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How-To:Sunroof drain repair

154K views 90 replies 74 participants last post by  Manntis 
#1 ·
Greetings,

My wife and I recently purchased a CPO'd 2004 XC90 for her to drive to work. Up until the past couple weeks the vehicle has been trouble free. However, the morning after a particularly strong thunderstorm we noticed water in the drivers side footwell. A search of Swedespeed turned up several threads on the topic and the culprit seemed to be either a clogged line or elbow.

We called our local dealer and scheduled an appointment. Towards the end of the conversation the service advisor stated that it might not be covered under warranty and that it could "get expensive". This of course made me angry so I decided to tackle the job myself. After completing the job I decided to make a quick "how-to" as I hadn't found specific instructions on here. If this is a double post please feel free to delete.

Overview:

As water collects on the lip surrounding the sunroof it evacuates itself through two small drains, one on the front portion of the drivers side and one on the front portion of the passenger side. These drains are routed through either a-pillar via a rubber hose attached to a 90 degree elbow exiting the vehicle in the approximate location of the side view mirrors. From there it drains straight down exiting near the front mudflaps.

Testing procedure:

In order to ensure the drain was clogged I opened the sunroof and poured a small amount of water in the vicinity of the drain. The picture below shows its location.


After pouring, the water failed to drain, indicating a clog at some point. From there I went about removing the a-pillar cover in order to check the drain line/elbow.

To begin you'll first want to remove the covers for the two 10mm bolts holding the grab handle to the a-pillar. There is little gap to work with and if you're not careful you'll scratch the plastic. A plastic bone tool might work but I went with a razor blade as it was all I had. I would recommend gently prying from the side. As you can see from the pic both covers are connected to the handle via a small piece of plastic.


After both covers are off you can remove the two 10mm bolts. After removal you'll be looking at this.


Now you can pull the a-pillar cover off of the vehicle. It is held in place via three plastic clips and should pull off easily. After removal you will be able to see the rubber drain line.


Once the drain tube was in sight I could see water leaking around the base of the drain tube where it meets the 90 degree elbow pictured below.


This piece simply pulls out and once it's free you can slide the drain tube out. The elbow by itself is pictured below.


As you can see from the pic there was a ton of debris stuck inside the elbow.


I blew compressed air through the elbow which quickly removed the dirt and while off blew air through the drain tube to ensure it was clear(which it was). After cleaning, I reinstalled the elbow and drain tube and poured more water through the drain. At this point the water ran through easily and drained through the bottom of the vehicle in the proper location(pictured below).


Overall this was very simple and took maybe 20 minutes start to finish for both sides. Although the passenger side wasn't leaking yet removal showed a partial clog in the elbow which could have caused problems later on down the road. I hope this helps a bit please let me know if you have any questions.

regards,

Matt

Modified by saffron98 at 8:59 PM 7-30-2008
 
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#57 ·
New to swedespeed, I just found this thread. I've been having this problem in my S40 in the rear instead of front driver's side. Although mine is not soaked, it just damp all of the time. I read the post about fixing this problem myself, but I'm not sure if I trust myself doing so. Does anyone know how much this will run me at the dealer? and if mine's not soaked, should I be worried about the carpet?
 
#60 ·
Thanks for the great post for Drain water Problem

This post is a few years old but perfect for all those Volvo owners with this surprisingly commonly occurring problem of water flooding the driver's floor area (for some it is passenger side) after every rainfalls.

I have an '03 XC90 and after every rainfall had 1 or 2 inches of water on the driver's side floor. Rolls of HD paper towels and newspapers were my damage control measures. Luckily no electrical damage that I am aware of.

I read this post and saw the pics. I removed the cover of the pillar and found that the hose had popped out of the 90 degree fitting. I also found the that the 90 degree fitting itself was really in bad shape. The inside part was deteriorating. There was just enough to reattach and push back in. I will replace the 90 degree fitting. I hope I can pick a new one up from the dealer. I noticed that the hose didn't have a lot of extra length to play with. Not sure if the hose had shrunk.

It took me less than 10 minutes because I knew exactly what to expect under the cover and what to look for from the pics posted.

I am kind of surprised at the dealers at them not just unclogging, reattaching or just replacing the 90 degree fitting for the customers with this problem which is clearly a design flaw. I have seen posts where some have paid over $1000 to fix this problem not to mention the hours of wasted time.

:thumbup:

... hats off to you "saffron98"
 
#63 ·
Water intrusion - drain problem or sunroof problem?

I thank all the previous posters for their information. It's been helpful in identifying how the water is getting into the cabin, but no one seems to have addressed the obvious question.

Why is so much water getting into the sunroof area in the first place???

It's fine to understand how the system is meant to drain and how to clean the drains, but the bottom line, for me at least, is that the drain was not meant to handle huge volumes of water.

In my car, the drains work fine until they is too much water. Then the system overflows from the top junction at the sunroof down the A pillar and into the cabin. So my analysis is that it is NOT a problem with the drainage, but rather a problem with the sunroof seal. If the sunroof is letting too much water in, the drains will overflow.

Is there a way to replace the seal, recondition it, or otherwise repair it so it seals better against the metal frame of the car?
 
#64 ·
The whole concept of an a roof panel that can open up ... just leaves me a little cold. Does anyone actually use this thing ... I mean after the first drive away from the showroom when the vehicle is new? I usually avoid it as an option if I can. Sunlight is OK ... but wind and rain, who needs it?

If Volvo can't design a Sun roof without drain issues, I wish they would just eliminate it.
 
#66 ·
My xc90 is fixed!

Thank you so much for posting all the details and images so I could fix this myself! :D I am not very handy when it comes to repairing cars. So this helped out a lot! I tore it all apart, fixed and put it all back together in about 15 minutes! This probably saved me a lot of money!
 
#67 ·
Wow, what a great and informative thread! My wife drives an '06 XC90 and it always smell a tiny bit musty after the car wash or rain. I have been trying like crazy to diagnose the smell and couldn't ever really feel wet floorboards, but tonight I think I'm going to pour some water in those sunroof drains and feel higher up on the driver side floorboard.

I hope we don't have water sloshing around - I've never heard that. I still am having a hard time picturing this area people are describing that water can build up so much in. The floor under the mat feels very solid - how could that just be carpet and foam?? Could someone explain the layers starting with the floormat, carpet, then what? It can't just be foam directly underneath that thin layer of carpet - that would be like stepping onto a mattress every time you got into your car.
 
#68 ·
Volvo design flaw

This is very clearly a design and manufacturing flaw, any way you look at it. This constricted bend should have never existed, yet it did, and volvo to my knowledge never owned up to it.

My family experienced a lot of grief over the wet floor, repeated trips to the dealership, and eventually their $$$ fix (at our expense) when it is clearly something the manufacturer did that was substandard, problematic, and just downright poor design any way you look at it. In any court of law, it would have been easily demonstrated to be a faulty product. My wife was put through unnecessary trips, stress, and of course I was too as a result, including hard earned cash we paid the dealership to fix their own problem.

For this reason I have no compassion or reluctance to caution potential new buyers of the next "greatest thing since sliced bread coming out of Socialist Sweden", to beware, and let someone else be the guinea pig. This is especially true of the new motor that is intended to save the planet and put more cash in Volvo's pocket. I say this sounding like I am anti-Volvo, but guys I'm an enthusiast, and if the enthusiast feels this way, it can translate into sales or lack thereof. Still an enthusiast.

This is a great thread, by the way, and I wish I had access to it when we went through the same frigging thing with our 2004.

Mr. P
 
#69 ·
Poured water into the drain holes on both sides yesterday when I got home from work, and a nice puddle was on the ground behind the wheel well as intended. I guess they're not clogged! The musty smell after a rain must be due to something else.
 
#71 ·
Hi, I have a 2000 s80 sedan. Just bought it a month ago, I to am having sunroof drain problems. flooded the passenger side front. Is draining now. I took apart the drivers side an couldn't see a drain hose, yet there is a drain hole! Does the s80 only have passenger side drain tube? Any help with this much appreciated.
 
#72 ·
Had similar issue with the 2008 XC70. Following the excellent write up I wad able to locate the issue. Cleaned all tubes with weed whacker wire and problem seems to be solved. Also, the two drains in the front of the sun roof were almost completely covered by dirt causing driver side to leak (stagnant water). It took a while to even find the drain on the driver side. So, thank you again for this discussion! It saved me many $ again!
 
#73 · (Edited)
I just bought a 2013 XC90 and own a 2008 S40. Dealer offered a really low trade in on the S40 so I decided to keep it. The dealer said they would have to spend $2,000 to fix the leaky drains from the moon roof (car has 53,000 miles). After reading this thread, I'm convinced the dealer knew about the moon roof leaks all along and just never bothered to tell me or even inspect it during every 7,500 mile check up it performed. Pretty crummy of the service department as they knew about the design flaw.

Today, my husband cleaned the drains and performed the suggested changes to the tubings. It took a while, but he got the front and back seats up and was able to pull out ALL the carpet in the S40. The thin layer of carpet is actually adhered to about 6 to 10 inches thick of a molded type of "foam" that's more like styrofoam but squishy (and able to absorb water). The front carpet/foam is one piece on drivers side and one piece on passenger side, and the entire back seat was one whole piece.

BTW, you do NOT have to remove the center console or center cup holder armrest to take out any of the carpet. Once you pull the front seats up and lift out the rear seat, the carpet can be pulled out from under the console.

Fortunately, there was no standing water in the floor and the wires were not wet. Due to the nature of the foam, we plan on spraying it with a bleach/water mixture to stave off any mildew and will leave in sun to dry for a week or so before re-installing. We live in Florida, so sun should be out soon!
 
#74 ·
The dealer said they would have to spend $2,000 to fix the leaky drains from the moon roof
I heard the dreaded sloshing sound today, after parking in the rain for a few hours. When leaving the garage early this morning, there was no such sound. So I knew I had another clogged drain, last time was maybe 7 years ago (?).

I wanted it fixed ASAP due to weather, but am pressed for time this week and didn't want to deal with it. So I took it to my indy shop to clean them out... the bill was $27.
 
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#75 ·
thanx to original poster for detailed pix and job description. saved me a lot of grief. my 04 xc90 was awash on the passsenger side after a rare calif. rain. more subtle than my 745, which leaked directly into the cabin...

i modified mydogutah's solution, by cutting back the hose and making a joint with the same size polyethylene for stiffness, cut back the volvo hose, made a vinyl sleeve and glued the thing together. no chance of kinking there. a larger diameter hose wouldn't fit thru the hole in the pillar.
the original rubber fitting was rotten as well.
thanx for the forum!
 
#76 ·
Seems like no shortcut to the sloshing water trapped under the carpet. I think I have to remove the seats and carpets when the sun comes out this weekend. Any suggestion as to what to expect when removing the seats? I guess I should disconnect the battery to avoid the SRS activated accidentally?
 
#77 ·
I did it last month when the weather was warm and dry. Took me half day to drain and dry the fish tank. The chassis is actually starting to rust badly. I am happy that it was done before more problems pop up. After that, a few really heavy rains visited but I can tell no leak at all. I think I saved my car. Thank you all!
 
#78 ·
This is a great write-up indeed! I don't know why the photos won't show up on my screen (only getting the blue box with question mark) but I'm assuming it's because the post is already almost 6 years old. I don't know if this is possible, but if so can you send me the photos in a private message?
Again, thanks for the great post!
 
#81 ·
Cheap front drain repair: When I pulled the drain elbows off the bottom of my A pillars they were completely clogged and the rubber had deteriorated, letting water into the cabin. Rather than pay $15 each for new elbows I went to Lowe's and purchased 4 feet of clear vinyl tubing (5/16 inside diameter) and two rubber grommets part number 881256. I cut the existing drain hose and attached a length of new clear line, using the plastic tube from an old bic pen as a stint between the two hoses. I then taped the two hoses to secure them and covered them with heat shrink. I fit the grommet into the hole in the a pillar and ran the new tube trough for several inches. Test revealed no leaks. Total cost is less than $5.
 
#84 ·
Cheap front drain repair: When I pulled the drain elbows off the bottom of my A pillars they were completely clogged and the rubber had deteriorated, letting water into the cabin. Rather than pay $15 each for new elbows I went to Lowe's and purchased 4 feet of clear vinyl tubing (5/16 inside diameter) and two rubber grommets part number 881256. I cut the existing drain hose and attached a length of new clear line, using the plastic tube from an old bic pen as a stint between the two hoses. I then taped the two hoses to secure them and covered them with heat shrink. I fit the grommet into the hole in the a pillar and ran the new tube trough for several inches. Test revealed no leaks. Total cost is less than $5.
.
How much do you suppose you paid for the Volvo-supplied drain system?
 
#82 ·
sunroof draining

hi all

My vehicle is the V50 reg 2006

Thanks for all the help with this problem not in the workshop manual for the vehicle. Never had a sun roof before but have had both rear foot wells flooded the dealer said he have rectified the problem but after the heavy rain this last weekend my nearside rear foot well is again flooded it appears that the "fix" was not after all a "fix" the main dealer says it needs clearing twice per year? but the solution may be a continuous tube and remove the elbow.
 
#86 · (Edited)
After ten years of Volvo ownership, I had my FIRST experience with this problem a few weeks ago.

Thanks for the great write-up, as it helped immensely.

A couple additional tips:

Removing the water: I know this will be obvious to many folks - you do not need a shopvac to remove the water. 1) If there is water on top of the carpet, bail it out. After that, use some old towels and sop up the water that is on top of the carpet. 2) Park the car on a slop, nose-end down, to promote drainage toward the front. Remove the trim around the carpet (carefully) and pull the carpet back and up, so you can get at the area under the carpet and under the foam: bail and sop up the water that is under there, until dry. 3) Take a dry towel and put it on the carpet, so it can continue to sop up water that is in the carpet; 4) You need to remove the water from the foam, which is best accomplished by placing dry towels against the foam and then putting pressure on the foam to force as much water out as you can. 5) Once you have sopped up the water from the floor and from the foam, take another dry towel and roll it, and push it under the carpet/foam that you have pulled back toward the seat. You are doing this to create some space under the carpet so that area can dry out. 6) Place a heater/blower in the front seat well, facing the area under the seat. Plug it in, crack a window, and turn on the fan/heater. Leave it on for days.

or bring the car to your local dealer who will do this for you for $600-$1000.

I had a quarter inch or so of water on top of the carpet, and plenty of water under the carpet. I took immediate action and there is no moisture in any of the foam I can get at. I went through a lot of towels this way, but I don't have a shop vac, so....(and I'm not sure how well the shopvac does to pull the water out of the foam, whereas pressure and a dry towels works great)

Primitive approach, but I am confident that I got everything nice and dry, which will minimize the odds of getting any mildew. I'll also have the carpets cleaned, and they pump in some anti-mildew chemical, they say. In the meantime, I will put a 1-pound bag of rice mixed with a box of baking soda on the carpet and let it cook in the sun for few days, until I vacuum it up. That should polish off any remaining moisture.

If I head up to the mountains, that super cold and dry air will likely evaporate any moisture right out of the foam.
 
#88 ·
Thanks for the heads-up. My 90 is at the shop for a check-up, now, and I'll ask them to check this. My carpet trim is not yet back in place, so easy to check.
 
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