Water pouring from behind rear view mirror.
i think it’s held in a small pocket/reservoir cos once it’s emptied it would take a little while to fill and ready to leak once full. But can’t figure where it’s coming from sunroof??? Neither can Volvo themselves as they had it a number of times already. Even shown them video of it pouring down. Had this problem a year now.
Any ideas????
george

 

gotta be one of three things 1) sunroof seal 2) clogged roof channel drains 3) windshield seals. What year is the car? With that much water, I'd think the shop would be able to spray the car with hose and produce the leak. If it happens right away, I'd suspect 1 or 3, if it takes a few minutes then I'd suspect #2 (theory being it needs time for the drains to back up)

 

Hi
volvo tried numerous times to replicate obvious problem caught on video but failed.
it doesn’t happen every time or straight away.
when it does it generally finishes after I make two or three turnings as I drive. Once it’s emptied it’s another wait.

 

Welcome to VF H8ngy

Moved to XC90 section


.

 

I have the same problem with my 2017 Inscription. Sadly, I did not return it to the dealer prior to my warranty expiring, and no love from the dealer.
Was told they would need to replace the seal around the sunroof and to do that they need to drop the head liner. The number of labor hours meant that it would have been about a $600 job. I passed and keep a rag in the car. Disappointing.

 

I've now joined the Sunroof leak club. Purchased the car(January 2016 build XC90 T6) on a Wednesday, parked in my drive at slight incline with nose uphill for two days while we had 2-4 inches of rain from Wednesday night through Saturday. Notably, the weather was horrible and there were heavy downpours during this time period. Saturday AM I popped the hatch to learn more about my new purchase. I immediately noticed about two cups of water on the rear cargo mat which fortunately prevented water from soaking associated electronics in the rear of the cabin.

I promptly contacted the seller and shared my story. This leak was a surprise to her. She stated that the car was always garaged and never had any water leak issues. I believe her, and she was an open book on all service records. Carfax was clean. When I purchased the car Wednesday, I checked and there were no headliner stains- so it seems this leak was indeed on my watch, just hours into ownership.

This is a known manufacturing/design defect plain and simple. TSB TJ31272 XC90 Sunroof Cassette Rear Leak

Link to TSB: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...87102-5448.pdf

This leak is a nuance of how the car is parked among other circumstances. An owner could go years before the leak manifests itself, especially if parked level outside, or always garaged.

Yesterday, the first business day after the problem, I met with a service manager at a local Volvo dealer to discuss.

Details:

I purchased my car private party, single owner, garage kept, immaculate condition with no headliner stains. Previous owner lives in state about three hours away, car ordered, purchased and always serviced at her local Volvo dealer- she provided me with all service records. Absolutely no record of leak issues in the Volvo system per VIN history(my new service manager researched about this issue on this car).

At the dealership, I took the car into the service garage where the head mechanic/tech examined the headliner stains in my XC90 and confirmed what I had just told the service manager. The mechanic said, "yup, classic leak, I've done many of these" and he proceeded to describe the defect and solution. I don't know what else needs to be said here.

A few hours after my meeting at the dealership with the service manager (who was helpful and trying to facilitate an agreeable solution with me) he called back to follow up. He had contacted the Volvo NA 'head guy' who approves remedies in situations like this. The local service manager informed me that I was denied in my request for repair or recompense out of Volvo's pocket by the guy at HQ. I didn't purchase the car at a dealership and there is no goodwill; I might as well be driving a Chrysler K car, LOL.

I did the right thing by taking the car in yesterday, discussing the problem with the service manager and sharing the TSB info and respectfully asking for a remedy. Volvo had the opportunity yesterday to make this right and they chose not to. Therefore I can only use this forum and others to share what is not an acceptable outcome.

After the denial of service by Volvo, I contacted a respected independent auto shop in town that specializes in body work. This shop manager explained that he was well familiar with this problem on the XC90. He went into detail to describe the manufacturing defect, even stating "you'd be blown away when you see this design and you wouldn't believe that these assemblies even left the factory". We had a lengthy conversation on how he fixes the problem, as I'm a moderately capable hobby mechanic and love to learn the engineering of my vehicles. It really isn't a complex fix, but it certainly needs fixing and should be entirely covered (paid!) by Volvo.

Additionally, the shop manager mentioned another potential issue in the roof that needs to be addressed. The rear light assembly/housing/wiring harness can heat up in the summer, and the associated heat transfer can crimp the drain lines on which it rests. I'll have this checked out and PM'd as well.

I'm dropping off the car tonight for the repair to be done at the Independent shop- I'll be taking photos, video, notes etc. of the process.

The XC90 is a beautiful car with many great things going for it, but this issue is huge in my opinion as it involves risks to electronics. If you are thinking of buying an XC90, or any Volvo for that matter, bring along a couple gallon jugs of water. After your test drive, park the car at a slight incline, nose up and dump water on the sunroof. Wait and examine for leaks! It's crazy to have to do this, but I certainly wish I had.

I'll be following up more in the next few weeks with photos and findings and plan to make a youtube video which will be shared here and other places. I'm not done with this. Volvo should be embarrassed that they have not addressed this defect properly. This is not a warranty issue, or 'who sold the car to me issue' and it has nothing to do with how many miles are on the drivetrain. Any reference by Volvo personnel to warranty coverage, or an explanation as to why this leak issue is not covered by Volvo is a distraction from this poor design. Volvo needs to take ownership, plain and simple.

 

WOW!
That's terrible.
My friend told me he passed on buying an XC90 because of a sunroof leaking problem - guessing this is what he was talking about.
Has this issue been resolved in new ones? Or still people having these problems with new ones?
Please post more information on the repair.

 

Is there any mechanism to request an exception to the expiration of warranty to cover this obvious design flaw? Who would I contact at Volvo USA? What are my chances of success?

 

Yes, this is common. I was told the rear seal needs to be replaced, but it is likely more. Even if the rear seal is bad the drain system shouldn’t allow a leak. Look in your rear right under the floor in the quarter panel. If the drain plug isn’t pulled the water can build up and flood the computer modules there and boom $2800 bill.
complain directly to Volvo

 

Just like Norson describes,

I just came back home from a vacation and found the same thing on my 2016 xc90. I live in california so we don’t get a lot of rain but when it rains it pours as they say.
My car had been parked on an incline with the cargo being at the lowest point. When i opened the car and noticed how everything inside was humid, it smelled bad and water/moisture was dripping from the ceiling and windows, some water poured out when I opened the rear doors but the majority of the water was located in the trunk. The plastic compartment on the right side right above the fuse box was full of water, the compartment underneath the spare tire was full of water so I had to cut out the carpet/liner/foam in order to drain out the water and dry the liner. I do not know where the water got in so that I have to investigate but the sunroof makes most sense! Norson, do you know where the possibly melted drain lines would be located? Also I found a rubber plug (drain?) underneath the spare tire after I cut out the lining, I feel like this should be remove so water can drain down that hole? See photo

 

lucky for you have completely root caused the Volvo leak and with video, though I have yet to post on YouTube.
1) There is a drain plug under the right side tray that you showed. It is under the computers on that side. If you don’t pop that plug, one day that computer compartment will fill up enough water to submerge the safety feature computer and you will have a FAT bill to pay to replace it. Ask me how I know this😡

2) based on my testing and evaluation every single Volvo sunroof will eventually leak. Why? The rear sunroof seal shrinks in length due to sun exposure. Don’t know what Volvo’s deal with sunroof things shrinking in length as my last generation Volvo had the front right sunroof drain hose shrink in length by over an inch and therefore drain into the A pillar then into the pass side floor.

3) What is happening when the rear seal shrinks? It opens a gap on both sides where it meets the other seal and therefore allows more water volume into the drain system too fast than it was designed to handle. The water channel to the drain is not sealed from the inside of the car therefore when it over flows in the right side rear the water flows across and down the hard surface of the headliner backer, behind the plastic panel and into the corner. Some of it comes out the crack between the plastic rear corner and the carpeted rear side quarter. This is how the water gets into that plastic tray and can also get into the spare tire well. Note this is not all the water, the rest goes to the computer area.

The engineers designed a water system as if there would never be a problem that would be more volume than they calculated. The drain hose connection and hose itself has an issue when too much water enters. The hole to the hose is too small and the hose Inside diameter is too small so it has a back pressure/venting problem. The drain hose is horizontal with little pitch down then goes vertical to the rear quarter exit. When the water volume that was designed for is present the air that is already in the hose runs along the top hemisphere of the hose and vents allowing the water to flow. When the water volume exceeds the design there is no where for the air in the hose to vent. (This is the same problem that is avoided by requiring house plumbing system to be vented by specific rules.) In order to better handle the volume caused by the shrunk seal the hose needs a vent at the portion where the hose turns vertical. I have a very telling video where my test overwhelms the system and you can hear the hose gurgling . The gurgle is the air trying to make it past the volume of water.

3) what can help the drains be their best is putting household degreasing detergent or spray down the gap to remove any dirt build up in the hose and hose entry. Then also taking compressed air and blowing it through the hose. Clean, flush with water and Repeat, etc. I found that this helped not to overflow the system during a rain after I did this. The dealer checked for a clog, but found none and also water would run through the hose before I cleaned it. But after I cleaned it real good the water didn’t show up again for the months afterward that I owned it. I dumped that XC90 and bought a 2018 XC90 and had the rear seal replaced on the new one after my tape to cover the gap didn’t stay on. BTW all 2016 XC90’s will eventually burn oil like Texas oil rig some day bc of a deficient piston ring design. $4000 to replace the pistons. It will eventually happen to every 4 cylinders they made before the mid-ish 2016 calendar year (not model year)

4) you have to get the rear seal replaced or keep the gap covered on both sides with tape of some sort. The gap will eventually shrink again I suppose, but I’m not sure if that sure is covered by Volvo’s lifetime warranty.

5) you can throw the kitchen sink at it as I described, but you’d prob be good just pulling the drain plug, cleaning the rail and hose system real well and using compressed air, and replacing the seal. Though honestly with the oil time bomb I’d just dump it asap, or just be ready to put the money in for the pistons. There is a big saving by changing the timing belt at the same time as the pistons.

 

there is a mechanism and they threw me a **** poor bone of $250. If your car is out of warranty they don’t care and will give you nothing. Waste of my time and my wife’s time on two separate occasions. I pounded on them about the leak and the oil burning…I don’t know if they changed material on the sunroof seal, but they clearly made a design change on the pistons and I have a recording of the dealer technician saying exactly what it was. Once you sort a Volvo design they are solid and love them, but sorting cane be painful.

 

I’d be interested in your feedback on my description of the root cause that I just posted

 

What a bargain. Volvo Naples wants to charge me $1500+ for this same job right now! And the best part is that they aren't sure if this is even what is causing the leak.

 

I landed here because of a leak issue that I am having, but I had to replace the engine in my 2016 XC90 because of the piston issue! My oil looked like sludge. They tried to say I didnt get regular oil changes which was a lie. Unreal!!!

 

where is the leak? There are two known leak paths. One is the front window that manifests in the floor. The other is the sunroom gasket which shows up in the front light or the rear quarter. Your car is old enough that it is likely the sunroof, especially if you don’t garage the car. As I’ve said in a post, every Volvo will eventually have this issue

 

I have an 08 volvo xc90 and drivers side floor is soaked most times after rain

 

In an 08 the sunroof drain tubes in the A pillars shrink length wise and therefore come out of their grommet that drains them outside the car. It is now draining in the car. Take of the cover and you will see.

 

Is this problem solved, if so what was done? Got same issue

 

i have an 2018 XC90 and the car sunroof or sunroof lets in rain water ( usually after a fairly heavy downpour) right where the software system is installed on the front windshield . It has been doing this for over two years now but usually it is just a few drops so it never gets that cumbersome. Yesterday we had a downpour and i would say a cupful of rainwater entered the car.
I'm glad i found this post and i will see if i can perform a home handyman fix. Stay tuned.