So it seems the Passat has succumbed to the washer pipe leak in the rear roof lining issue, which means a garage fix.

It is only 5 years old FFS how crap must the routing be for this to be a semi common fault.

Can’t get it in until next week so currently trying to dry the affected area, roof lining and boot out in the hope the alarm and lock can be persuaded to work without the alarm going off all night.

Anyone experienced this? Presumably if I can get the headlining and the connector dried out gravity will stop any more leakage until I can get the ******* trim and headlining dismantled and the offending bits replaced? If not i need to find somewhere to secure the car for a few days…

Had this on an older golf – the hose had popped off one of the connectors at the boot hinge. Apparently that’s to relieve pressure on the pump if it freezes, but a jubilee clip sorted it.
If you can see the leak in the headlining, that suggests its further forward than the hinge of the boot?

Can you not try and strip down the offending parts yourself? With such a HUGE Vag community, I’m sure someone somewhere has documented the process of stripping it down? Worst come to worst you may bust a few clips and you can buy them new anyway? Having mucked about a lot with them I would say its certainly not necessary to go the garage if you wanted to cure it sooner.

Thank you both.

Normally with something like this I’d be more than happy whipping it all apart but just at the moment for various reasons I don’t have the time this weekend or inclination to be stripping it down, diagnosing, going out for parts and putting back together again.

The seemingly common location for the water leaking out (or being visible) is just ahead of the plastic trim where it meets the headlining at the rear on the driver’s side and that’s where it was wet and slightly stained. As I understand it there’s an electrical connector in this area and it’s when this connector gets wet that the alarm starts going off. Me slamming the boot to try and clear any sticky ‘shut’ sensors seemed to worsen the issue to the point I could see it but at least I now know the likely fault. I suspect I may have killed the hose…must not use rear washer…

Had this on our Touran, the rear washer had frozen and when I tried it it popped behind the dash and then soaked the passenger foot well, stopped using it after that didn’t fancy taking the dash out to fix it.

Our Octavia popped off it’s connector in the boot. Easy enough to put back together. There will be advice online on how to do it

Thanks peejay and p20.

its a known issue with a technical bulletin avail, correct repair is to replace the loom, which includes the hose that leaks, that goes from body to tailgate at the drivers side. bit of an involved job due to the amount of stripping down required to access the whole loom. ask your dealer for goodwill as its a known issue.

Pace’ any idea on costs…car is comfortably out of warranty and although currently being looked after by local main dealer it’s not got full VW history. Not optimistic about goodwill….

If it’s astronomic then a sensible local garage fix that’s less intrusive may be preferable financially.

Not feeling the love for this car.

Push your dealer for goodwill, contact vw customer services and make a fuss, you’ll be surprised what they can do when want to.
Roughly 2 hrs labour no idea cost of part, tailgate trims off, c post trim off, drivers side of luggage area trim off to access each end.