Helpful tip: clean your front drainage holes

Just had my car in the shop and the techs were telling me about a C4S that had plugged the front drains with debri and ended up flooding the battery compartment and trashing the brake booster and some other stuff. That prompted me to check both of mine up front and sure enough one was almost plugged and the one near the battery was fully plugged. Hopefully this saves someone some trouble.

any particular spot to look for the drains?

Yeah, they told me about that too along with some other drains in the rear. They said I should check for dampness under the rear mats from time to time.

I accidentally discovered those drainage holes up front when I first bought the car. I was giving it a complete cleanup, and after the wash, drying up everywhere, saw the water collected in there, and there were leaves and stuff clogged up. From then on, I always take a quick peek in there (thru' the plastic covers) after a carwash.

do you guys leave the cars park outside....?

I need some pics, where are the holes in my armor.....

If not pics then a description - please - asap! When I PPI'd my car I was told these tubes were plugged and needed to be cleaned. I haven't figured out where they are yet. thanks!

Thank you! I'm glad someone said it - talking about these holes without saying specifically where they are, or posting pics doesn't help. ...almost time for Tim to post his "This Thread is Useless without Pics" graphic.

Ok...open up your front hood. Next to the battery compartments, on both left and right sides there are plastic covers just like the one for the battery compartment. Under those plastic covers are where the left and right "wells" are. There is a drainage with a rubber flap on each well, kinda similar to your kitchen sink garbage disposal hole. Stick your finger in them to check if they are clogged. Oh...then smell your finger.... As for those of you talking about the tubes at the rear and checking for moisture under the rear seat area... those must be the sunroof drainage tubes.

Thanks! Ewww! You've been hanging around us too long.

Great, you had me go out at this time of night into the garage and violate my car But I did find both, but only the passenger side I could 'stick' my finger in, the drivers side had wiring going through it. But thanks for sharing...now I have to wash my hands and my car will never look at me the same way again

Did you tell it to cough?

Did it kinda grab your finger when you stuck it in??? (think muscle-control)

Come on guys...my car is a woman, although she hasn't bitched at me lately

Ask and ye shall receive! thumb_thisthreadisworthlesswithoutp.gif 1 - Water drainage: sliding roof, rear 2 - Water drainage: sliding roof, front 3 - Water drainage: tank tray 4 - Water drainage: evaporator of heating and air-conditioning system 5 - Water drainage: radiator tank

Tim, TY

You are welcome!

Yep - on my the Mark II car I need a torx bit to get the side panels off. I reach the drain on the passenger side without removing the panel, but not the drivers side.Also, there's no rubber flaps that I can see, just rubber funnels. I can see that they're plugged with leaves, but they're bone dry so no urgency at this time. How's the best way to clear these? Does the funnel attach to a tube, or are they one piece with the tubes? Should I "roto-root" them clean? Compressed air? What'd you do?

I just dig up whatever I could, then hose the rest down the tube. You should be able to see light thru' it when it's clear.

The PET diagrams were very cryptic for this particular item. Here is a picture. For orientation. The item at the top left is your cabin filter (may as well check it) and on the far right is the Battery. You have a drain just like this on the drivers side of the battery as well but it is much harder to see/get to since it is right under something. Check em both. If you pour water in there from the hose it should drain right down the holes.

Thanks for the idea and the pictures. I had this problem on a Nissan 300ZX. They clog up from the t-top drains. I used compressed air to push the gunk through with it but I may just try water with the C4.

byootie - thx

Nice job! Thanks guys!

I never clean my own pipes. That's not to say my pipes are never cleaned.

This thread inspired me to go out and check my drainage holes. In the driver's side hole I found a wad of lint and a rolled up sticker measuring 1-1/8th by 3/4 inches, silver color with black writing on it, with "BOSCH" written across the top, "3 397 020 396" below that, then "Made in Germany" under that, then "01-05-03/3" under that, and at the bottom a Porsche part # "996. 628. 035. 00" Doe anyobdy know what part that sticker fell off of? Or is it just a bonus for me to find, so that I wouldn't feel that the minor effort of using a Torx 20 driver to remove the plastic cover was time wasted?

Did a search on my parts CD and came up with the following regarding that part number: 996 628 935 00 Crank Drive (wiper area) 996 628 235 00 Crank Drive (wiper area) So not the exact number but everything that was 996 628 dealt with either the wiper system or windshield washer assembly, so I bet it came from a component from one of those areas.

Thanks SpeedDemon. The location is near the wiper/washer assembly, so that makes sense. Thank you for taking your time to do a parts # search.

Gentlemen Thought I would resurrect an old but forgotten thread. Noticed a bit of water in the battery compartment so spent the morning investigating. Battery out and the tray was wet Took the battery tray out (4 x 13mm nut) and this was the rubbish underneath Last picture shows all the gunk from cleaning out the 4 drainage holes. I chose to clear the gunk out using a combination of tweezers (don't tell the wife ), a long screwdriver and a skewer. Happy to say that water drains out perfectly now.

There is a Porsche TSB on this for some earlier cars ('98/'99) titled: "Water Drains in Front Cowel Area". From '00 on the change was implemented in the cars from the factory. I made the change on my '99 cab and it was relatively easy.

You guys drive in the rain ?

lol, yes i drive in the rain, and yes I do park outside at times...i even drive at night in the rain. lol

I know this is an old thread but better than starting a new one. Reminder to check your drainage holes. Washed the car today, took it home and waxed it and then went for a cruise in my sexy, sexy 996. Turned on the ac and Bam! Smelled like a cat took a dump on my face. It was horrific. Turns out something left me a nice gift in the battery box area. When I washed the car, it moved it all into the drainage hole where it decided to remain. Had to snake it and use the local car wash vacuum to try and suck it out and then ran water through it to try and flush. At least now I have a reason to buy a new carbon filter. I won't turn on the ac until I get one.

Drain hole in the picture. Where does it go? Right out the bottom of the car? I may have pushed the plug through...look for it? Forget about it? Let me guess. It goes right to the engine and will cause bore scoring...

Quotes source post: 4354394

Regarding this diagram, where are the exit holes for drains 1 and 2? Do panels need to come off to check these? I checked the drains under the frunk and all looks good. Kyle

after pulling material out with my finger , i used a long piece of soft coated (rubber/plastic) electric wire and snaked it all the way down and back up a few times, seems to have worked well

Old thread but thought i'd share my experience since i found this by googling about it. All 4 of mine were missing, mouse got in and chewed my heater core seal. Had water all of my floor on the first car wash this spring.

Thanks for resurecting the thread. I am about to start the project as well.

I have a 997.2, and I guess at some point this was removed and a rodent got in and ate the foam that covers the coolant lines. It was quite a pain finding the correct part numbers for these, but with a little research and using several other threads I was able to find them. Here is the PN and link 99970347641