Got back from vacation this weekend and discover the 2007 Passat Wagon has developed a water leak. It's very damp inside (even growing mold mildew spots on a seat) and the headliner fabric has released it's grip and is hanging down all the way from front to back. E36 M3.
Any ideas? I can only guess it's a sunroof gasket letting in so much water. Any good fixes? Do I buy a new headliner or try to glue up the fabric that's there? This is a new problem for me and any knowledge would be helpful.
A nice little fire should dry it up. 
No seriously, I'd start by pulling the headliner since it's already trashed. Sunroofs are not supposed to seal out water, rather let it in and route it out via the drain tubes. With the headliner out you should check that the drain tubes are still attached to the sunroof frame, and clear (it's a 2007, it's had almost 10 years to collect debris. Especially if parked under trees). Please note this is all general info, I've never worked on a Passat. VW may have engineered something completely different from the norm.
The sunroof drain tubes are probably plugged up. Or if your Passat is like my 97 Jetta there are little rubber "valves" on the ends of the front drain tubes. It is just a little slit in the end of the tube that was thee to prevent anything from crawling up the tube and building a nest and clogging the tube. Instead, silt and muck build up on the inside of the valve and the weight of the water in the tube cannot push the slit open. Simply cut off the end of the tube as close to the valve/slit as possible. After I did that I used a hand pump to flush clean water through the drain tube from the top. I hope this helps.
Weed eater line down the drain tubes. IIRC they are in the front corners.
Mine also had a drain under the batter (2001 when they had two "firewalls") may check that as well, but its likely the sunroof from the headliner.
java230 wrote: Weed eater line down the drain tubes. IIRC they are in the front corners. Mine also had a drain under the batter (2001 when they had two "firewalls") may check that as well, but its likely the sunroof from the headliner.
I'd run them up from the bottom to avoid pushing the hoses off the ends of the sunroof drains, which would require pulling the headliner.
You missed that his headliner is ruined. It's gotta come out anyway.
So there is no "3M spray adhesive the liner back up" cure? I was hoping that was a thing.....
Buy a trombone cleaning brush and run that down the drains.
In reply to KyAllroad:
I'm pretty sure your headliner will fall right back down with adhesive. You can try it but every time I have tried it has failed pretty much right away. Paying someone to redo the headliner might not be too bad - I got it done on my wagon for $225 if I remember correctly.
A bad headliner can make a good car feel like a pile of crap. I'd DIY the leak repair but spring to have the headliner professionally redone afterwards.
DaveEstey wrote: Buy a trombone cleaning brush and run that down the drains.
Didn't know there was such a thing. Now I do. thanks!
Update: ran the weedeater line down the drains, no luck. Removed the cowl plastic trim to discover the ends of the drain lines just in front of the A pillar base. Both sides were clogged with an extremely sticky mass of schmutz. Milked that out manually (farm flashbacks) and flushed water down through the drains (they seem good now).
Called VW of A again this morning and explained very politely that they needed to support their owners a bit better and got exactly nowhere. No help, no discounted parts, nothing but "I'm sorry you've had a bad experience sir."
I've been a supporter of VAG all along but I'm done, this will be my last VW product. They drive nicely and look good but it's been nothing but problems that other cars just don't seem to suffer from.
I bought this thing 4 years ago with 65K on the clock, I bought the extended warranty then and since that date:
alternator failed at 66K
Suspension bushings failed at 70K, are creaking again but I'm too broke to replace them myself right now
AC compressor failed at 85K
clockspring failed at 88K
several regulators are bad, but still work so haven't been replaced
Timing chain failed at 105K taking the valvetrain with it, $9,000 covered by the end of the warranty.
Catalytic converters failed at 106K, replaced on my own dime.
Drains clogged taking the headliner with them.
Buttons with their "soft touch" material look like trash, it comes off far too easily.
There are other little things I'm sure I'm forgetting but those are the big items.
It's still a tremendously nice car to drive and I'm not really in a position to get rid of it but the number of little failures is ridiculous for such an expensive car. Good luck VW, I'm over your brand.
You'll need to log in to post.
