Porsche Macan Forums

Today I discovered the battery compartment in the boot of my just out of warranty (!) 2017 Macan S diesel is full of water about 4-5 inches deep. The sub woof was partially submerged (the electrical connection completely submerged) so I’ve got the battery out and have dried the area. The boot lining is mouldy but hopefully will clean up when dried off. A previous post points the finger at the drainage points blocked at the rear of the sunroof and the problem was solved when these were enlarged and cleared out. I can’t understand how the water gets from the sunroof to the boot if the tubes are blocked? Wouldn’t the water just fill up around the outside of the sunroof and then run down the roof? I want to stop my leak and will check the drainage points tomorrow but could do with a better understanding of how the water drainage works if anyone is clued up about it or any other causes of boot/trunk flooding please! Thanks in anticipation:-)

Don’t automatically assume your drainage ducts are blocked and don’t let your OPC fob you off with that excuse. I had exactly the same issue and I was eventually told that others had suffered similar issues to such an extent that it had caused electrical problems for them. Mine went on to suffer water running into the driver and pax foot wells. Eventually the fault was tracked to a problem with the roof cassette and this had to be resealed. Seems to have been ok ever since but it has made me wary of the pano roof and if I have another Macan it won’t be having that option regardless of what the SE says....

The problem is often where the drainage tube joins the drainage hole. If the join isn’t 100% watertight then water gets into the roof lining and then gravity takes over! Water will always find a way of escaping and tracing that route can be VERY difficult. A temporary blockage can often be the start of the problem. Easily cleared but the weakness is started and is very difficult to find and fix.

Having suffered this before, I now avoid pano roofs like the plague!!

BTW, this is a common fault on lots of cars, not just Porsche....most forums have a similar thread.

Back in 2016 I posted this in a similar thread:

I know people tell me I'm different, but a pano roof will not be on my list. Why add something that in the UK gives you a better view of leaden skies, increases noise, reduces headroom, has the potential for leaks and mechanical and electrical issues, will rarely be used and costs about the same as air suspension. I know which I'd rather have, for me, not future owners.

Oops, have I got a bit controversial?

Goron59 replied - 'No, not controversial, just mistaken . I think maybe it wasn't me that was mistaken.......

I do miss Goron's posts though, I wonder if he ever drops in?

On the Macan owners Facebook group, there's a poster who traced his car's leak to the roof rail; specifically the seal between the roof and the rail. He managed to make it waterproof (using Vaseline, I think!) and it cured the problem.
Another source is the tail light cluster - water can get in where the cables pass through the car body to the tail light housing. I imagine to fix that you'd need to take off the rear bumper and/or remove and refit the lights? If you unclip the panels on either side in the boot (they just pull off) you can explore the space behind each tail light to see if it's wet.
Anyone know if a leak like this would be covered by Porsche's extended warranty (if you have one)?

Thanks all for above, Car put back together this morning and all seems fine including the sub woofer which seems able to hold its breath under water. The leak isn’t cured which is going to mean a visit to Porsche Nottingham and my bank in the near future....Anyway, there is a rubber bung deep in the bowels of the boot battery box so I’ve removed it to prevent water build up again. I might just leave it at that as I can’t just face the hassle of what could be multiple trips and bills from PASM (Porsche Agent Syphoning Money)!

Rich
If it’s just out of warranty why not have a word with your OPC they might possibly get the ok to
look at it as a goodwill gesture from Porsche Especially if you’ve got a full OPC service history.
Nothing to loose.
SteveW.

Can I ask, does your car live outside or is it garaged?

Its just that we've had the pano roof on a Q5, lived outdoors 7 years, no problems, now got a Mini Clubman, lives outside, no problems (yet after 12 months) and my SD has a pano roof, but is kept indoors for the most part.

I see similar complaints on the Mini forum. The only other car I encountered water ingress on was a mates 1200E Ford Anglia, back in the 70's (but you could see the road through the passenger footwell!) and my previous Lotus Exige boot, fixed using bathroom sealant.

I found my battery compartment full of water this time last year.
The battery shorted and the airbag lit. Porsche wouldn't reset it until they found the source so I got another garage to do that.
I duct taped the roof up for the rest of the winter and then and come spring and during lockdown I sorted it myself:

If your pan roof air defector is overly wet then the moveable glass panel needs moving forward a couple of millimetres using the wee screws under a cover below the glass. Simple but very fiddly.
The drains block where the plastic tube connect to the roof.
Buy a net curtain wire from Argos for a few quid and for the rear you can see the bottom of the drain tubes when you take the interior side panels off. Pull them up and they'll release from the hole they're in. I eventually pulled the roof covering down below the tail gate hinge to locate the top of the tubes.

Strangely the tyre pump that comes with the car is a perfect fit and first off I blew through the tubes and the amount of crud that came out was impressive. Then insert the net curtain wire and push through to "floss" the tubes. To help the bottom of tubes back into the holes just smear some oil even olive oil will do.

I left the front in situ and tried to floss from the top but as I could see they weren't blocked so wasn't to fussed that I couldn't get the wire all the way through.
I also had the problem of the tailgate filling with water and spilling into the boot but I think Porsche fixed this in later models but still and idea to pull the tailgate plugs to how much water you've got in there.

Hope this helps

I have this same issue, but I’m not sure where the screws are you are referring to? how do you get to these, roof open or closed? I can see 2 drain holes at the front corners and both are clear, are there any other drain holes?. I’ve taken the 2 side panels out in boot where first aid kit is and same on other side but no idea what I’m looking for. Some photos would be great? Thanks in advance.