[John_E]

Totally weird -- first time I have seen this happen.

After I fixed the secondary air injection system fault (combi valve, connecting hose, and control solenoid, reported in another thread) and got my readiness monitors all ready for my smog test, everything went well at the test only facility, but during the extended idling period, I saw the sun roof tilt upward for a couple of minutes, then shut again. Weird! The control was in the closed position the whole time, so I suspect something in the state's scan software triggered the roof glass to tilt, unless these cars open their sunroofs at a particular interior temperature, something I have never observed. Totally weird.

I did have a similar poltergeist in the 1996 Audi A4, with random tilting and closing of the sunroof while driving, and I cured it by disassembling the switch and cleaning all of the contacts. Maybe that's what is starting to happen on the Passat.

Thoughts?

 

[PZ]

Poltergeist it is. I would check for Noah for water intrusion from the 40-day floods.

 

[Timberto]

Poltergeist has a doppelgänger. VW sunroofs on my 2008 to about 2012 cars have a mind of their own. First thing I do when I get one is pull the fuse so it doesn't get stuck open.

 

[cuppie]

Just like on your A4, the problem is most likely dirty contacts in the sunroof switch. Clean it out, and the ghost should go away.

 

[AndreasPassat]

My 1998 GLS and 2003 W8 had that same Poltergeist. Boy that thing sure travels around.
It was so bad on the W8 I took that as an opportune excuse to buy a whole new sunroof switch assembly.
...and while I was at it, picked up a couple of extra spares. ECS was having a fire sale.

The W8 would open the sunroof during the night. The first couple of times I thought it was me having a brain fart and forgetting. After a few more times I snapped a picture to check my sanity. That's when I discovered something was funky.

 

[Altair 4]

Last summer, ours would tilt open randomly on its own, usually at night when the car was unoccupied. Pulled the fuse - it just wasn't worth dealing with and I didn't want the car flooded.