Hi all

I’ve searched on here, on Google & in the workshop manual and can’t obviously find anything definitive.

I want to check the sunroof drains on the car I’ve recently bought as the equipment in the boot was wet. Most of the interior & the headliner is out, wheel arch liners & sill covers etc. had no problem locating 3 of the sunroof drains where the water comes out at the other end, but I can’t find the offside rear. The nearside comes out into the wheel arch as I’ve seen in many posts but the offside just plainly isn’t there.

Does anyone have experience of a rear drain exiting anywhere else please? I’ve looked around the location but can’t see any trace of it and have so far not been able to get water to come out to give me a clue where it’s draining.

The wheel arch has had weld repair previously so it has crossed my mind that whoever did the welding possibly failed to leave a hole for the drain tube to seat into, but before I go drilling holes inside the wheel arch I thought I’d double check if anyone had any other ideas.

I will try again tomorrow to get water to come out of it, I may disconnect the tube from the sunroof frame and see if I have something I can use to make sure water goes directly down the tube. There’s also a large plastic cover in the vicinity which I’ll remove just in case. I’ll also park it on a slope so the water will definitely run to the back, the front drains seem to do most of the work how I have it parked now. '95 VW Corrado VR6
'97 VW Golf VR6
'16 VW Golf R Estate
'23 Porsche Taycan GTS

Just bought '06 Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged

I used some of the cable from a net curtain, flexible and strong to poke all the old debris down the drains

It would be really annoying if the PO has welded over the drainage hole without realising

Aha thanks for copying that diagram. I’ve removed several grommets & fixings down the pillar & stuck a small camera into the holes on both sides and had worked out the drain must go right down by the door shut because there’s a distinct lack of pipe visible through those holes on either side!

The rear offside is definitely blocked. I’ve taken all the pipes off the sunroof frame & can blow through all except that one. So no way of finding where it comes out with water. I’ve got some Bowden cable which is similar but I can’t get it much more than a few cm inside the pipe, presumably to where it goes down the pillar & am reluctant to push it too hard. I’ll try and persevere again but all the signs point to the pipe being in its correct location but stuck behind the repair work. I just really hope no one decided to seal it up not knowing what it was there for

I guess in theory if the bottom end isn’t seated into anything, I could unseat the pipe inside the car where it goes inside the pillar and should be able to pull it and possibly hear something knocking about to get an idea of where it might be. I’d need to be brave to do that as I’d be terrified the pipe would fall off the other end and give me one of those ohh s*** moments.

Or just drill holes in the wheel arch until I find it. I guess I could make them the right size to fit a grommet in afterwards but not ideal as those will eventually rust around the edges. I think that’ll be the last resort if I really can’t get some cable down the drain tube. '95 VW Corrado VR6
'97 VW Golf VR6
'16 VW Golf R Estate
'23 Porsche Taycan GTS

Just bought '06 Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged

Where the arrow is pointing in the diagram is typically where it rots and rust/corrosion takes hold, and the longer the water is blocked in the drain, eventually the sill will need replacing ( and the jacking point ) , and MOT fail due to the rear passenger belt anchor point being compromised, really poor design on the part of Land Rover / BMW back in 2001

Yes so it looks like it’s had the outer arch skin replaced, but the sill will need a repair too and I’ve seen those repair panels on his website so I’ll have a look at them when I’ve solved the drain location & water ingress issues!

I tried some electrical cable earlier & got that all the way in, the amount that went down seemed to be enough to take me to roughly where I’d expect the other end to come out but it wouldn’t go any further. Wiggled it around etc but nothing.

I found on the microcat that the pipes look like one piece so I’ve unseated it inside the car but that didn’t really help me, I tried pulling on the pipe but it won’t move, so it’s either seated in somewhere or just stuck.

I’ve had another look around the suspension reservoir that’s mounted on that sill. I’d had a good look before and couldn’t see anything but today I think I’ve seen something that possibly could be the drain. It looks very squashed & caked whatever it is, can only see a tiny part of it. So I’ll try dropping that down next & keep everything crossed that’s where it comes out.

Also need to adjust the sunroof lid as it sits below the roofline so that’s on the to do list, as I have water pouring in at the rear nearside corner of the sunroof frame (the drain pipe & joint is dry the water seems to be coming in around where the white bracket joins to the frame) during a hose spray test. The drain works fine so either so much water is getting in the drain can’t cope, or there’s something else wrong in that section and I’ll drop the sunroof frame to get a good look at it. '95 VW Corrado VR6
'97 VW Golf VR6
'16 VW Golf R Estate
'23 Porsche Taycan GTS

Just bought '06 Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged

Hoping I’ll be able to drop the reservoir enough without disconnecting the air line, to get a better look at the recess & maybe get something in to clear the drain if that’s what I saw '95 VW Corrado VR6
'97 VW Golf VR6
'16 VW Golf R Estate
'23 Porsche Taycan GTS

Just bought '06 Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged

Remove the rear arch liner and you should be able to see the drain pipe sticking out of the body. See https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic50758.html

I’ve done that on both sides. It’s clear to see on the passenger side but there’s definitely nothing there on the driver side. I’ve poked about to make sure it’s not just been undersealed over or anything & it’s all solid metal around that area.

I thought it was only the front drain that could be sandwiched by the reservoir but I’m going to have a look anyway just in case, and before I get the drill out '95 VW Corrado VR6
'97 VW Golf VR6
'16 VW Golf R Estate
'23 Porsche Taycan GTS

Just bought '06 Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged

Found it! It’s in the wheel arch, and it was behind the weld repair. So whoever did the repair seemed to think it was fine for the drain to just be sitting inside the wheel arch

Jammed a big screwdriver in around the area I thought the drain should be. Managed to just make a gap between the new & original metal and water immediately started coming out. Got the right place first time! Have now made the hole bigger & the drain is free again. Ironically it’s the only drain pipe that runs clear. I can’t get water to flow freely through the other 3. Can get cable most of the way down or up them but no good. Waiting on some bits to come from Amazon, ordered 3 different things to try including curtain wire. One of them surely has to do it.

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