DIY: Golf/GTI/Jetta Front Sunroof Drain Fix

[-Kage-]

This is a 'continuation' of my rear sunroof drain DIY, found here.

Now that I finally had the time to drop the headliner over the summer, here is the guide for replacing both front sunroof drains on a Golf/GTI.

Materials/Tools Required:
+ ~15 feet of 3/8"ID and 9/16"OD with a 3/16" wall or comparable tubing. There's not much room for these tubes to slide down and they have to be connected to a huge barb.
Here are pictures for comparison:

+ Heat Gun/Powerful Hair Drier (used to soften the tubing to get over the barb, boiling water may also be used)
+ Metric tool set
+ Torx tool set
+ Everything else in JKREWs' guide for taking out the headliner

*Important*
-My back seats were removed for autocross but also served as a convenience while doing this mod. Getting them out of the way provides a lot of room to work with and is definitely recommended by myself. It only takes about 2 minutes if you know what you're doing, although it did take me about 15 minutes because the larger side was hung up and didn't want to come out. Using a bunch of brute force and wiggle/pull it eventually popped out. Follow this guide for removing the back seats if you wish: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2500959 Don't use an 11/16" socket for the seat belt clips though, use 17mm or 18mm(forgot which one) since they're metric like every other bolt on the car.

-Dealing with the side air bags is a main part of this experience. There is a conspiracy theory out there these could randomly detonate if the battery is still connected. Using common sense, we realize that sensors activated by an actual crash must be smashed to blow these things up. Personally, I did not disconnect the battery and everything went just peachy. Perhaps it is better safe than sorry, but until proven, these air bags aren't going off unless it's your destiny.

-Airbag equipped A-Pillar removal should be done following 42DD's Guide: http://www.42draftdesigns.com/restraintclip.htm <--Be VERY CAREFUL removing those clips, they are no longer sold by VW seperately. After reading some archived threads about this issue, I was under the impression these could be purchased for $1 each and wasn't easy on them. One I snapped, and the other was already snapped. Both A-Pillars are attached real good, but if the bags go off, so do these pillars.

-Keep the screws in the holes of everything taken off. Most of them are very similar to each other but have different thread lengths and Torx sizes, so do not pile them together. Everything goes back together easily when there isn't a pile of screws to be sifted through.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First, remove the headliner following JKREW's guide: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zer...age=1 Looks like all the pictures died, so it looks like a different guide will have to be used. Everything is rather self explanatory, except for a few quirks that really pissed me off.

*Special Note: Removing Sun Visor Clips* When removing the sun visor holder clip, there is a plastic shell clip that covers a screw. There's almost zero provision for taking it off, so after about half an hour of scraping and scratching plastic, I was finally able to figure it out. Follow my special clip guide here: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2759972

After all the interior parts are taken off, the headliner will most likely still be hanging out and won't just fall down. Gently pry it down and be sure to extend both headrests all the way up along with using a tripod/other device to hold it up in the back. It turns out there's a bunch of wires running to the vanity lights that need to be taken out of their cloth cases before the headliner can actually move out.

Rip open the cloth casing and then pull the wires off to the side where they're out of the way. Now go and wash your hands with some sandy soap to get all that grease off your hands so it doesn't get all over the headliner. Carefully pull out the headliner after all the wires are lifted off and out of the way and set it out of the way.

Whoo, that was half the battle right there. Now that we have full access to the to p of the car it's time to get cracking.

See those kinked tubes? It's fine to get kinky in your car, but it's definitely not good having your sunroof drains getting it on with you. Time to show this ***** who's boss and replace it with some real tubing.

Ladies and gentlemen, here we have the side air bag. Both steel shrouds holding it in place must be removed in order to gain proper access to routing the tubing.

Both Torx screws are reachable on the curvy shroud, so take those out along with the steel shroud and move on to the other one.

Push in the clips and then pull down the plastic shroud to gain access to the Torx bolts on the upper most one.

Disconnect the tubing from the barbs if you haven't already. Now find the drain exit located down by the door hinge.

Pull this sucker out and then blow it out with an air compressor. They make a real good buzzing sound when 90PSI is going through them, plus it cleans it out.

Next Step: Take out that ugly kinked up blue berry tubing and throw it on the ground!!!

Moving onward, it is time to route that new tubing down and out. This part is a little tricky since there is very, very little room to deal with when jamming the tubing down through the passageway.

Leave just enough tubing sticking out so that it can be easily connected to the drain. Be sure to leave some slack, but not too much, otherwise the tube will kink if there's too much pressure on it after being connected to the sunroof drain. Mock up the tube as if it were connected and then cut it where it connects to the barb.

*Slide the hose clamp onto the tubing before connecting it. Don't forget, otherwise you will have to disconnect it and do it again.*
This part is tricky, you're connecting a 3/8" tube to about a 5/8" barb. Use a heat gun/very hot blow drier to heat up the end of the tube so it gets soft enough to stretch over the plastic barb. Have some patience, it may take a few tries before it goes over. Stretching the tube using a pliers(pushing the inside outward) and then turning the tube back and forth in a circular motion will usually do the trick.

Tighten up that hose clamp and move on to the other side. Repeat the same procedure, this time it should be a little easier.

This one turned out warped due to uneven heating. Water will still flow better than the other tubes and it's mainly a cosmetic flaw since the diameter is close to as big as it can be.

Hopefully both tubes were attached without too much fuss. Reattach the rubber exit drainers and then sandwich that thing back in there. Try pushing a little bit in and then go around it in a circle if you're having trouble. Sometimes these can be a real pain and need some man force to show them who's boss.

Getting everything back together shouldn't be that hard if everything is organized and you can remember what goes where.

for getting the job done and fixing that leak.


Modified by -Kage- at 2:32 PM 9-23-2006

[GTI.8t05]

or just go to the dealer under warranty like i did

[wolfsburgraz]

Quote, originally posted by GTI.8t05 »

or just go to the dealer under warranty like i did

That was constructive.

Ever think about the people whose cars are out of warranty and don't want to give the dealer the money to do this?

Great DIY, need to do something about the pic hosting though.

[-Kage-]

Most people don't have warranties left on their cars. I bought mine used off of eBay, so no warranty for me but it's good that way.

BTW, bear with me while I try and fix these errors. Going for MS WordUP to the vortex doesn't work all that well.

[-Kage-]

Everything is fixed now

Corrections/information will be added as time goes on. Let me know if you have any specific questions about anything in this guide and I'll be able to help out.

[-Kage-]

Bumping on up

[-Kage-]

While fixing the fronts, I took the time to take out the whole sunroof assembly and look at a way to seal up the rear drains.

Trying to re-engineer the rear sunroof drains did not go as well as I would have liked.

It turns out the sliding mechanism can not be sealed off from the drain without directly sealing off the whole sunroof. This would have involved a lot more fabrication than what I had planned and have time for.

What I did find was that the caulking wasn't sealing properly and the plastic piece was pushed up a little bit.

So I applied some silicone caulk and sealed it up real nice so water won't leak underneath or out the sides any more.

No more water leaks now, it's alllll gooood


Modified by -Kage- at 9:26 PM 9-24-2006

[Reflex_Bora]

Damn that's alot of work...thank god I still got 70,000 miles left on my warrenty...nice write up though!!!

[filthwagen]

hahah damn i wish i had this when i dropped my headliner last week and did the samething

[-Kage-]

Bump, sending a mod an i/m about getting this added to the FAQ.

[jnagar]

I can't seem to pull off the nipple on the passenger side (didn't try the driver side, but am not really looking to mess with that side). Also, this seems rather involved, with the headliner, etc, which i haven't messed with yet...
Have any of you considered this other, seemingly simpler fix (http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4495257)? Seems like more of a bandaid fix, but albeit a pretty sturdy-seeming bandaid... I'm almost to the point of taking it to the dealer, but I can't help but feel scammed when going to dealers...

Comments?
Thanks!

[03_uni-B]

just fyi to anyone looking at this, it is now a recall. go get it fixed for free!

[FoVe]

It is also a class action settlement now.

If you paid out of pocket to get repairs done to your VW, you may be able to get reimbursed. You should have received a letter if eligible, but if not check the website below for more info:

https://wateringresssettlement.com/

[thespleeeen]

THANK YOU!!!! this solved my problem =]

[jolf43]

this isnt warrenty work, its recall work. goto your dealership and ask them to take care of your sunroof recall fix

[yeabmx]

bumping this up from the dead, could 1/4 id tubing work easier for putting it over the 5/8 barb, or is that too big to get a good fit? just worried about heating up the 3/8 tubing. looking to do this very soon, sick of driving my car around with no interior.