IMPORTANT: Can ALL owners with a sunroof please read??!!

[blackspaven]

Hi,

 

Trying to work out a connection between those owners with a sunroof and if any have had a leak somewhere, known or unknown, which has resulted in a mystery damp carpet... can anyone please say on here if they either have or haven't had this please?

 

Currently in conference with Skoda UK about a possible design flaw which may or may not cause damage to curtain airbags on sunroof models and need as much evidence either way to see if it's a freak occurance or a wider issue which I can push to possibly getting a service note being issued.

 

Thanks.

[blackspaven]

Really?! Nobody on here has a sunroof and even if they do they're not bothered that skoda are genuinely looking into curtain airbags going off prematurely or not at all due to a design fault?!!

[silver1011]

Is this on your current 9 year old Octavia?

 

I'd imagine most significant design flaws, especially those safety related, would have been discovered by now.

 

The rarity of sunroofs on the MkII probably won't be helping either. 

[Defenderben]

I had an Octavia MK2 face lift with a sunroof and had zero issues....Had it 2.5 years.

[blackspaven]

15 hours ago, silver1011 said:

Is this on your current 9 year old Octavia?

 

I'd imagine most significant design flaws, especially those safety related, would have been discovered by now.

 

The rarity of sunroofs on the MkII probably won't be helping either. 

 

Yes, but Skoda ARE looking into it! SUK have asked me to go to the dealer and are getting back to me about getting my airbags checked tomorrow while I'm there and are currently researching the specs of certain bits involved. It's about water ingress caused by what I consider to be a badly designed dispersal system; over time, one part has (and indeed does on mine) the potential to overflow rainwater straight onto the airbags and/or electrical connections. Think I have a solution but going through it with the techs tomorrow.

 

More likely to be on slightly older cars, but facelifts might be affected, don't know if there's a design change at that point.

 

Obviously, the more info I have from owners either way, the more it can be seen whether it's an issue or not, especially since it would manifest in a damp footwell, well away from the source. I only noticed it in mine by utter and complete fluke when it was raining!

Edited 5 February, 2017 by blackspaven

[m0bov]

I have a sunroof on mine, had it from new (2009). But not got curtain airbags and not had a leak.

[blackspaven]

Cheers mobov.

[dustrat]

I had this problem a few years ago on my Superb and was caused by blockage of sunroof drain pipes. If you open sunroof you will see drain holes on either side of frame. These drain holes run down windscreen frame and come out beside bottom door hinge. There is a rubber/plastic teet beside hinge which gets blocked.Pour some water onto the frame and then  get your fingers to the teet and squease it a few times and you will aventually see all water coming through.Do this a few times until water runs clear.

Robert

[blackspaven]

Yes, that's the issue, the problem is when it overflows it runs straight onto the airbag hence why Skoda have shown a greater interest than just having a customer service bod on the phone have a look into it: it's been escalated to at least the next level up and they got back to me in less than 24 hours asking for more info! Bloke gave me his personal line number instead of the main customer services number.

[m0bov]

Come to think of it (!) I saw the post some years back about flicking the drainage duct in the door shut and on each side I did get some water drain out. Might try it again.

[solwood]

We have a sunroof on our 2006 Oct estate and it's going to an independent on Wednesday to replace a window motor(age rather than water ingress) and look at where water ingress is from

 

One side of the sunroof drains fine, the other is being investigated as i cannot see it draining

 

the fact is there are several possible causes on the mk2 including bulkhead, behind battery and the door seals so could take a while

 

We don't have curtain air bags.

[blackspaven]

Well, as mobov and others here have said, a prime candidate is the pinched end of the drainage hole in the door shut, between & just in front of the the hinges. You should see it, and possibly find that it's gunked up. Pinch it fairly rigourously and it might get some crud out.

 

Before you do the above though, the other easy thing to do BEFORE you go to the indy which might save you money if it is the cause, is park it on a flat or downward slope to make the water run forward, take the a-pillar trim off both ideally or whichever side is getting wet and pour some water on the sunroof for a little while. If the water starts dripping from where the roof lining would normally meet the a-pillar trim, and you will notice it and be able to stop it fairly easily & quickly, then the drainage hole is more than likely gunked. Do the manipulation thing on the rubber tube and if water literally flies out, then you've probably found your problem.

 

Please let me know if it is or isn't the rubber drainage pipe retaining water.

[blackspaven]

1 hour ago, m0bov said:

Come to think of it (!) I saw the post some years back about flicking the drainage duct in the door shut and on each side I did get some water drain out. Might try it again.

 

My point to Skoda is you shouldn't have to do it otherwiseit should be in the handbook, and if it's causing it to run across safety equipment such as airbags then that's hardly something to just shrug off.

[solwood]

I have done something similar as a angler I have forceps so used these to briefly open the rubber pipes, passenger side flushed out crud, driver's side nothing.

 

Agree re the safety aspect though.

[blackspaven]

Forceps would definitely be convenient to get to them as it's a bit awkward, but for the sake of anyone else the rubber is quite soft so can be tweaked with fingers.

[blackspaven]

This is what/where I'm talking about, they view is from inside the open the drivers door looking through the hinges, you can see the end which is pinched by design:

 

Edited 10 February, 2017 by blackspaven

[fuktf]

I have a sunroof and wet floor. Found these blocked and now water runs down the pipe freely. Thanks for this. 

[blackspaven]

Glad to be of help.

 

After having taken the carpet out TWICE to dry in the past, I'm a bit paranoid about how long it takes to bung up nowadays so I'm twiddling the end of the pipe every couple of months or so just to stop it reoccuring.

 

Fyi, it turns out the electrial connection for the airbags are by the roof aerial, so no problem with water running near it. Was just frustrating it took SKoda so long to agree to book in to drop the roof lining to check it out when there must have been an etka diagram or similar that showed the position of it and could have saved everyone the hassle of me bringing the car in, but there you go.

[blackspaven]

Holy thread revival!

 

Okay, so had ANOTHER soggy carpet last week, and it was our old friend the blocked drainiage tube (this time the passengers side for me). Anyway, further to pinching the end to free it up like I suggested, I would now suggest going one further...

 

The car doesn't need to be on a gradiant, but it helps, and open both the door & sunroof and pour a small amount of water, half a cup or so, into the relevant corner hole of the sunroof and watch how it drains. There's a fair chance it'll look okay, but mine was dribbling a bit out the end... until I started really rubbing the ENTIRE tube in the picture above between my fingers: after about 10 seconds, I got some real serious sludge coming out and then the water gushed out like a tap had been turned on! I think the entire rubber tube can bung up, not just the tip being gunky, so with the backload of water above it from pouring it in, it cleans out the tubes very nicely.

 

Hope this helps someone,... I'm definitely gonna be doing this once every couple of months as it was again a pig drying the underlay and carpet out! (luckily, it was only after the recent single downpour so just one case of ingress, and not toooo major)

[Golf-Fiend]

Used to suffer this a lot with VW Golfs MkIIs. I used to regularly clean my tubes with a bit of net curtain springy wire tube thing. Worked a treat. Is this not possible on the Skoda? If not how about a bicycle inner brake cable? Nice and flexible and thin yet stiff enough to clear the tubes? 

[munchkincoupe]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but after the deluge of rain today I got into my car at work - it was parked slightly nose down. When I backed it up water ran all over my left foot for 30-40 secs. Got home and found this thread. Checked the sunroof and both of the drains were blocked and some of the sunroof mechanism was rusty too - probably been blocked for a while. I also think this may be part of the problem with early rust at the back of my front arches as this drain may have been constantly dripping for years. Milked the nipples - flushed through - loads of crap came out. Oiled the sunroof mechanism whilst there too

 

Thanks for the above advice