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Sunroof water ingress

The one common issue with the Porsche 944 is a leaking sunroof, so much so that many seek out a rare model without a sunroof. This is due primarily to the obvious fact that seals don't last forever, therefore water ingress into the cabin is a common complaint. What's more alarming than damp footwell carpets is the cost of a new sunroof seal from some suppliers. However, solving this issue may not be as expensive as replacing all the seals in every aperture!

When I collected my Porsche on that sunny autumn day back in October, I was surprised that there was some condensation gathering on the windows - which is also how I found out that my heater wasn't working correctly (see my other post in that regard). I remember back to my university days and a friends Mark I Golf that leaked into the passenger footwell from the wind screen causing the windows to mist up terribly. A very common issue with that particular car in the eighties.

My 944 had a mildly damp passenger footwell carpet that was enough to cause the windows to mist up when driving. Thankfully it sits snugly in the garage escaping most of the wet weather. I didn't buy this 944 to park in the garage though, I bought it to drive it come rain or shine.

As I researched the potential causes for the damp carpet in my passenger footwell, and as I inspected my 944, I wasn't convinced that a windscreen leak was the culprit. Which is a very good thing as the main ECU board sits behind the carpet in the passenger footwell - a leak onto this will cause major electronic issues with the 944. It's an easy check - pull back the carpet and check the wooden board (I kid you not!) and bulkhead for damp. If it's wet the two likely causes are an ill fitting windscreen or a leak through the heater blower motor area inside the engine bay - the result of the rear engine bay drains being blocked resulting in water damming up between the bulkheads and flooding into the cabin.

The sunroof seal seems to be main reason why Porsches of this era suffer from damp in the interior. However it is not the only reason water leaks into the cabin from the sunroof.

There are four drains that lead from the sunroof cavity corners to the base of the car. If these drains block, which they can do after years of being home to the likes of pesky spiders for example, water will over flow from the cavity and in behind the interior trim collecting in the footwells in the front of, or behind, the front seats.

Before you trundle off and buy a sunroof seal, have your local friendly garage clear the drains from the sunroof and at the rear of the engine bay. It cost me a tenner for a blast of compressed air to clear the blocked drains and solve the water ingress issue completely.
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