Water leaking in driver foot well

The repair was about $1100. Thankfully, there was not a lot of water leaking in. If I were to gauge how much water was coming in, it would be around the area of like 2 Tbsp at a time or so. It wasn't a constant leak either. It would only occur if water managed to get through the sunroof seal. Generally, this meant times of snow melt, the rare time I cracked my sunroof during a drizzle, or only during times of very heavy rain fall.

As such, there was no mold that I could see on the carpet under my monster mats. I still plan on cleaning everything with some baking soda just to make sure. I am paranoid like that. The monster mats also helped contain the water.

I am happy to report that the car is leak free after the fix (no duh). I posted this on VW's facebook page and I have yet to receive any call, e-mail, or contact of any kind. The only thing I got was a survey about my telephone call to them. I tore them a new one on it but still haven't received any feedback and I doubt I ever will. They are wiping their hands on this one and it is sad to see a company do this.

Honestly, I was deciding whether or not to keep this car before the leak repair. I wanted to get it fixed because, in my good conscience, I could not sell this car without it being 100% when I sell it. I like to keep my stuff in good condition. In this case, this car is in better condition now than when I bought it. After this VW of America fiasco, I think they helped push me to downsize my life and live simpler (for now)

So if anyone is interested, I put this up in the classified "for sale."

akrazyassho said:

Damn they literately did not install the drains. I can understand that a lot of Gtis go from the factory w/o a sunroof but this is unacceptable.

I think you have a fair case, get to talking b/c this mistake is costing you a lot and prob already has ruin the carpet + started mold growth which is not healthy at all.

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You would be surprised with what they "forget" to install. Screw here, screw there...drain connector, etc. Whenever you remove the stock headunit, look up at the center air vents. I bet you 5 bucks it is missing the two screws and screw retainers on the bottom of the vent mounting tabs.

re-Upload Pictures

I'm having the same issues now. Water is freely dumping into my passenger footwell.

Can you or someone else re-upload pictures of what this looks like... I really cant shell out $1,000 for this but may try to fix myself.

Thanks, and will DM directly.

Fatnslow said:

I know how everyone likes pictures, so here they are....

Here, you can see that the drain tubes just ended. Really stupid.

Before:


Here is the grommet with no tube going through it:


Here is what it is supposed to look like:




And of course, this is me

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From a mkv, but I think it's the same. Check out a headliner removal DIY. There's enough room to access the drains from the hatch by partially dropping the headliner, you don't have to completely remove it. I fixed mine like that. Pull off the beige tube, caulk the connection and reattach.

drval85 said:

From a mkv, but I think it's the same. Check out a headliner removal DIY. There's enough room to access the drains from the hatch by partially dropping the headliner, you don't have to completely remove it. I fixed mine like that. Pull off the beige tube, caulk the connection and reattach.

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Thanks for the reply! It's not the headliner though. I poured water into the passenger front sunroof drain hole and it freely flows directly into the passenger footwell - it's not connected to the fender at this point. It's spilling into the area next to the glovebox.

I'm thinking about using silicone or make a rubber stop and just plug the hole in the sunroof.

Wondering if there are any pics of removing A-pillar and/or front glove box area so I can try to re-attach the hose to the fender.

BS2H said:

Thanks for the reply! It's not the headliner though. I poured water into the passenger front sunroof drain hole and it freely flows directly into the passenger footwell - it's not connected to the fender at this point. It's spilling into the area next to the glovebox.



I'm thinking about using silicone or make a rubber stop and just plug the hole in the sunroof.



Wondering if there are any pics of removing A-pillar and/or front glove box area so I can try to re-attach the hose to the fender.

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Remove the air bag tag on the a pillar. Under neath it there is a torx screw. To re install you will need to remove the lower interior trim piece under the a pillar.


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Found this forum because I'm having the same problem on my 2013 GTI on the driver's side. I poured a bit of water down the drain hole in my sunroof and it spilled out through my dash by my pedals. I took off a little piece of trim and the side of my dashboard where the fusebox is and by peaking through a little crack, I could see the end of the drain tube hanging there not connected to anything. Problem is, I haven't the slightest idea of how to get at it. Anyone with a 2013 GTI know of an easy access to this?

I was thinking of getting a little piece of foam or rubber (maybe an earplug?) and just plugging that hole. Has anyone tried this quick fix? Obviously worried about the water then leaking in somewhere else, but I feel it would get funneled to the drain on the passenger side that does work correctly.

Judging from the amount of links online and YouTube videos, this seems like a really widespread issue. Curious if VW will ever do anything to remedy this. It's a little frustrating have to deal with this on a car that is just over 6 years old with only 75K miles...