as I suspected. There is no clog – what’s happened is the hose connecting the sunroof drain with the nipple has become disconnected.
I fished a brake cable up the nipple, and was able to shove 6 feet of cable up there with no problem, and it didn’t come out the sunroof… it’s just snaking around inside the frame.
I read on another blog that you can remove the entire nipple to re-attach the hose, but this seems like it’d be difficult to pull-off. So, I got a small cork and plugged-up the sunroof drain. Maybe I’ll try to do the hose re-attach sometime in the summer.
but, now my question is, where exactly was the water going? Is there some way it’d drain out of the frame somewhere other than the inside floor? My guess is that there might be liters of water sloshing around inside the frame, which might rust the frame from the inside out. How would I determine if this is the case? I thought about drilling a pinhole in the bottom of the frame somewhere to let this drain, but I wouldn’t know where to do that. Plus, that might cause more problems than it solves.
I’m hoping that the water will slowly drain out through the floor, and eventually dry up. I guess we’ll see.
There should be some way for the water to drain out, even if it’s getting into the frame area etc. So I think you’re ok there. Only way to really find out is if you test by pouring water in there and seeing if it comes out the bottom of the car somewhere. Do you recall if you saw the water leak out anywhere in your previous tests?
When I first was checking the drain plugs, I poured what amounted to a few cups of water down the suspect drain, and didn’t see it coming out anywhere that I could notice. My guess is that it pools inside the frame somewhere and seeps out really slowly.
We had a downpour yesterday, and the car seems to be doing OK. I figure the situation should slowly get better – not worse.
When the weather improves, I’ll take a shot at a more permanent fix. I saw a guest-blog on your site about this very problem at:
http://www.volksbloggin.com/2008/01/21/guest-how-to-replace-sunroof-drain-hose/
I think this is more the problem I have than a clog.
Actually, I was thinking more about this issue… why is it that a sunroof drain clog would cause any leakage inside the cabin at a place other than the roof? If the purpose of the drain plugs is to allow water that seeps in around the sunroof to drain, if those are plugged-up I would think the water would leak through the sunroof, not go down through the floorboards.
It’s a wacky problem, no? I’ll have to doublecheck the actual hose diagram somewhere, but there may be multiple sections of hose, and if so, could be allowing the water to leak out at a connection or something. If it’s all one line of hose, then I’m not sure either Jonathan! :D
Hi Dan, spent alot of time reading your site and learned alot too. Ours is a 2001 Jetta. Thanks. My problem is very similar re the clogged/leaking into the vehicle sunroof drain hoses. Any idea where I might find a picture of where the sunroof drains actually connect to the hoses at the top? Your readers tips on how to re-attach the hoses to the nipples at the bottom were very helpful, but have yet to find any real advice or pictures of re-attaching the hoses to the sunroof itself … can you help. Cheers from rainy Vancouver.
Hi Dan, just an update. I managed to snake a 1/4 inch diameter flex tube thru both front drain holes all the way to the door nipples.ie to clear any blockages. Confirmed nipples were secure to end of hose. Pulled the 1/4 inch flex back out thru the nipples. Re-confirmed nipples still secure to hoses. Poured some water down the drains. Water came out free and clear. A small victory. However I noticed water dripping inside by both sides, by the hood release handle and beside the glove box. What gives? I’m thinking is that as I poured the water thru the hoses, I poured too much too fast causing some to back up and trickle back thru the connection at the top of the sun roof and then down the outside of the hose to a point where the water would run off and into the area behind the hood release and glove box respectively. What do you think, am I on the right track. Please reply before the stress of costly repairs or toxic mold gets to me. Thanks Sherman.
Hey Sherman, sorry for my delayed response. Greast that you were able to snake a hose through there. This problem of still leaking has me stumped as well, as I’ve seen others with similar results. Your assumption is probably correct though. Have you tested it again without pouring too much water down? Also, make sure there aren’t any punctures in your hose.
Just a quick follow on my “plug the hole” solution. 2 weeks and it seems to be working so far. We’ve had some rain, and the floormats are dry. The cork is still in place. I still plan to do a better fix eventually, but this might be one option for people who don’t have the time to do something more permanent.
Great! Thanks for the update Jonathan.
i HAVE A 2OO2 gti AND it will not start, the code says that I need a cam sensor??? Anybody know how to get around that to get the car to a repair shop without towing it??
If there’s a problem with your cam sensor Steve, I’m not sure the computer will allow you to start the engine. Hopefully another reader might have an idea for ya, but it looks like you may need a tow, unfortunately.
I. LOVE. YOU. Seriously. I was originally googling “How to duct tape sunroof” when somehow I mashed together the words that brought me to this ray of sunshine. My sunroof started leaking, oh, a year ago and I had always just dealt with it. Hey, we don’t get that much rain in Florida… That is to say, until a hurricane hit that pelted us with hardcore rain for 3 straight days. Luckily (or unluckily) it was the weekend so I huddled in the homestead. Come Monday, getting into my car for the first time, there was a lake (I don’t kid…a lake…like 4 inches deep) sitting in the passenger side floor. I literally bailed out my car and decided that action was to be taken. Can’t afford $300 to fix the motor so they can even get to the drains on top. Caulk/duct tape seemed the answer to my prayers until you came along. Sunroof motor: $300. Cup to bail out lake in car: $15. Fixing a clog by yourself for free: Priceless. Bravo for keeping my VW pretty and dry. Many xoxo’s to you!
Hahaha nice Megan. Glad it helped. :D
i have a clogged drain i poured water into the sunroof and only three drops came out the nipple everything else went inside the car right next to the handle that opens the front hood, and into the carpet…
Thank you i have finally found the main problem to my soaked carpet, recently i lifted the carpet attempting to dry it out and thinking the water might be coming from underneath the car.
the lining under the carpet was soaked i took it out with a knife to get it dry until i fix my water problem.
My question is i’m unsure what to put down the drain without damaging it even more or disconnecting the drain is there a specific tubing or material that i should use? my dad suggested a hanger but im sure that will destroy it even more, what should i use exactly? i dont have any speedometer cables available, should i just use flexible plastic tubing as suggested by one of the readers, is this available at any hardware store? should i try smaller diameter tube just to get it unclogged?
Anyway thanks a lot for your blog, hopefully it will save me $1000 on repairs.
Hey Ruben, yeah, be careful with a coat hanger. I suggest against using one at all. It’s far too stiff and will easily puncture the drain tube.
Have you tried clearing the drain nipples as much as possible before snaking something down the tube?
I own a 2001 Passat 4Motion Wagon and I have two questions.
1) Where are the rear drains for the sunroof. I looked around under the rear bumper and did bnot spot them.
2) The right front (passenger side) turn signal indicator light bulb needs changing and I was wondering if you could provide some advice. Is the easiest way to remove the inner plastic fender? It looks like several torx screws hold it in place. The lens is also has water in it but does not appear to be cracked.
Thank you for your descripition of the front sunroof drains. It looks like that solved my earlier issue of water under the front passenger carpet area.
Hey Kurt, I’m not positive, but the drains on your Passat may be around the front of the rear wheels, if not in the bumper area. Give that a shot.
As for your turn signal, on Jettas and Golfs, you just push in (towards the car) on the front side of the bulb assembly (side pointing to the front of the car), and this will angle the other side of the assembly out from the bumper. Then you can slide it out of its connector, which will allow you to replace the bulb.
I’m not sure if this is the same on Passats. Yeah, both of my smaller turn signal housings on the top area of the fender have moisture in them too. There must be a seal or something that wears out on them over time. Not happy about that. ;0
Hey Dan do you know where the rear drains are on the 2001 golf gti? If you do can u please let me know. Thanks
Hey Carey, the rear drains are in a very odd location. You need to reach up inside of the rear bumper, close to the bumper shell and near the very corners. You need to feel for that drain nipple, and try to swueez it to remove any debris. Good luck!
Great info! I can’t seem to find my nipples though?:( I own a 2006 Saturn Vue and have a pool in each of my front foot wells. Also, I did locate the drain holes on the front/top, but may have to contort my body to find the ones on the rear of the sunroof. Are there 4 drains on all sunroofs (rooves)? Any help would be Gggrrreeat!
lol nice BCVolk. :D I’m not sure where they’d be on a Saturn, but try looking somewhere in the wheel wells, inside the door jams, or even under the bumpers?