16th Feb 2010, 10:43

I own a 2004 Jetta 4 door sedan.

I too had a leak that cost nearly $300 to repair. Every time it rained, I would have soaking wet floor boards, they said it was coming in through the sunroof, however I never had any drips... makes no sense to me! This was nearly 2 years ago.

When my car returned from the dealer that day, there was a crack in the windshield on the passenger side that started at the very bottom on the glass, stretching up. I've since had the windshield replaced.

Now this morning I noticed another crack in the exact same spot. There are no dings where possibly a rock hit it. It starts at the very bottom on the glass and extends up! Windshields aren't cheap to replace, and I am curious as to WHY I have had 2 cracks that mysteriously show up, in the same location??? HELP!!!

2nd Mar 2010, 16:48

I have a 2008 Jetta with a leak in the A Pillar. I have brought in it twice in the past two months, and VW claims there is nothing wrong, even though the last time the fabric was still wet.

I have not had anything beyond that, but it does appear that my sun roof may have a small leak starting also.

I am going to take it back again in the next rain storm, and put an actual complaint in this time.

Live in Orlando, FL.

8th Apr 2010, 19:24

I have a 2003 Jetta GL, I live in Portland Oregon, so I know all about the water leak. First time I noticed it, it was the driver's side floor. When this occurred, I took it to a repair shop; they cleaned out all the vents, installed new air filters, the works. This fixed the problem for a few weeks.

The next time I noticed the problem it was WAY worse, I could actually see standing water, it went all the way under the driver seat to the left-hand passenger floors, a mess! Got online read about the sunroof drains, cleared them out, not to find really any debris at all. So now the entire car smells terrible of mold and mildew, and to add insult to injury, this morning I discovered the back seat is now completely drenched in water!!! I am at my wits end with this car, this is the final straw in a longgg list of issues I've dealt with. I too believe that there are far too many of us owners dealing with this problem for it not to be a re-call issue! Thanks VW for completely turning me off!!!

18th Apr 2010, 14:38

Specific DIY Solution for Vancouver BC 2004 Jetta Wagon, no sunroof.

Leaks when it's parked, occasionally when driving. Always on driver's side. Water flooding driver side, and flooding driver side rear passenger foot well. On close inspection the drip was coming from above the brake pedal, under the dash. When parked the vehicle is on a slope, facing up, left side a little higher than right.

First, thank you to all those who have taken the time to post details of their Jetta water issues. I used your lists, tips and insights to make a master list of my own, and then basically worked my way right through and fixed or checked everything.

Tools & Materials:

Shop Vac

Compressor and nozzle

Various screwdrivers and pliers

Paper towels

Cleaning solvents

2-3 tubes of Shoe Goo or some similar low viscosity sealer/rebuilding compound that can stick to everything.

Here's what I did:

Take off the windshield plenum (follow Haynes or other manual instructions). Cleaned out & shop-vac'd all the debris, dirt and organic material that had made it's way in there. We had a lot & it was partly blocking the wheel-well drain. Clean the windshield at the same time...

Using the compressor, blow out any visible remaining debris, blow out the wheel-well drains.

Inspect the area carefully and closely to determine if there are any areas where the water has been standing. The design flaw here appears to be that if you are on an upward slope, water will pool because the entire area is engineered to be surprisingly flat instead of angled steeply downward. So if the vehicle plane is no longer on the horizontal (even slightly facing up) it will inevitably pool, soak and seep through poorly sealed firewall orifices.

With solvent/soap & paper towels, carefully clean out this area - accumulated dust & debris might indicate where the water has been standing so make a note of it & seal where required (read following)

*** On the right side (Driver's left) you'll see the cover where the wiring passes into the passenger compartment above the relay panel. If you park on a slope the water will pool behind it & sit, likely not draining properly & eventually seeping through this area.

*** Seal it all around with a nice thick bead of Goo & work it in with your fingertip to make sure the seal is complete. It's tight and tricky to get to but be patient and do it right.

*** Also seal the screws and washers that hold it in place.

*** Immediately next to it is where the hood release comes out - it might be painted the same color as the car body. There is a soft rubber nipple that it comes out of and ours was cracked. Another post had mentioned that water found it's way in there so I carefully rebuilt the seal around that too.

*** There's another unused one on the other side for right-hand drive vehicles - seal that too.

*** Seal where the wiper arm mechanism contacts the body.

*** Seal all screw heads in this area.

*** On the passenger side, carefully remove the cover for the pollen filter, clean/replace the filter & re-install carefully, ensuring that the cover sits snugly all around.

*** Seal around the outside of the pollen filter but keep drains areas clear.

Carefully re-assemble the cleaned plenum, and ensure that the holding clips are securely in place & in the right spot - they also help to channel the water directly to the drains. Re-a.

Wait a day for the solvent to cure then:

*** Place a rubber mat, or some other non-absorbent surface beneath the dashboard on the driver's side. This is to see if there is any dripping. Make sure all the doors are closed because you are looking for any tell-tale drips!

Also make sure the vehicle is parked in the same spot as when the leak occurred - you want to be a bit scientific & methodical about this so all the details are important.

*** Get a garden hose & spray your dog who has been watching you all along. Then spray the windshield - give it a good soak, enough to float an Ark.

Inspect for leaks & feel around up inside the dash by the brake pedal & repeat at least one more time on a different day.

It seems to have stopped the leak, at least this leak. We are now running small space heaters and a de-humidifier nightly for a week to dry out the interior, and currently do not smell any mold.

Good luck to all of you who try this!

E.

Vancouver B.C.