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Last month I posted my first real question here, i.e. why doesn't my park assist work? I got some guidance and replaced the park assist module, and that fixed it! Thanks! Now for the rest of the story...
During investigation I found a pool of water/ice in the bottom of the well behind the panel where the park module and fuses are located. Hmmm, could this be a contributing factor? Probably! And I noticed the pins on the park module looked a little corroded. Cleaning them didn't work, so I replaced the module and went about my business. Then I open the old module case and found this:
What a mess! Look at that corrosion! That's not just a few days of wet. That's gotta be years. The first VCDS scan I did on this car (last month) showed a "loss of contact" error with the park module back in 2013! How in the heck could that module gotten so wrecked with no apparent damage to anything else in that area?
Well yesterday it rained pretty good, the first good rain since I've had this vehicle. Low and behold, the park assist system threw an error! So I immediately pulled the cargo panel off and:
Check that out! A prefect stream of water right down onto the module/connector interface. You couldn't have engineered that stream to be in a better spot if you wanted to wreck the parking module on purpose! I unplugged it and poured a couple ounces of rain out of it. Where is this coming from? Looking up towards the area behind the D panel, I could see some drips coming out of the framework from somewhere....
I would have to do some disassembly to find it....
BTW, did you know that in order to remove the headliner you have to take apart 90% of the interior (well not really but it feels like it), including removing the rear seats and the cargo floor? WTF? Unfortunately I started by following the directions, which start at the A pillar and work back. But if you run into this problem, you really only have to remove the back-end stuff and just gently pull the headliner down to get access to:
The leaky sunroof drain hoses. Water was dripping out from around the connector<>hose joint. Note: NOT the sunroof<>connector joint, but between the yellow hose and white connector built into it. Here was the root of the problem! Water was running down the outside of the hose, transferring to a wiring harness, then flowing down into the back compartment. And the drains on both sides had the same problem! With a liberal application of exterior silicone I created a new seal around this joint, let it cure for 24 hours, and then put it all back together again.
Caveat Emptor: If you're buying a used Q5, look for water stains on the headliner in the back quarters!
Last edited by scissorfighter; 03-23-2019 at 09:00 AM.
It's sooooo sad that Audi engineering is starting to go to the pits on many issues and components. After a few decades of designing sunroofs and drains you would think that they would get it right by now!!!!
Last month I posted my first real question here, i.e. why doesn't my park assist work? I got some guidance and replaced the park assist module, and that fixed it! Thanks! Now for the rest of the story.
Water was dripping out from around the connector<>hose joint. Note: NOT the sunroof<>connector joint, but between the yellow hose and white connector built into it. Here was the root of the problem! Water was running down the outside of the hose, transferring to a wiring harness, then flowing down into the back compartment. And the drains on both sides had the same problem! With a liberal application of exterior silicone I created a new seal around this joint, let it cure for 24 hours, and then put it all back together again.
Caveat Emptor: If you're buying a used Q5, look for water stains on the headliner in the back quarters!
Nice write up and pictures, thanks. Was the yellow hose originally glued into the white fitting somehow or just crammed in there or could you tell? Also how is the white fitting sealed to the roof?
It's sooooo sad that Audi engineering is starting to go to the pits on many issues and components. After a few decades of designing sunroofs and drains you would think that they would get it right by now!!!!
VW/Audi has had problems with their sunroof drains since they started doing large full roof sunroofs. Nothing new. As pretty as they are they are maintenance nightmares. I would love to have a fully sealed roof.
Nice write up and pictures, thanks. Was the yellow hose originally glued into the white fitting somehow or just crammed in there or could you tell? Also how is the white fitting sealed to the roof?
The yellow hose appears to be both crammed in there and glued. It’s hard to tell because the interior is cruddy like the inside of many hoses! The white fitting is just friction-fit over a barbed connector molded into the drain channel. It would have probably been better to eliminate the white connector all together and just use a hose diameter that would fit on the barb directly.
The yellow hose appears to be both crammed in there and glued. It’s hard to tell because the interior is cruddy like the inside of many hoses! The white fitting is just friction-fit over a barbed connector molded into the drain channel. It would have probably been better to eliminate the white connector all together and just use a hose diameter that would fit on the barb directly.
Exactly, maybe even a clamp instead of adhesive that will eventually let go. One would think that given the difficult access and the amount of damage to things a leak there can cause, they would have put a little more effort into the design. There I go thinking again.
03-23-2019, 08:57 AM
Oh, so THAT's why my park assist system failed!
