MG HS PHEV Panoramic Sunroof Leaking

[NikNak]

I have a 2022 MG HS PHEV and have had excess water accumulating on the front passenger footwell twice. The first time there was so much there that I noticed a sparkle while I was driving. When I stopped, I checked to see what was shining and the mat was soaked and excess water was in a puddle. I tried using my wet & dry vacuum to suck the water up but after filling the container 3 times, I gave up. The back passenger side footwell was also wet.
I took it back to my local service agent who ripped up the carpet, had to get rid of some rust and then replaced the carpet. They found that one of the sunroof drains was blocked so all the water was going into the glove compartment, then running down the back to the footwell.

I've been checking the footwell after rain (for the last 6 months) and fine, until last week. The front passenger footwell is soaked again.

Has this happened to anyone else? Anything you can recommend that I do to stop this happening again?
Previously, I had a VW Beetle with a large sunroof for 3 years and I never had any leaking. It sounds like a design fault.

 

[ajw1100]

Had the same with a BMW 5 series, passenger foot well more like a swimming pool. The dealer found the drain tube going down the A pillar was semi blocked, allowing some water to escape but in heavy rain it escaped in an overflow and ended up in the foot well. They replaced the whole sun-roof, carpets the lot. However under the carpet were some electrical connectors that had also suffered and that led to some weird electrical problems! In the end they gave up and gave me a refund and the car went to auction (Should have been crushed). so keep a record of any electrical problems.

 

[Cafeg]

Reading this I am so glad I didnt get the phev essence model with the sunroof. I had leaking issues with a sunroof in a car I had a few years ago which used to drip on me. I ended up selling the car for that reason. In NZ its too cold to have a sunroof open anyway..

 

[sengle]

I have a 2022 MG HS PHEV and have had excess water accumulating on the front passenger footwell twice. The first time there was so much there that I noticed a sparkle while I was driving. When I stopped, I checked to see what was shining and the mat was soaked and excess water was in a puddle. I tried using my wet & dry vacuum to suck the water up but after filling the container 3 times, I gave up. The back passenger side footwell was also wet.
I took it back to my local service agent who ripped up the carpet, had to get rid of some rust and then replaced the carpet. They found that one of the sunroof drains was blocked so all the water was going into the glove compartment, then running down the back to the footwell.

I've been checking the footwell after rain (for the last 6 months) and fine, until last week. The front passenger footwell is soaked again.

Has this happened to anyone else? Anything you can recommend that I do to stop this happening again?
Previously, I had a VW Beetle with a large sunroof for 3 years and I never had any leaking. It sounds like a design fault.

Hi,
Im in the middle of the exact same issue myself.
Yesterday, the passenger footwell had several centimetres of water sloshing around!
No signs of water on the door or seats ie. sunroof and windows were definitely not left open accidentally.

Took it immediately to Tristram North Shore and they are saying it was a blocked sunroof drain and its not a warranty issue:-(
To rub salt into the wound, it was there 1 week earlier for its 2nd service!

How did you get on? Did your Dealer honour it under warranty?

IMHO - If its not mentioned in the owners manual, and if the Dealer doesnt check it as part of a service, and its not mentioned in any Dealer maintenance recommendations, then it is an unservicable item that should be designed to last for the cars lifetime.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Matt25]

Hi,
Just had the same issue as you and wasn’t fixed the first time I bought the car in, they didn’t charge me then. However, this time to clear the tubes, Dees of Croydon, charged me for one hour to investigate and two hours to fix it, totalling £450! I’m in the process of complaining and trying to get a manager involved. Looking at YouTube, you can clear your drain tube with a thin hollow pipe and a few blasts of air, taking a few minutes to do both.

 

[NikNak]

Hi,
Im in the middle of the exact same issue myself.
Yesterday, the passenger footwell had several centimetres of water sloshing around!
No signs of water on the door or seats ie. sunroof and windows were definitely not left open accidentally.

Took it immediately to Tristram North Shore and they are saying it was a blocked sunroof drain and its not a warranty issue:-(
To rub salt into the wound, it was there 1 week earlier for its 2nd service!

How did you get on? Did your Dealer honour it under warranty?

IMHO - If its not mentioned in the owners manual, and if the Dealer doesnt check it as part of a service, and its not mentioned in any Dealer maintenance recommendations, then it is an unservicable item that should be designed to last for the cars lifetime.

Cheers,
Steve

Hey Steve. My dealer is Tristram North Shore too.
The first time it happened, they didn't charge me however, it happened again just before my service. This time they charged me, they had the vehicle for 2 weeks. Said there was some debri in the drain. They had to increase the filter holes in the drain to let more through. I said this was a design fault but they said noone else is having this issue. It must be where I park my car.

I asked how I can check it more often so it doesn't happen again. As the pipe is inside the car, you can't check it but if you open the suroof and there is water welling in the front part, then you know it's blocked again.

I had a VW Beetle for 3 years with a panoramic sunroof & this never happened. I've had the MG 2 years and it has happened 3 times.

Good luck getting it covered. They don't seem to be able to provide advice around stopping this happen.
Cheers
Nikki

 

[NikNak]

Hi,
Just had the same issue as you and wasn’t fixed the first time I bought the car in, they didn’t charge me then. However, this time to clear the tubes, Dees of Croydon, charged me for one hour to investigate and two hours to fix it, totalling £450! I’m in the process of complaining and trying to get a manager involved. Looking at YouTube, you can clear your drain tube with a thin hollow pipe and a few blasts of air, taking a few minutes to do both.

Thanks for letting me know about Youtube. The service manager said there wasn't anything I could do apart from checking water build up to know that it had blocked again. Will check out youtube

 

[ajw1100]

Last night was a torrential down pour so thought I'd better check for leaks. Opened sunroof and carefully poured 60ml water into the drivers side channel. At the front of the channel there are 3 vertical rods by the drain hole that I assume are there to stop any debris.
The water flowed away and discharged onto the drive.

I did the same with the passenger side, this time no water discharged onto the drive, although there signs of damp on the plastic moulding behind the tyre.
I noticed that there were signs of water in the side moulding grove just under the glove box. (LH as RHD car).
I then added another 60ml to the channel and felt the carpet, it was damp at the bottom of the side moulding where it meets the inner wheel arch carpet.
I then noticed water was visible where the front side moulding met the sill moulding under the door, pushed down on both sides and water was then visible on both mouldings As in the photos.
A little water did exit from behind the moulding to the rear of the wheel arch but not very much, more of a weak dribble. Certainly not impressed and will contact the dealer, in the mean time I will see if I can did a bit deeper and remove the inner moulding to have a look.
Anyone done this yet and can advise if it is a heave and hope removal or if there any hidden clips?

 

[sz00gun]

I'm not sure where do you live, but where I live it's raining right now so I went to my car to check if there is any lick. There isn't any, I checked that place where could be a blockage but I can't find that place. How to locate the place where I can find a problem in the future what can cause a lick inside the car?

 

[ajw1100]

Hi sz00gun. I am near Watford, Hertfordshire and it has actually stopped raining! A possible reason is that the down tube and the top of the the tube is not correctly connected to the drain channel, this may allow some water down the inside of the tube and some down the outside, the inside allows some water to exit where it should and the rest down the outside of the tube in a sort of capillary action. The water will naturally follow the tube. If there is any part that the tube connects to en-route the water could go anywhere the tube touches. I cannot think of any other logical reason.
I have booked it in at the dealers for next week, they have never heard of this problem... Website just reported a security error, press back and try again.
Here we go!
Reload worked I am pleased to report!!

 

[JavaDaHat]

Hi Everyone,

I just picked up my 2020 PHEV from service - it took 4 weeks and 22 hours of labour to strip / dry the car and 2 parts replaced (rear wiper motor and BCM) to resolve damage caused by the sunroof leak. It was probably going on quite a long time unnoticed until I came back from 2 weeks holidays to a pool of water in the footwell. As the car was a few months past the 3-year warranty when the issue was discovered, I had to pay €2500 for parts and labour which broke my heart and my wallet.

I was told that the sunroof leak was caused by blocked drain pipes. I was also explicitly told that clearing of the drain pipes is my responsibility as per the manual.

Did any of you find this information in the manual at all? I did not...

Also I'm searching YouTube for instructions but can't find anything HS-specific. Although I suppose the steps to clear the drain pipes should be the same for all vehicles, right?

Thank you!

 

[ajw1100]

Got my car back, I asked the technician about the dodgy drain tube. He reported that the tube was mostly blocked near the bottom, probably due to the mucky roads and muddy spray from the tyre, which does make sense as the gutters here do get bad. I asked him how they cleared the block, he advised they had used compressed air.
I also asked about the possible use of running something down the tube, like strimmer cord and was the tube a fairly straight run? Apparently not as there were a few obstacles, wire looms etc and it may damage the tube, this would lead to further costs if the tube needed to be replaced.
When I have time I will see what I can see underneath using a mirror, somewhere I have an endoscope and that may help. I've not had time to scour the manual for the sun roof section and any reference to owner maintenance. Needing to by an air compressor is way OTT!
There was no mention of charging me so that was good news

 

[Cafeg]

now i'm really glad i didnt get the sunroof. roads can be dirty here as well and i hate the smell of wet carpets

 

[ajw1100]

Since May and until last night there were no more internal leaks, then last night we had a heavy downpour, this morning there was a puddle of water on my drivers side mat,, directly below the pedals My dealer will have a look at it at the end of the month.

 

[ajw1100]

Just back from the dealer, they have reported that the O/S drain tube was partially blocked and they have blown through to clear it. (I assume by a compressor!)
So that's both sides with blockages. As the down drain tubes are one piece and attached at the top to the sunroof and the O/S bottom is vented just behind the front wheel arch inner trim, how did the water get across to the area directly above the pedals then to drip onto the mat? The side moulding and carpet were both dry. Interesting
Lets hope for no more blockages.