skidpalace

So I have been hearing water sloshing from inside the cabin of my new to me 2013 GTS.
I am well aware of the sunroof drains, and the cowl drains and the HVAC drain through the firewall from the multitude of posts here and elsewhere.
I have poured water into all four corners of the sunroof tray and watched the water flow nicely to the four corners of the underbody and onto the driveway unobstructed. I have poured water into the cowls on both sides to watch it drain right out of the engine compartment. I have disconnected the HVAC drain under the passenger footwell and it was dry. Yet somehow, I am getting a significant amount of water sloshing when the car moves forward and back.
Today, when I checked the HVAC drain I noticed that my carpet was wet in the passenger footwell.
What other drains am I missing and how to I pinpoint this trapped water? I am going nuts.

I am thinking that the drains clogged on the previous owner and the water backed up into the cabin. They might have cleared the blockage and the moisture in the footwell is residual from the previous flood. But there is still significant water in the body somewhere. I cannot pinpoint the direction of the sound. It could be in the floor, the roof, the pillars, I have no idea.

skidpalace

Has anyone heard of water being trapped in the roof when the sunroof drains are clear?

Whitegalaxie

Did you actually remove the front wheel well liners and pull out the drain plugs or just pour water into the cowl? If it where me, I would remove the drain plugs front, rear and in rocker panels. Then poke a flexible rod in each hole to be sure the drains are clear. Once you are 100% sure they are clear and you still hear the water sloshing around you really need to remove the seats and carpet and all of the insulation and get it dried out asap. Once water penetrates the wiring harness's you will have all kinds of electrical problems that unless you are very handy with electrical work it will cost you a fortune to fix. Good luck and hopefully you can get it fixed very soon before all hell breaks lose.

jpru2001

My old 955 had undertray/heatshield drains in various places around the bottom outside of the car, and I once had a sloshing sound and pulled those plugs and a bunch of water came out and it fixed it. I have not had that issue on this 958, but I would imagine the 958s could have a similar situation since there are definitely undertray/heatshields all over the bottom of the cars.

skidpalace

Where are the drain plugs in the rocker panels in a 958.1? All I know about are the four drains that the sunroof and cowls feed.

jpru2001

googled for you and found an explanation cause I was curious:

When you look from under the car there’s a plastic panel that runs along beside the rocker panel. It’s held on by about a dozen torx screws. Remove that. Once off if you pull down the plastic rocker plastic cover a bit about half way down you’ll see a round plug on the metal inner rocker. Pull it out and be ready to get drenched! I drilled a quarter inch hole in the plug and out it back in. The water was clear so hopefully no rust damage in there. Here’s a shot of the plug.


That is from a post on this thread from several years ago. This is what the plug looked like on my 955 it just wasn't hidden on the old models and you could just reach under the car and pull it off.

skidpalace

Ah, OK. I started to unbolt that plastic trim piece under the rocker and it felt like it didn't want to come out. It had a bunch of clips that were seemingly from the other side that didn't make sense to me. I guess I will keep at it.

skidpalace

So I was able to tear into the leak issue and to cut a long story short, I have traced the leak to coming from above the headliner as the right front A-Pillar trim cover was wet all the way to the top.
The water was leaking down the A-Pillar trim into the kick panels and down into the footwell and into the voids in the body in the kick panel area and the rocker boxes, where the pooled water was sloshing.
That is all cleared now and the carpet padding is all dry. I have temporarily plugged the drain hole at the sunroof gutter (from the outside) with a squishy foam earplug.
I am researching how to drop the Alcantara headliner to fix the drain tube and it honestly doesn't seem like that bad of a job. I am wondering if anyone has been able to drop just the front or front corner without going through dropping the whole thing.
I might turn lemons into lemonade by possibly using the opportunity to install a factory roof rail system if I pull the entire headliner.
​​​​​​​Any thoughts?

s65e90

Water is coming in to the pillar from where the drain hose connects to the second hose. It slip fits into the hose. When lots of water runs through the drains, it backs up and can push out through the seam where the two hoses connect. Remove and use some silicone or the like where they join.

skidpalace

It leaked with a completely cleared drain line. I separated the elbow where it passes through the firewall and directed that into a funnel to collect water that I poured directly into the sunroof drain. Only about 75% of the 16oz of water made it into the funnel. The rest went somewhere else, and that is how I traced the leak up into the upper kick panel and then up into the A-pillar and so forth.
I'll probably buy a new upper hose just to have it on hand when I do pull the headliner.
I'd be willing to bet that some lazy-*** tech just blasted compressed air into the drain hole and blew the line partially off, or completely off and the hose is just lightly resting against the barb.
I guess I could shove my inspection camera up there and take a look without dropping the headliner.

s65e90

The hose from the sunroof attaches into a second hose at the base of the a-pillar before it goes under the dash. When alot of volume in the line, it will push out of this slip-fit area. I cleared mine completely and it still leaked until I removed/re-sealed those connections.

skidpalace

Ah, OK. Thanks for that. I am getting water all the way up the A-Pillar so I may as well pick up a new drain line from Porsche. They are only $35 so If I am going to go through the trouble of exposing and sealing these connections, I may as well do it with a new tube to reduce the chances of reoccurring. Of course, it may be a nightmare to snake the tube down through the A-Pillar and dash so I guess I gotta pick my poison.

s65e90

Yea, you're making this harder than it needs to be. Pop the a-pillar off, look at the left side lower corner where the upper hose is fit into the lower and just remove and apply some shoe-goo or the like (silicone, etc) and push it back together.

skidpalace

I totally get that but remember my leak is coming from the headliner. I have water all down the A-pillar, wet airbag, everything. The leak is somewhere north of the top of the A-Pillar. Assumption is connection of the drain tube to the Sunroof.
Last night it rained like hell. I thought I would be good with the right front sunroof drain hole plugged with my squishy earplug, but there was a bit of water yet again at the kick panel so I need to investigate further. Either my temporary plug wasn't watertight, or the water is coming in from elsewhere in the sunroof assy. Fortunately I left the carpet pulled up so no dry out required.

s65e90

Gotcha, then yea, may as well replace it in its entirety.