Leak at control panel

[Irishladdie]

Hi,
Got in the cali today and noticed water dripping water from the seal by the control panel lights. It was raining heavily last night. I raised the roof and there are no obviously signs of leaks. I’ve searched on the forum, but no one else seems to have encountered this. From other roof leak discussions, there was mention that perhaps the ducts in the A pillars may be a cause resulting in water build up somewhere. Is that possible in this case?. I rang VW commercial edinburgh and the guy there claimed he’d never heard of this before. Any thoughts or advise? How would I go about clearing the A pillar ducts to close out that option?
Cheers ian

 

[Hotel California]

Check the roof seal (all arround ) and the roof drains front and back .
If you are parked nose lower than rear water might search it way when it gets in.
Had you been camping (roof up) that day or the day before in the rain ?

 

[TripleBee]

What age is your California?
Do you have an areal in the middle of your front spoiler?
Did you have the roof repair with the replacement cap over the front spoiler?
We need more info.

 

[westfalia]

Once you have found the drain holes they are
quite easy to clear, i use a big syringe with a tube
on the end and force a bit of air through.

I wouldn't think the blocked drain problem would send
the water in through the control panel though, it normally gets
wet above the A pillar/roof lining when they are blocked.

 

[Irishladdie]

What age is your California?
Do you have an areal in the middle of your front spoiler?
Did you have the roof repair with the replacement cap over the front spoiler?
We need more info.

Thanks for response. It’s 2014, no roof repair or issues to date. No damage or areal. Will add some photos in the morning. Cheers ian

 

[Irishladdie]

Once you have found the drain holes they are
quite easy to clear, i use a big syringe with a tube
on the end and force a bit of air through.

I wouldn't think the blocked drain problem would send
the water in through the control panel though, it normally gets
wet above the A pillar/roof lining when they are blocked.

Thanks for the advise, ill have a look for the drains and try your suggestion. . Yeah, wasn’t sure if it would cause that, but haven’t a clue where the water could be coming from.

 

[Mickyb123]

Had the sane thing, clearing the fwd drain holes Worked.

 

[Irishladdie]

Had the sane thing, clearing the fwd drain holes Worked.

Thanks. Could you advise how you did it? Similar to previous suggestions?

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Years ago I opened the roof blind and a bucketful of water landed on my head. I couldn’t work out where it came from. I cleared the rear drains. My van is often left for long periods and I always park nose higher than the rear. I didn’t know there were front drain holes. Never seen them.

 

[Irishladdie]

Found hotel California’s post on clearing the drains. Will try that once the rain stops. Have parked up hill in the interim

 

[Mickyb123]

I took it to my local dealer he used a flexible prodder (tie wrap) and then high pressure pipe.
Problem you can have shoving things down the hole, eg wire, is you can dislodge the pipe from the fitting which will make things worse, so take care.

 

[J & S Saldanha]

I took it to my local dealer he used a flexible prodder (tie wrap) and then high pressure pipe.
Problem you can have shoving things down the hole, eg wire, is you can dislodge the pipe from the fitting which will make things worse, so take care.

How can you tell if the pipe has been dislodged? Would that mean that no water goes down it at all from the top?
We've had a persistant leak around the A pillar for most of this year and thought we'd cleared the drain holes, but I'm wondering if we have dislodged the pipes somehow instead. It seems to drain down when we test it with water, but are still getting the leaks....

 

[Mickyb123]

I don’t know the answer to that one, am sure there are folk on here that do

 

[WelshGas]

How can you tell if the pipe has been dislodged? Would that mean that no water goes down it at all from the top?
We've had a persistant leak around the A pillar for most of this year and thought we'd cleared the drain holes, but I'm wondering if we have dislodged the pipes somehow instead. It seems to drain down when we test it with water, but are still getting the leaks....

You'll have to remove the A pillar trim to look.

 

[J & S Saldanha]

You'll have to remove the A pillar trim to look.

Yikes! I was afraid that might be the case - thank you @WelshGas

 

[jts46]

You also have to remove cabin inner roof trim also A pillar trim and B pillar trim, I know from experience

 

[francotravels]

Just had the same problem on a 14 plate Cali. Dripping through the same area after a night of heavy rain front end parked facing down. Did clearing the drainage holes work?