XC 90 Sunroof Drain - recurring problem

[RoyMacDonald]

I haven't seen it mentioned, but Volvo have had new improved elbows (sound traps) available as a spare part for a while now.

[shaker1956]

Evening all. New to this forum but just wanted to say a friggin big thank you to Art in Red Deer for the guidance in how to fix my problem. I checked all the drain hoses and all the ends were plugged. I cut about 1/8 of an in off the ends and they now drain the way they were meant to. Shame that such a gr8 vehicle has such a poor drainage system. Have to take it in for some anti skid work now. Probably caused by the four gallons of water on the floor!!!!!!!! At least the waters gone......Thanks again Art......

Dan

[chrand]

2004 XC90's leaky sunroof drains fixed easily (30 minutes tops, both sides) with the help of this forum.
http://forums.swedespeed.com/zerothread?id=102526
The elbows in my car were caked solid with a fine black soot blocking almost all passage.

This saved me about $200 at the Volvo dealer...and a few hours of my life.
Thanks to all of the contributors...and now for a nice bourbon.

Thank you for the link. It was perfect and fixed my problem in under 20 minutes!

[BikerJohn]

Here's another one for this post.

Pouring rain here; soaked passenger floor.

I took off the A-pillar cover and checked the hose. All is clear and draining well.

However, I have dripping water coming down from behind the glovebox.

Can anyone tell me where the water is suppose to drain out from the bottom of the car to the outside?

I am wondering if I have a block/plug between where the hose's elbow goes into the A-pillar's body panel and the exterior drain tube?

Anyone else with similar issue?

I still have warranty; should this issue be taken up with my dealer?

Thanks in advance.
John.

[kdls]

I have had this problem with my 2004 XC90 on more than one occasion. The first time, the dealer brought it to my attention during a routine rip-off, ah... I mean "service" call to "maintain the warranty". They wanted $1200 to remove the interior, seats carpet, etc. to dry it out! I saw fire and was sick about it! In the end they claimed that Volvo paid 1/3 and they, the dealer paid 1/3 of the cost and I would pay 1/3 which ended up to be $142.00 from me, (what happened to the $1200?). In my close scrutiny, the never removed a thing, real cheats they are! Then again being sensitive to this major design flaw, I myself heard the water sloshing around the roof, so I got online and found these very articles on how to check for clogged drain tubes, and guess what!? They were clear, not clogged with the BS they claim,. I paid over $50K for this piece of junk, bought it brand new and because of my numerous bad, very bad experiences, I will never own another Volvo as long as I live. I see other Volvo XC90’s driving down the street and I always think, what a fool to have paid so much for a substandard vehicle especially in this price range. Here's what had to be replaced on new XC90 from the day I bought it; gas tank after 200 miles! bi-xenon headlights, power-steering rack, gas tank door, tires after 20K miles, brakes after 25K miles, undercarriage cover to house the fuel lines and electrical harness, windshield wiper assemblies, main computer, (radio and back-up indicators went out including other stuff, (which included a $250 charge to re-download software!!!!!!!!!), various suspension bushings and arms, …and on and on, I can’t continue because I am getting stomach cramps just thinking of the nightmares and grief and EXPENSE this poorly engineered car has caused me. And for those of you who Just “love” this car, well, I will admit it does drive like a dream and is very quiet, but after you lay down your cell phone and a cup of coffee in it’s holder, I dare you to find any more storage space for even your sunglasses! NADA, no storage space! And how about that ridiculously placed center console arm rest, is that WAY out of place or not. This car is not recommended. Stay away, far away!

[RoyMacDonald]

I have had this problem with my 2004 XC90 on more than one occasion. The first time, the dealer brought it to my attention during a routine rip-off, ah... I mean "service" call to "maintain the warranty". They wanted $1200 to remove the interior, seats carpet, etc. to dry it out! I saw fire and was sick about it! In the end they claimed that Volvo paid 1/3 and they, the dealer paid 1/3 of the cost and I would pay 1/3 which ended up to be $142.00 from me, (what happened to the $1200?). In my close scrutiny, the never removed a thing, real cheats they are! Then again being sensitive to this major design flaw, I myself heard the water sloshing around the roof, so I got online and found these very articles on how to check for clogged drain tubes, and guess what!? They were clear, not clogged with the BS they claim,. I paid over $50K for this piece of junk, bought it brand new and because of my numerous bad, very bad experiences, I will never own another Volvo as long as I live. I see other Volvo XC90’s driving down the street and I always think, what a fool to have paid so much for a substandard vehicle especially in this price range. Here's what had to be replaced on new XC90 from the day I bought it; gas tank after 200 miles! bi-xenon headlights, power-steering rack, gas tank door, tires after 20K miles, brakes after 25K miles, undercarriage cover to house the fuel lines and electrical harness, windshield wiper assemblies, main computer, (radio and back-up indicators went out including other stuff, (which included a $250 charge to re-download software!!!!!!!!!), various suspension bushings and arms, …and on and on, I can’t continue because I am getting stomach cramps just thinking of the nightmares and grief and EXPENSE this poorly engineered car has caused me. And for those of you who Just “love” this car, well, I will admit it does drive like a dream and is very quiet, but after you lay down your cell phone and a cup of coffee in it’s holder, I dare you to find any more storage space for even your sunglasses! NADA, no storage space! And how about that ridiculously placed center console arm rest, is that WAY out of place or not. This car is not recommended. Stay away, far away!

These are problems you've had over 6 years of ownership? Sounds like you don't have a good dealer. Unfortunatly all too common all over the world it seems, and common to all makes of car.

The original tyres supplied don't wear very well it's true but 20k is good for them from my experience. I use Vredstien Wintrac 4 Extremes now which have a life of about 60,000 miles.

I've been fortunate with my 2003 XC90 and I use a Volvo specialist rather than a main dealer so I've had no unexpected problems in 8 years. Mines been the best car I've ever owned.

The center console arm rest is movable by the way if you don't like it. I do personally.

[gshadow325]

I have had this problem with my 2004 XC90......blah blah blah

Not going to quote the whole rant

What dealer you go to?

From your sig you are about 10-15 miles from me. Instead of bitching about the stealership, you might want to share your experiences in a seperate thread in a dealer review. this way we know what dealer to avoid.

[shiftyfive]

Hi folks, Just wanted to share my solution to my water leak! Sorry in advance for the wordy post.

It all started when my Heater Fan stopped working. I narrowed it down to a faulty blower resistor (also called fan control module). There is a tiny little plastic cover you can pop off the module with a tiny flat screwdriver. The module was full of green corrosion from water intrusion. I also decided to change the cabin filter and the bottom 3 inches was soaked!

I searched the forums here and found all the info regarding sunroof leaks and sure enough I had all the classic signs (soaked carpet). I lifted up the carpet and vacuumed out about 2 litres (2 quarts) of water. So today I pulled both front seats out and removed both front carpets. In checking the sunroof drains, everything was clear so I removed the + end of the elbows anyways and carried on in my quest. I put the seats back in and went to the touchless car wash. I purposely left the right side A pillar cover so I could make sure no water was leaking from where the hose attached to the elbow.
Sure enough when I was going through the car wash when the high pressure sprayers hit the top of windshield/sunroof area water started pouring in the right side floor coming down from the firewall area. This was real easy to see as the carpets were out!

Perplexed I headed home and developed my next plan of action. first I took a sports bottle and squirted water directly into the elbow to make sure I didn't have a funky backup there. Everything was A-OK and all the water was exiting from the Pass side front mudflap area as it should. as well no water was entering the vehicle. I then checked the wiper pan area below the windshield to make sure the drain was clear; no problem there! So I grabbed an old windshield washer jug and filled it with water. I poured down the right (pass) side of the windshield and voila about a quart of water comes in the car. upon inspection I found out that water flows to the right of the plastic valance and into the wiper tray right into the air intake for the heater/AC system. So here's two solutions:

note: All documentation is referenced as if you were sitting in the driver's seat i.e right side is the passenger side, front towards the grille, left side is the driver's side (in North America that's the right and correct side of the road! LOL

Solution 1: get a tube of caulk and poop it up around the right side of the valance. there's a lot of gaps and this will look really gross trying to build it up, but if you're lazy and cheap, this is the way to go!

Solution 2: takes a little longer but is still super cheap. This is the way I went. So here goes:

1/Lift the hood and pull back the rubber seal that runs along the top of the black plastic wiper valance and seals against the hood, pull it back about 2/3 of the way across towards the drivers side.

2/ pop the far right black plastic clip using a medium sided flat screwdriver and remove. Using an awl or a pin punch pop in the plastic centers for the next 2 plastic clips and remove the clips. then remove the large stainless U shaped clip on the far right side. Now you should have enough play in the valance to lift it up. If you're nervous about breaking the plastic (older models may be more brittle esp. in cold weather), you can remove the wiper arms and take out the rest of the clips and remove the valance completely.


3/ Now you can see the air intake down into the blower motor. The water comes in about 2-3" from the right (pass.) side of the body so we need to protect the pass. side of the air intake from this water.


4/ looking down into the air intake you can see 3 plastic tabs at the rear, right, and left side of inside of the plastic bezel. pull up gently on the intake and pop the tabs with a med size flat screwdriver. NOTE WHICH SIDE IS THE PASSENGER SIDE! You should be able to completely remove the bezel and take it to a work area where you can sit down with your favourite libation!

5/ get an old rectangular windshield washer jug (the taller the better). A jug with a square footprint wont work it has to be able to fit in the wiper plan when fully assembled. trace the inside of the top of your bezel with the right side facing the bottom of your jug. (i did it backwards the first time so my pics are backwards here but you get the idea!


6/ cut off the fill end of the jug and your traced out section. Slide the air intake bezel into the jug with the open end toward the left (driver's) side of the car. drill two pilot holes and attach with a couple of small screws to the TOP of the bezel. try and angle the bottom of the jug toward the bottom of the bezel which is natural with gravity. Once again my pictures are backward!



7/ Finish your drink, and take your completed unit and gently squeeze it back into position into place. It should pop in no problem if you have it pointing in the right direction. This picture is the finished product in place. Note how i tried to keep the right (pass.) side down so the water runs away from the air intake.


8/ Push the valance back into place careful to slide the clips that go under the windshield into place. You can now get someone to pour some water down the right side of the windshield and if you gently peek under the front of the valance you'll see water dripping off of your happy cheesy washer jug into the wiper pan and down the drain onto the ground where it belongs!

9/If everything worked out as you planned, put everything back together and pat yourself on the back. Have another libation and gloat over how much money you saved doing it yourself!

I hope this helps somebody...anybody. my fingers ache from typing this much, I'm having a drink!

Cheers!

[gshadow325]

Hi folks, Just wanted to share my solution to my water leak! Sorry in advance for the wordy post.
Cheers!

nice, but i want to know if the valance that covers that air intake is broken on the bottom. it should have a groove for the windshield to slide into.

[shiftyfive]

nice, but i want to know if the valance that covers that air intake is broken on the bottom. it should have a groove for the windshield to slide into.

Nope, All pieces appear to be in place, unbroken and original. Windshield is definitely OE. I suppose there could be a piece missing, but without seeing parts catalogue or comparing to another xc90, i can't be sure.

Let me be clear here, water was not leaking between the windshield and the valance, water was leaking down the channel to the side of the windshield and going between the valance and the body!