A guide to drains checks?

[anonymouse]

Could someone with expertise perhaps write a guide (preferably with pictures or video) to how to perform the "drains checks" that Porsche Centres do? It's hard to believe it requires specialist skill or tools.

This would be very helpful for our community. As we have discussed in other threads, some dealers are seeing this as a way to add work/profit when cars come in for service. In the UK we have seen various approaches:
- charge nothing, just check the drains as part of the service
- charge £68 for a check, then more if something is blocked
- quote £200, assuming something will need to be fixed (which can cost up to £600 depending on which drain)
... all the way up to the current record holder:
- add £921.92 (!) on top of the service price when quoting for a first service.

Instead of this silly pricing game, I would like to do my own drains check periodically, then get the OPC to do cleaning work only if the drains are blocked. I don't need to pay them £68 (or £200) if it is just "pour water in to 6 holes, see it come out of another 6". (Rather like what I had to do with my BMW, which was to top up the screen wash before every service to stop them charging me £10 to do it....)

So ... anyone up for telling us what the £68 task includes and how to know comprehensively if any drains are blocked?

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[gamueller]

So ... anyone up for telling us what the £68 task includes and how to know comprehensively if any drains are blocked?

See attached. Six drain plugs, but apparently those in the middle of the car are the problematic ones. I checked and removed the silicone barrier for all 6 in 10 minutes, with the middle ones already completed.

 

[anonymouse]

Six drain plugs

Ah, so that would require getting under the car. I wonder whether battery housing drains (the ones in that service bulletin) are the same as the other drains they check (which for example cause water on the car's floor when blocked)?

I think there is some kind of routine involving pouring water in the top - it appears on the quote as "Sunroof check (Main work)" even if I dont have a sunroof as such. I wonder what the workshop manual says for that task. Two of the drains are located at the corners of the windscreen but I don't know where all of them are.

The whole drainage architecture puzzles me. Why design a car where a bit of dirt can cause them to have to remove the wiper arm and rear wheel housings (per the most expensive of the quotes we've seen)?

 

[gamueller]

Ah, so that would require getting under the car. I wonder whether battery housing drains (the ones in that service bulletin) are the same as the other drains they check (which for example cause water on the car's floor when blocked)?

I think there is some kind of routine involving pouring water in the top - it appears on the quote as "Sunroof check (Main work)" even if I dont have a sunroof as such. I wonder what the workshop manual says for that task. Two of the drains are located at the corners of the windscreen but I don't know where all of them are.

The whole drainage architecture puzzles me. Why design a car where a bit of dirt can cause them to have to remove the wiper arm and rear wheel housings (per the most expensive of the quotes we've seen)?

This is the cause and fix for the problem. Note this is a Porsche document and your service shop prefers to check and charge you instead of just fixing the problem. Jerkoffs. They're all easy to get at without the car on a lift. Forget about the pouring water business and just remove the silicone barriers which cause the problem, and you'll never have the issue again.

 

[Speuk]

I haven't checked my J1.2 4S ST bungs yet but it looks like the same part number is continuing for J1.2 models which seems odd given they know these can clog up.

New bungs are readily available at Eurospares and elsewhere for around £4.50 each in case you want to have some spares to prepare ready to swap over.

 

[gamueller]

I haven't checked my J1.2 4S ST bungs yet but it looks like the same part number is continuing for J1.2 models which seems odd given they know these can clog up.

New bungs are readily available at Eurospares and elsewhere for around £4.50 each in case you want to have some spares to prepare ready to swap over.

Simply a matter of removing the silicone insert from the original plugs, which is easily pushed out. You don't need anything new.

 

[SoccerMan94043]

 

[anonymouse]

Yes I've seen that video before. But again it shows how to repair drain plugs, not how to test whether there is a flow of water - I don't know where to pour the water - and I don't think it is complete (there are drains beside the windscreen for example)

 

[gamueller]

Yes I've seen that video before. But again it shows how to repair drain plugs, not how to test whether there is a flow of water - I don't know where to pour the water - and I don't think it is complete (there are drains beside the windscreen for example)

You can lead a horse to water....

 

[Speuk]

Yes I've seen that video before. But again it shows how to repair drain plugs, not how to test whether there is a flow of water - I don't know where to pour the water - and I don't think it is complete (there are drains beside the windscreen for example)

Pour water in the four corners of the roof and bottom corners of the windscreen and check to see it running out in the wheel arches.

 

[anonymouse]

OK so it seems what they are probably doing is:
- pour water in the four corners of roof and bottom corners of windscreen
- visually check the six bungs in the battery drain

Anything else for my £68?

 

[Speuk]

OK so it seems what they are probably doing is:
- pour water in the four corners of roof and bottom corners of windscreen
- visually check the six bungs in the battery drain

Anything else for my £68?

I reckon that is it. When I had my J1 serviced at Sytner Solihull I asked about the £68 "Sun roof" check and they said they would test/ visual check for free and come back to me if there was any remedial work required. Final price for the 20k service was £300.54 excluding brake fluid as they did that under ARB0 recall, but that was June 2024.

 

[lcarron]

I could not resist to check it. Car on lift setting, two front wheels on the driveway and you have enough space to crawl under the car. One screw driver and easy to remove the plugs. No water on mine as the silicon valves were not there anymore. Either it was removed from production or during my multiple issues under warranty.

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