2010 Touareg - Water leaking into trunk (right rear)

SwissInTexas · May 5, 2022

I noticed that my Touareg is leaking water from the D-pillar area into the trunk while washing it so I decided to remove the black plastic cover around the hinge and clean out the drain which was clogged with dirt. I hoped that would solve the issue and did a test by laying the running hose onto the rear of the roof which resulted in a steady stream of water entering the interior through the roof. The majority of water came in where the red arrow is pointing to in the second image.
Any ideas? I doubt it's the sunroof drain as the hose and the water was nowhere near the sunroof during the test.

SwissInTexas · May 5, 2022

I just did some thinking and wonder if it could be a leak in the access panel for the hatch struts. That would be a pain in the a$$ to access but a good time to replace the struts while in there.

qurtuba · May 6, 2022

Well if you have the headliner down, might as well replace those nicely hidden struts. Personally I think the person who came up with that brilliant idea should be sentenced to a lifetime of replacing every last one of them on T1s and T2s.

Touareg V10 2004 · May 10, 2022

I would say you will need to reseal the black plastic access cover just in behind your red arrow.
If your struts are still fine and you are after a quick fix I have had success before using spray can contact adhesive and spraying it in there. I changed the spray can head to one you could stick a little tube into so you have control of where the spray goes. Don't spray it everywhere or on the struts. Bassically just fill up in the area so it fills the leak. Worked well for me and the sray-contact adhesive does not set solid so you can still remove the access panel in the future. You will already have enough access for this. So no more dissasembly required.
If the adhesive is dripping out through the leak use some tape to cover where it is coming out.
Make sure it is clean and as dry as possible before this. I uses a air compressor to blow it out first.
This worked for me an hasn't leaked again in over a year. I would say it will depend on how bigger leak you have to whether this is an option for you.

SwissInTexas · May 11, 2022

Touareg V10 2004 said:
I would say you will need to reseal the black plastic access cover just in behind your red arrow.
If your struts are still fine and you are after a quick fix I have had success before using spray can contact adhesive and spraying it in there. I changed the spray can head to one you could stick a little tube into so you have control of where the spray goes. Don't spray it everywhere or on the struts. Bassically just fill up in the area so it fills the leak. Worked well for me and the sray-contact adhesive does not set solid so you can still remove the access panel in the future. You will already have enough access for this. So no more dissasembly required.
If the adhesive is dripping out through the leak use some tape to cover where it is coming out.
Make sure it is clean and as dry as possible before this. I uses a air compressor to blow it out first.
This worked for me an hasn't leaked again in over a year. I would say it will depend on how bigger leak you have to whether this is an option for you.

Thanks for the tip! I'd use that if I didn't already order the hatch struts and glass hatch struts. I'll install them for peace of mind and I'll put some gutter silicone sealant on the access covers. I'll tackle the job over the long holiday weekend (Memorial Day in the US) at the end of this month. I'll keep everyone posted.

Spiegelglatt · May 12, 2022

Reseal the black plastic strut access covers (have to drop headliner and battle these stupid plastic rivet things to remove) I used black silicone for this but put the silicone on the black plastic but before pushing back into place as from above wasn’t successful with the products I could find.

Something else to add to this gen when you have this down is to inspect the rear sunroof drains and perhaps tape (with EternaBond tape) the junction of the sunroof line to line nipple (this tends to deform from round to oval and leak between the pipe end and the pipe itself where the glue fails).

@ qurtuba I couldn’t agree more on this.Ha ha!

2010 Touareg - Water leaking into trunk (right rear)

SwissInTexas

SwissInTexas

qurtuba

Touareg V10 2004

SwissInTexas

Spiegelglatt

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