How did water get in there?!??!?

[HiImBrian]

I got into my car this morning and found water dripping out of where my drivers seatbelt comes out. The only thing I can think of is that where my roof rack bolts on is leaking... Any other ideas?

 

[wbrudi28]

do you have a sunroof?

 

[HiImBrian]

Yeah but it was closed all the way and it's not wet around it....

 

[chitown1211]

Yeah but it was closed all the way and it's not wet around it....

I know most sunroofs have tubes that let access water run down. Sometimes these tubes get clogged and it can back things up.

I have no idea how the EX sunroofs work, but this was a common problem on a cadillac I once owned.


Perhaps someone with insight into the EX sunroofs can shime in?

 

[toad]

Yup, common on Ex,s sport tracs etc, some times clogged sometimes the come loose.

 

[HiImBrian]

How do I check/fix it?

 

[wood1]

Look around in the door jamb area, if not there maybe under the hood somewhere. Once found, shoot compressed air up the hose. It will clear any blockages if they are present.

You may have to blow air up and down the drain to dislodge your obstruction if that is the problem.

 

[neberly]

funny how a search didn't find these. now I have to go back and edit my new question thread.

 

[Phantom4]

I had the same problem for the longest time. The sun roof was my culprit, I had to clean out the drains first, there are 4 one in each corner of the track. Be very careful if you are going to shoot compressed air from a compressor into it as it can dislodge the tube from its mount (it just slides on but if you dont have small hands its hard to reattach it to the post). For the back tubes, you can't get to them without a tube extension to your compressor nozzle and sliding it all the way to the back, then its a 90 degree turn to the drain, there is also no possible way to get to the other end as it is in the frame.

The second problem mine had and the main reason for the leak was the front mounting points for the front drain tubes are plastic siliconed on to the metal frame. The silicone was cracking and therefore leaking everywhere. I ended up taking Permatex windshield sealant as it fills in the cracks better than standard clear silicone and filled all this area from the inside of the sunroof. (if you open the sunroof and in the front corners you will see the sealant, just fill in with a generous helping of silicone and for me, the next day no matter how bad the rain was it never leaked again.

If you need any pictures just let me know. Hope it helps and good luck

 

[HiImBrian]

YES! I would really appreciate a few photos to see what I'm looking for... Can I use a can or two of compressed air? Or a pipe snake?

 

[Phantom4]

Sure thing. I'll post them Sunday at the latest. And I used a compressor and just pulled the headliner down a little and held the tube and blew air down but depending on the amount of build up in your tubes (if that is the issue)
but for me a can of compressed air just wasn't enough. As for a pipe snake I think it'll push the tube off for sure. It's only on the fitting finger tight no clamps or anything.

 

[neberly]

I was able to see the 2 front tubes and ran a wire down in them part way. Can't see that there are any rear tubes at. I can't imagine how you were able to put silicone on. Mine attatch somewhere inside. I have the trim strip off on the inside now so hopefully I will be able to see where it is leaking. I will leave the trim strip off awhile. It's supposed to rain this weekend so maybe I will be able to see where that water is leaking from. It has stained the ceiling liner and from the location of the stain it is the left rear portion of the sunroof/moonroof. Will let you know if I ever get it fixed.

 

[Phantom4]

Sounds good hopefully you can find it.

As for putting silicone on I had to take a part the front trim on the sunroof track to get to everything. It's easy to do but it's easy to break some of the plastic pieces. If you don't find the leak let me know so I an do the write up and I'll take the sunroof a part again and take pics so everyone will have an in depth how to.

Good luck and post back on your status

 

[neberly]

I pulled down the rear door seal and I can see the rear tubes. I have to find a long nozzle to reach them. I pulled the inside trim from the the moonroof since it was raining. I did see a drip coming from one of the bolts that hold the roof rack. It is never a fast leak so it still may be coming from there. I think I am going to put a drop of silicone down inside those bolt holes too just as a precaution and may use some pipe tape on the threads also. I may put a bit around the grommet throught the roof as well if I can get everything dry enough. It's supposed to rain all weekend anyway and some into next week too. It will be a good test. Thanks for your advice. It has been most helpful.

 

[neberly]

Well I discovered that if you take the door seal off and remove the upper covers for the seat belt you can drop the ceiling liner far enough to get your hand in and pull the back hose loose. I got it out and blew a couple good blasts of air down there and ran a small wire down as far as I could. Put everything back together. I noticed too that the upper clip on the seat belt cover had quite a bit of rust on it so I think some of the water was coming in from the roof rack mounting bolts. So I took them out, lifted the rack up about 1/2'' and dried everything out then put some windshield sealant around the grommets, put some down in the holes and wrapped both bolts with pipe tape. One looked a bit rusty. So if it rains like they said it is going to the next several days that will be the acid test.

 

[Phantom4]

sorry no pictures yet but will post them soon, for now with the sunroof open, there are two plastic clips directly in the middle of the sunroof. Carefully unclip those two clips.

Next, Carefully slide the rack backwards making sure it does not bind as the two arms just slide in the track but do not lift off. If you look in the water track there is a raised portion right next to the bottom of the arm, this is where it slides and is held in.

Once the arms have been slid backwards past that hump, carefully slide them outwards away from the sunroof track. (if you break a plastic piece just superglue them back together, there is almost no pressure on them as they only slide so superglue is plenty strong, and its waterproof).

Now take that piece and place it off to the side, look for two vertical lines going up the walls of the water track. This is the outside edges of the plastic drain. I took my permatex windshield silicone and filled these and anywhere else there was a crack, open area, rivet, anything that I thought had the potential to leak.

Once this is dry its just the opposite to put it all back together, just be careful on mine after 8 years of sun the plastic can be kind of brittle. I also took black RTV and filled around the weather strip around the top of the sunroof touching the glass only. To clean up I used denatured alcohol but acetone works just as well.

Hopefully, when you're all done it won't leak anymore, assuming its not the roof rack you should be good to go. Again I'll post pictures hopefully tomorrow, life and work kind of get in the way so I apologize for not posting them sooner.

Good luck to anyone who has a sunroof issue and if anyone ever has any questions please feel free to ask.

 

[neberly]

where did the water come from

In my case I don't think it was the sun roof drains at all. All seemed intact but I did blow them out anyway. When I had the upper seat belt cover off at the drivers shoulder I noticed that there is an upper L bracket that goes into the pillar to hold the upper end in place. The mounting screw on that bracket was quite rusty. That is directly below the roof rack mounting bolts.
I was able to get the cover off the rack and removed the 2 bolts. One of those also seemed a bit rusty as well. So propped up the roof rack just about 1/2" (that's all the further it will go with removing all 4 corners) and cleaned the metal real well then put a bead of clear automotive silicone sealer around the plastic grommets. Next I put a dab of the silicone down each hole after letting the rack back down. Finally I put pipe tape on both screws before re-installing them. We've had some heavy rain since then and so far no leaks.

So it may not be the sun roof drains at all.

In my installation the front ones are molded as part of the assembly frame and the hoses just push on the outer nipple. No cracks were evident on mine so I decided to leave well enough alone and not try removing any of the tracks etc.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to go with what I found.

 

[Phantom4]

my cracks wern't in the plastic but in the sealant that holds them on. In my case the water dripped down through the sealant onto the headliner and down through the A and B pillars. When I took my seat belt cover off all the metal parts are rusty too. Hopefully your fix will take care of it but either way none of the fixes require drastic work or replacing of parts. Just tons of sealant.

Hopefully yours was less of a flood in your truck than mine was. I had to remove all the seats and clean all the carpets but I also used the Bissell Little Green Pro Heat to clean the headliner to get rid of the water stains.

 

[neberly]

mine wasn't a flood. Just the roof liner would get wet to the touch. I still have not figure out how you get to the the front drains. My sun roof may be a bit different than yours (2002). The drains are in each corner but are molded as part of the sun roof frame. The front ones are in under the car roof. The only way I can see to get to them if needed is to drop the roof liner far enough to get a tube of sealent in there. I have the inside trim off yet just waiting to see if I've solved my problem. I didn't really think I wanted a sun roof but you take what you can get when you purchase a used vehicle.

 

[Phantom4]

Ok so I can't post a picture until I put it on a website but if anyone is looking for possible places water is coming in if you look in the front corners of the sunroof water passage area near the drain holes will be an area with a line of silicone. There is a line of it on both sides of the hole about two inches away from the hole which is what holds the drain on. It is on top of the sun roof area not under the headliner. These silicone areas were where water was coming in for me. Like posted above it can come in from the roof rack bolts, and also if your drains are plugged.

Just FYI for anyone, if you open the front door on the A pillar there is a black rubber piece where the water from the sunroof drains. This was plugged for me also, you can wiggle this out carefully and clean out the drains also just make sure not to tug on it.

Sorry about no pictures but eventually I'll try and figure this picture thing out. Best of luck to anyone who has the leaky roof issue.