How the heck did all this water get in my car?!

[bpu699]

Big storm last night. My 930 is parked on an incline, front end down... I open the door and their is a 1/4 inch of water across the whole floor pan... Eek... Sunroof panel vinyl is ungluing on the back...

Sunroof seals new. Window seals new. Car has been parked on a flat surface in the rain with absolutely no issues...

Are Porsche 911 not designed to be waterproof parked on a slope?

Best guess, water bypassed the sunroof seal and rather than going backwards, went forwards...

Can that happen? Is there a forward drain somewhere I should check?

Puzzled...

[Sebscst]

My guess rear vents above the rear window.

[bpu699]

Can that really happen?!

[ossiblue]

Don't know the year of your car, but 911s up through the early eighties, at least, had forward drains that ran through the A pillars. If yours are plugged, that could account for the interior water and damage to the sunroof liner.

And yes, water in the rear vents can happen. Check to see if the rear floor is also wet as water would flow through there to reach the front. Also, unzip the rear headliner to see if it's wet in the vent area.

[Rawknees'Turbo]

Originally Posted by bpu699

Can that really happen?!

Yes. When new, those vents had dense foam in them, which crumbles and falls out with age. Without the foam, it is a straight shot into the interior above the headliner.

The drains that L.J. is referring to can be checked, and cleared out, with weedeater line. I recently did that and pushed a large clump of insect and plant matter out of one of mine. Whoops, I was thinking about the rearward drains - did not know about the forward drains - need to check if my car has them (1987).

[bpu699]

Rear was dry, best I can tell... Rear drains I believe are clear, but will recheck...

This was a lot of water...

May need to spray with a hose ... But I did that when the sunroof was replaced and it was fine...

Sigh... It's always something...

Never knew my Porsche wasn't waterproof on an incline...

[FrenchToast]

You should pull out the carpet to let the floor properly dry. Otherwise it could start to rust, mold, etc.

[bpu699]

Originally Posted by FrenchToast

You should pull out the carpet to let the floor properly dry. Otherwise it could start to rust, mold, etc.

Did that, dried it all out, no damage as far as I know...

Threw a car cover over it, in case it rains again...

This car is never parked outside, so this was a treat...

Oh well... As my wife posted out, this car is a "driver." I am getting more use out of this car than most of the other I have owned... Driving 930 is a ton of fun.

I was going to paint it, but have reconsidered. The moment you make a car too beautiful, you cease to enjoy it on a routine basis...

[trond]

Be aware if water gets to under the sound pad over the rear seats it will never disappear by itself. I had my car at the painters. It was sitting inside in a humidity controlled building for two months or so. When I pulled the soundpad to check it was oversaturated with water. I belive the water entered through the ventilation above rear window when it was parked outside in my driveway with engine out and jacked up

[matthewb0051]

You can use a bag of charcoal to take out any damp/sour smell. Just open it and put it in a container and then leave it in there for a week or so. It won't get ride of the water though.

Just don't use Match Light...

[DRACO A5OG]

My leak came from the windshield wiper spray nozzles, the seal around the nozzles gave out and let water into the frunk down the foot blowers and onto my wife's feet

So I took measure to find all leaks.

In the garage closed the door, I put a shop light in the frunk and looked up the dash to discover 4-6 lights peaking through, used weather strip adhesive and sealed them up. Of course I sealed the nozzles where it met the body.

Then I went nuts and put the shop light under the car and found 4 more holes, I promptly sealed those too.

let dry over night then I soaked the car, nice and dry

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Sebscst

My guess rear vents above the rear window.

My thoughts too.

[Quicksilver]

The sunroof seals are not a water tight seal. They just limit how much water can get in. The water that does get in is dealt with by the roof drains. You need to check those to be sure that they flow freely without draining into the car. Also the seal around the windshield can leak but that is more of an issue when you are driving.

The rear vents could be an issue if it was really steep or the wind was driving really hard from the rear. I would still think the front drains should handle it.

BTW - Don't use compressed air to clear the roof drains. Inside the pillars they are just plastic tubing hooked to the steel drain tubing. If you blow one off how are you going to fix it?

[Jdub]

Weed whacker line in .065 or less clears these drain lines pretty nicely. I used this for years with the Mercedes Webasto sunroofs to good effect.

[KTL]

Yep i'd check the sunroof drain tubes to see if they're compromised somewhere. The forward tubes are connected from the drain holes sunroof frame/cartridge to a metal tube that runs down thru the windshield pillar and dumps the water into the fender area. See this post I shared last year from my dismantled piece of crap racecar Water pools at inside corner of windshield

What you don't see in those pictures is a rubber tube that joins the drain hole in the sunroof frame to the metal tube in the pillar. If that hose is plugged or not a tight fit, the water can bypass the drain tube.

[bpu699]

Originally Posted by KTL

Yep i'd check the sunroof drain tubes to see if they're compromised somewhere. The forward tubes are connected from the drain holes sunroof frame/cartridge to a metal tube that runs down thru the windshield pillar and dumps the water into the fender area. See this post I shared last year from my dismantled piece of crap racecar Water pools at inside corner of windshield

What you don't see in those pictures is a rubber tube that joins the drain hole in the sunroof frame to the metal tube in the pillar. If that hose is plugged or not a tight fit, the water can bypass the drain tube.

Thanks, will check this weekend...

[wayner]

Another data point with lots of bare interior water path shots:

Why windshield trim should be a regular maintenance item.

[sugarwood]

Stained or damaged headliner can be a clue that sunroof drains are clogged.
You will only notice after driving in the rain.

[sugarwood]

Bravo for keeping your patina and parking it outside.

Is there a write up on how to clear drain holes in the Bentley?

[Rawknees'Turbo]

^^^

Wood, all you have to do is feed weedeater line through the tubes - starting at their point of origin (the sunroof water channels). After you've made a pass with the line, you can run some water down them to test (a weed sprayer works well - doesn't make much of a mess that way). When I did this a while ago, one of them had a large slug of insect and plant material in it and took some effort to force the weedeater line through it.