ITGUY

Avant roof-rack attachments aren't sealed well. Not uncommon to see water/rust stains in the headliner near those anchor points...as can easily be seen in our 2K A6 Avant.

johnkk

Poor connecitons consist of an adapter between the hose and the sunroof drain nipple. These adapters separate from the hose and leak. I used some RTV to seal it and added a hose clamp for belt and suspenders.

Floydo

Poor quality is apparently not what won this lawsuit...cleaning sunroof drains was not in the maintentance schedule....There is something ironic about what lawyers do to earn a living and the motivation of car companies....
Bet other companies don't have sunroof drain cleaning in their manual...Oh yea, my second 5000 the timing belt was not listed as a maintenance item in the manual, but did fail at 120K hmmmmmmm. (Only an easy fix valve job required). Did the laywers miss an opportunity or, was I just ignorant?
Another day in paradise
Cheers

CrodA6

I got my letter this month...my car is a 99' jeeeesh. outta the factory there is a seroius flaw in the desighn somwhere. but its fixable.

SeeksAR

Floydo:
Not so.
Got a letter from Mercedes Benz this past year for the same thing on MY2003 S-Class.
Water ingress at sunroof and cabin air plenum from clogged reed valves drains. The "reed valve" is just a drain nipple with a rubber flapper on the end to allow water to drizzle out, but not to splash in.
Suggested action fr MB: clear out air plenum and sunroof drain holes of leaves and debris, unclog reed vavles. Includes reimbursement for carpet/interior trim repair.

It must be a German thing. I recall my mother-in-law's 87 BMW 325 had same issue. Soaked passenger footwell after heavy rain or carwash. Problem: clogged reed valve drain in passenger air plenum. Accessible in engine compartment on the firewall, below the windshield on passenger side.

SpeedCrazie

Had to have my bluetooth unit replaced cause of a unknown water leak. How do I have to go about getting in on the lawsuit to have them pay me back?

charles 200TQ

Having had issues with leaks that water-logged my TCU, and leaking pillars, I think I can speak up here. At the time, I couldn't help but be amazed at the terribly stupid design of the "water-drain" system. However, I have absolutely no desire to demand any compensation from Audi.

Several reasons:

Everyone that asks me "How do you like your Audi" pretty much gets a car-dealer ear full from me about what a bitchin' vehicle it is. Of course I know it's not perfect but I still pretend it is. So I have a problem being an unpaid advertiser and loyal fan of this company, and then turning around and accusing them of poor design. When I compare the rest of the car's design to the stupid drainage systems, I think they already more than compensate. Their main engineering feats are to focus on the car's performance. Nobody walked into the C5 design meeting one day and said "Okay guys, let's really put our heads together on this one... We need an excess water drainage system that is flawless and puts all our competition to shame".

Second of all, I am a firm believer that every owner should know their car very well. For whatever reason, when I first got this car I was not doing near the research that I should have on this forum. If I had, I might have known that these leaks could be future issues, and I should have investigated and taken care of them.

Most everyone on here is aware of the leak issues. We can say all we want "how were we supposed to know?" But the truth is, the information is out there, among other sites besides this forum, I am sure. Since the information is available, it is up to the owner to utilize this information and make drain-checks part of their regular maintenance schedule.

Similarly, you don't know when a tire is going to go blow out. Does Audi have to tell everyone "check your tires regularly for bald spots, bubbles, etc."? No. It is common knowledge, just as the leaks are basically common knowledge among VW and Audi owners at this point.

jdelbigs

Hey johnkk, I just notice a water stain on my headliner in the right rear. How did you check/reinstall the clamp? Mine is still CPO, do you think I should go to Audi, or what tips can you share?

SloopJohnB@mac.com

LOL--reed valves. I just changed plugs in my M3 and part of the process was removal of the the plenum that contains the charcoal air filter...on E46 M3 it's smack dab in the middle of the engine compartment right below the windshield. Anyway, on the M3 there are TWO drains, each about an inch in diameter, look like little elbows facing down and back toward the firewall. And these elbows have a flap on them that essentially serves as a reed valve/one-way valve to allow stuff to drain onto the back of the engine but no engine compartment fumes, etc. to back up into the plenum.

Part of the problem with the audi reed valves seems to be they are not large enough to get the crap out as well as the water, I don't think that's unusual given the space to work with and the size of the tubes from the sunroof.

johnkk

It is likely that the connector to your sunroof drain has cracked and is leaking. You can seal up the crack with RTV and put a tiny hose clamp to secure it.

search this forum on my name johnkk and find a 4-10-2009 thread on sunroof drains. It has my write up and some pics from others.

Technically you are supposed to drop the headliner, but I was able to partially lower the headliner on the passenger side without taking everything out. You do have to remove the C/D pillar trim and loosen the B pillar trim at the top. Go to the tech resources section and find the headliner article by Boston Driver. While you don't have to drop the headliner, he gives good detailed instructions on the C/C pillar removal.

Be very careful when you pull down the headliner a couple of inches to to access the drain connection. The headliner can crease easily, but I had no problems.

Resolve carpet cleaner did a good job of cleaning up the stains on the trim.