rshoemaker

It's been raining for days now and I noticed water dripping out of the dome light just in front of my sunroof the other day. It is a very slow leak, but I'd like to take care of it ASAP. I was able to locate two drains toward the front of the sunroof, but haven't been able to spot the rear ones, if they exist. Anyone know if there are 4 drains and if so, where I can find the rear ones? I've seen similar threads where people say it is easier to push weedeater line back up from the end of the drain toward the sunroof, so also let me know if you know where the different drains come out.

Thanks!

E-Klasse

I have only seen the front 2 that go down the A pillars...

rshoemaker

Since the original post, I've only had water leaks once or twice. It rained pretty steadily at my house for 2 days over the weekend and although there is no water in the cabin, it sounds like there is water in the roof ( ). The car was parked on a level driveway all weekend. When I start or stop, there is a very distinctive sloshing sound in the roof, but the inside of the car is completely dry. I opened the sun roof and there doesn't seem to be any visible water any where around the opening. I tried snaking some trimmer line down both of the front drain openings, but was only able to get them to go about 2 feet. I'm not sure if they empty somewhere under the hood or at the bottom of the wind shield or below the car, but I don't see the end of the line any where. If I hold the trimmer line on the outside of the car to get an idea of how far they're going into the drains, it would appear to stop about 3/4 of the way down the pillars - and this is the same on both sides of the car.

The fact that there's no visible water around the sun roof when I open it makes me wonder if the drains have anything to do with this. If the drains were clogged, I would have expected to see a bunch of water pooled up around the sun roof. I suppose I could try pouring water into the drains to see what happens, but in any case, it sounds like I have a roof full of water. What am I supposed to do about that?

I also opened the sun roof and tried starting and stopping in my driveway to see if any of the water would come out while the sun roof was open, but (thankfully) it didn't (and my dashboard and I stayed dry).

Any suggestions?

rshoemaker

Ok, I had my wife drive the car while I was sitting in the passenger seat and the sloshing sound appears to be coming from the rocker panel area, not the roof. Phew.

I found a related link (https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ing-noise.html) that sounds exactly like the same issue. So, now the question is: how do I find the drains on the rocker panel? I'll get under there tonight with a light but it would help to know what I'm looking for...

rshoemaker

That was it. I found the drains under the car and the two on the passenger side were clogged, so I just poked a screw driver through the gasket and at least a couple gallons of water came out.

The drains are located just on the inside of the rocker panel immediately behind the front wheels and in front of the rear wheels. I've attached a couple pictures of what they look like.

Franasia

Thank you for your posting vrshoemaker. Good to know where the outlets for the front drains are. It's a good practice to run water with the garden hose down those drains to check them out every now and then. There are two drain pipes on the back also that I think drain through the C pillars but cannot be accessed from the roof opening though.

Cheers

KABSteve

A follow up to those who may find this thread looking for help: On a 2001 E320 Sport at least, the rear drains are not found ahead of the rear wheels but are routed over the wheelwells and go through the trunk area exiting behind the rear wheels, just lower than the top edge of the bumper cover. There a tube exits through through a hole drilled in the sheetmetal. On this particular car, not only were they plugged (there was water under the rear seat), but they had somehow been pushed up into the trunk, necessitating removing the trunk liner to put it back in place.

LS1RX7owen

wow thats good to know, I just bought an E320 wagon and am looking for the source of water in the rear side storage, where the cd changer sits, I hope this will be the easy remebdy for me.

RichardM98

On the wagon they are as originally described -- just behind the front wheel housings and just in front of the rear wheel housings.

Also, there are also drains in the bottom of the spare tire housing and the equipment housing.

LS1RX7owen

ok right on, I drained the pass. side rear housing and cant find the source of the water but at least now the drain is cleared out and I can fix the little bit of rust thats in there from the standing water. looks like the sunroof drain is working just fine too.

my cd player (changer) isnt being recognized by the head unit so I cleaned the connectors and fiber optic (?) cable ends, not sure what else to try, I hope the moisture didnt ruin the whole unit. there are other big connectors back there that are not in use, I hope they dont need to be free of debris, they look all gnarly from the water issues... wish me luck.

RichardM98

CD changers in the W210's are subject to problems. See this thread for trouble-shooting. Best solution is a AUX-IN cable and an MP3 player.

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w210...air-guide.html

Lancelot

Beware! Those drains you 'found' are the chassis vents NOT the sunroof drains!!!
The rear sunroof drains look like hoses and stick out under the trunk area on both sides BEHIND the rear wheelwell...

LS1RX7owen

thanks so much, I will chime in over there too.

Looks like clearing the debris solved the drain problem for me!