cool breeze, I feel your pain and have the EXACT same problem...I just replace my leather interior and a few other things, but the water coming into my truck is almost enough to make me want to sell it, even at a loss. I can't stand the fogged up windows and musty odor.
I believe the problem is the sunroof gasket is old, mine definitely shows signs of wear and especially in the area where the metal bracket came through to hold the wind deflector down. It's off now and my roof is duct-taped shut, I was tired of the second shower I got every morning on my way to work.
Mine leaks even if it's just minor water coming in. Even snow melting ever so slowly (really cold water hitting me). I think what is happening is the water is coming in through the seal and just staying on the glass of the sunroof...that let's it travel inside of the channel that is supposed to take the water to the drains...mine are completely unblocked and flow like Niagara Falls...so it's not the drains. My roof liner is out right now as I am trying desperately to fix this. My water then comes in through two area where bolts are holding it into place...the directly onto me...now my new leather seats as well. I have it caulked and duct taped shut too..no water for the most part, although there appears to be a leak in the firewall that lets a little water into the floorboard as well...not engineered too well to keep water out that's for sure. I thought I had that area fixed as well, I ran some weather stripping above the brake booster in the engine compartment to channel water away from that are where I think it was entering...must be getting in somewhere...I HATE LEAKS!!
I think the slits in the seal you're talking about are for air to get in and out of the seal, it's hollow. Some have put a wire (although I think it sounds difficult to push a limp wire into an entire gasket) to give it some body....basically doing the same thing as a bicycle inner tube. I don't like rigging things like this, I just want it fixed right, but I hate hanging parts that don't guarantee a fix, especially expensive parts.
I still don't have a clear answer as to what I need to do to replace the seal on the sunroof and what the cost is...is it all the glass and gasket, entire sunroof complete or just the gasket? I contemplated welding it shut...GONE for good, but I am not letting this poorly engineered componenet beat me...no way. My wife says take it to Toyota...I can't imagine what they would charge and quite frankly I don't think they know as much about Land Cruisers as this forum, so I like my odds here better...but will I be insane before it's actually fixed...that's an entirely different question all together. There are only so many medications I can take to remain calm in regard to the water leaking into my truck...and I'm running low!
Anyone interested in a Land Cruiser with new leather seats? I might be selling soon if I can't get to the bottom of this.
