Clearing sunroof drains

Specifically , 1997 Jetta.

Drivers side, front.  Anyone have tricks or techniques you would car to share?

They are often clogged in the frame of the sunroof, or from debris in the wheel well. Rarely mud daubers or lizards in between. 
in both cases, manually digging stuff out always worked for me. I currently work for the worlds largest sunroof manufacturer. 
Do NOT use compressed air or water pressure. The stoppage is rarely 

more than an inch or two from either end. 

I' ve had some success using string trimmer line.

The best thing I've found is a trombone cleaner.

Timely. Wife's Golf wagon leaked this past week in a heavy rain over two days and the passenger drain doesn't appear to be draining.

On hers there's also the fear of cracked frame, which was a thing on mk7+ VW. On a cursory look, didn't see any evidence of cracks, but also not sure I know where I should be looking, or what magnitude of crack we're talking about.

 To get to the duck bill on the bottom of her front drains, have to pull wipers/wiper cowl. So that stinks. Wanted to just yank those off as a quick first step, hoping that there's just something stuck there that won't pass through the flapper/duck bill. 

Lots of challenges that vary by vehicle. My 2013 Pathfinder had a baffle at the bottom of each sunroof drain, which basically acted as a dam at the end of a COPPER pipe. The passenger side outlet was easy to see under the hood. The drivers side drain outlet was concealed under the cowl cover and behind part of the unibody. It (supposedly) had a path to weep but it wasn't accessible to remove and clean out - but I found it. I provided a bit of a how-to here. 

Nissan products are notorious for this, especially the Infiniti G35/37/Q50/Q60. My mom has a 2014 Q60 coupe, and I've had to clean the D/S drain once. The tube for the drain runs through the A-pillar with a tube and to the firewall, and the bulkhead connector there has a little plastic screen that does nothing but obstruct flow, and that gets clogged. I took the connector out and drilled out the screen to give debris more of a chance of passing through, but it seems to have clogged again. Fun. 

The ones on our old TSX never seemed to clog. The ones on my E46 clogged and it was a while before I noticed it since it was all in the back seat. Those I cleaned with trimmer string, but it was a real PITA because the lines had a 90d bend the trimmer string couldn't make. I ended up pulling a lot of the interior out.

The V60's drains clogged and destroyed the BCM (covered under warranty). The S60's never seemed to, but I have been having them cleaned at the dealer for both cars since then. It's about $150 and well worth it to me.

Ive had good luck vacuuming out the sunroof if there is any crud and then chasing them with a strim tringer line and LOW PRESSURE water, just a garden hose, not a blast.

Once I think I have it nailed I will crack the sunroof and run a garden hose down each corner and make sure all the drains run clear and full flow.  

Tig wire.

Bicycle shift cable. Since I have about 20 of them that's my go to.

That said, make sure your rain tray drains aren't plugged. Audi/VW products are notorious for the RT drains stopping up and the RT will fill and flood the driver side footwells. And then short out the security system computer under the driver carpet.  I've had it happen with a VW Caddy (twice), a B5S4 and a coupla C5A6's. Very annoying.

In reply to rdcyclist :

My new (to me) 05 Audi Allroad, is going to need attention for this eventuality, if not sooner. I would love details, as I have no clue on the RTs, and the write ups on the SR drains left me confused!

Thanks. 

The little "duck bill" must have a purpose but I don't know what it is. Anybody know?

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Isn't it a backflow preventer?

In reply to 02Pilot :

I like it!  I might get one!  

I have found the stoppage itself, it is about 6 inches in from the drain point on the a-pillar.  I found this using trimmer string (Thank you M2Pilot) I guess I need the trombone cleaner to dislodge whatever is in there.

02Pilot said:

The best thing I've found is a trombone cleaner.

That's what I used on my Miata.   Worked like a charm.  The guy at the music shop said he sold a lot of those cleaners for use on a car.

Duke said:

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Isn't it a backflow preventer?

I understand the words but I'm not seeing where the pressure would come from if the outlet is under the cowl.

My son took the car (that I pulled them out of) to college and he doesn't really drive much - but it's been over a year and no more wet floor. 

OHSCrifle said:

The little "duck bill" must have a purpose but I don't know what it is. Anybody know?

It prevents critters and road debris from going up there. 

Had to remove the fuse panel to replace an elbow on my Land rover sunroof drain. Not a job I want to repeat.

In reply to 03Panther :

The stupid thing is the rain tray (RT) drains are under E36 M3, like the battery and the vacuum brake booster so we ferget about them. Compressed air to get the loose leaves outta there followed by pressure washer usually clears them. Usually...

In reply to rdcyclist :

Ok

since my first car was a 1964 Mercury, and one ov my newest is a 2003 Mercury (a lot of 1978 in it):

What is a rain tray, and what does it do?

where are the bitter ends of the sunroof drains on a 05 Allroad? (I assume the start somewhere around the perimeter of the sunroof opening)

Thanks. 

In reply to 03Panther :

Alrighty, the rain tray is the open area in front of the windshield where the heater inlet and in the case of Audi's, the battery brake booster are located. To clean, remove the rain tray cover and take a look at the parts you can see. Use the garden hose to put water in there and see if it drains.

I believe Audi sunroof drains into the frame rails and if the frame rail drains get plugged (this happened on my Audi Q7) then the sunroof drains get backed up and you get water in the footwell. The entire thing is about the stupidest design ever in view of the fact this has been a problem for years. Very annoying...

In reply to rdcyclist :

That's exactly what I needed. THANKS. 
Despite being quite intelligent, I can be quite dense!

If I understand what I've read for this Allroad, the S. R. drains route to the frame, behind the rear fender. Gotta pull the rear bumper cover to clean. (I think) 

if so, no biggie; gotta pull it to fab a trailer hitch soon anyway!