gushing water leak

[oldbones]

after 8 days of rain in New York, i am driving on the highway and i stopped suddenly to avoid a car. i hear rushing water in the car...i thought my daughter spilled her drink...then suddenly i feel the water on my feet. water gushed under the dashboard of the car unto the floor. the front passenger side was soaked. i have had my 2004 xc90 since late 2003 and never had this happen before....anyone have any ideas as to what could be wrong??

[BillAileo]

Are you talking about water from outside the car, or a water & antifreeze mixture, or windshield washer water?

Bill

[oldbones]

it seems to be water from outside the car. what are your thoughts??

[BillAileo]

I don't have an XC90 and this is just a guess: assuming your interior air control was not on recirculation, perhaps a large amount of water went over the hood into the area where the wipers come to rest and there was more water than the built-in side drains could handle and the water got high enough in that recess area (assuming the 90 is so set up) to enter the air intake for the ventilation system, sending it into the interior....

Bill

[XC70Geo]

On the XC70 the air conditioner's water drain was unplugged and soaked the interior. (wet carpet, foggy windshield)

[oldbones]

UPDATE :mad:

just dropped off the car at volvo service dept. they said about 15 cars came in with the same problem. apparently, it is the deterioration of the sunroof drain hoses....it is draining the water in the car. it will take about 2-3 days to dry and repair.

this car is my first volvo...i expected more from volvo. i realize the xc90 is a new model...however, sunroof hoses are not rocket science!!!!

[Big]

Interesting. I didn't even know the sun (moon?) roof had drains. I guess they are there for when the seals leak or when the roof is left open. An internet search shows that leaks from the sunroof are mentioned in premium cars of many makes. I wonder what specifically failed in your XC90? And why that much water is even getting to the drains in the first place?

[BillAileo]

I looked up the XC90 sun roof on VADIS and there are drain hoses in both the "A" (windshield post) and "C" (behind the panel where the rear seat belt retracts) pillars. From the description of water coming from the dashboard area, perhaps the problem was with the "A" pillar hose routing or connections...

Bill

[Big]

I looked at the front of the sunroof this morning (can't see the rear under the roof) and there are indeed 2 small holes about 1/8" diameter. Looks like they would be very easy to block with debris so I will check them once a year.

I squirted water down the holes and it came out in back of the front wheel wells. So, I guess if the hose is blocked then water would leak from the roof, but if the hose is leaking farther down it might collect within the body and then leak into the passenger area.

If this happened to me I'd be sure to get the sunroof fixed, too, because water should not be getting around the seals to the drain.

[m1964]

I have 1995 Volvo 850 w/ sunroof, never had a problem w/ drains. The lining is coming off, but no drain blockage. I do not use sunroof often either.
We also recently got XC90, I don't think Volvo would change the sunroof design ftom its sedan's line. The quality of materials/ assembly is the whole other story.

[Dr Fonta]

I had an 88 BMW that the sunroof drains got clogged up in. I stripped some Coaxial cable and used the inside part (the white insulated part) to clean out the debris. I think the drains should be checked periodically. In the BMW, the previous owner hadn't done anything about it, and over time there was rust that accumulated and got in the drains which made cleaning it out very difficult. The water would wind up in the back seat floor board, and would smell awful!

[oldbones]

according to the service dept, the issue is not the blockage of the drains but the quality of the material used. he indicated that after so much water (8 days of heavy rain) the drain hoses 'collapsed'. he said that volvo sent out a bulletin detailing the problem.