Cleaning your sunroof drains FAQ

[greentruck]

Might work if it's scum growing in them that's the problem. Generally, it's various debris and vegetation that's more an issue with vehicles. But in places like Florida where the heat and humidity regularly hover around 100, you might have different problems than a place like BC.

 

[silverhorse]

Might work if it's scum growing in them that's the problem. Generally, it's various debris and vegetation that's more an issue with vehicles. But in places like Florida where the heat and humidity regularly hover around 100, you might have different problems than a place like BC.

I hear that, good point!
I love BC!! My wife and I went to Calgary then on to Banff a few years back. Unbelievable Beautiful up there!!

 

[Stone]

A couple of weeks ago, I opened the sunroof and noticed that on the side that's leaking, the corner plastic piece near the track that looks like a small right angle had somehow come off and was positioned in a weird way. I adjusted it and got it back on its proper place, and closed the sunroof. My leak is nowhere near as bad as it was...I certainly have nothing coming down the corner of the sunroof opening and dripping down the passenger grab bar anymore...weird...the piece being out of its place must have been letting water drip into the cabin somehow.

I still have a slight drip fairly high up the passenger A-pillar...so I'll probably take that corner of the headliner off to take a look at the drain hose. It's just been too cold the past few days here. I certainly didn't like working in the snow installing a brake rotor that was damaged because I didn't realize I had a siezed caliper piston, and the backing plate of the brake pad magled my rotor.

Thanks for the help so far.

 

[Wisdomseeker]

Awesome info! Thanks for the help. Im on it like a tall dawg!

 

[Higgin]

FYI - It may not always be that the drian is clogged, it may be pinched! - I've had some intermittant water on my drivers side floorboard on and off since i got my truck a few months ago. It was very strange.....sometimes when it would rain, the floor would be wet, other times it wouldn't. Then this week we had some monsoon like rain action and the drivers floor was a mess.....lots of water. So I decided to take the day today and figure it out. I poured some water in the drivers drain up top and it was very very slow to come out. Sometimes nothing would come out at all and it would back all the way up to the drian hole up top, but then eventually it would drian out slowly. So I assumed the drain was clogged. I tried the weedwacker line first, but didn't feel like it was making it all the way down. So I ended up using some double insulated speaker wire. Worked much better, but it was still very hard to ram down there....I assumed it was just really clogged. When i rammed the speaker wire down the tube, the water would drain right out.....but then when i would pull it back out, the water would get clogged up again. I was baffled. Didn't make any sense to me. So i pulled the kick panel on the drivers side to see if I could get an idea what was going on in there. There is an access hole behind the kick plate where there are some wires with big connectors running along with the drian tube. Not much space. Turns out that at some point someone had been messing with those wires (there were some inline wire connectors - i have no idea why, that'll be for another post) and when they shoved the wire connectors back into the access hole, the drain tube got smooshed between the connectors and the body. I ended up pulling the drain tube up and out of the hole and was greeted with a big muddy squirt of nasty water all over my pants . It looks like it had been that way for quite a while as the tube was pretty much permanently deformed. You could squish it back to a circle, but then it would go back to a kink when you let go. So my quicky fix was to put a ziptie snuggly around it. That seemed to help it mostly keep a circle shape. Then i stuck the tube back down into the rocker panel and pushed it back out of the way and then carefully put the wires and connectors back in so that the wires were towards to front of the vehicle and the drain was towards the rear and not getting smashed. I went back up top and poured in water and it drained right out, very quickly. So hopefully that will fix the problem. Its supposed to rain tommorow night I think, so I guess we will find out! BTW - Thanks for all the helpful hints in this FAQ! It was a big help and got me going in the right direction!

 

[greentruck]

Good point on checking the driver's kick panel for issues. There are several common things a PO or mechanic might have things apart there that could affect the drain if they were ham-handed.

Most alarms have several connections in there, so be careful with any digging around, as they tend to be something of a hack job that will really confuse you if something gets knocked loose.

Another common reason to dig in there is to do the Pin 7 mod, which allows selective use of the CDL in low range. You know where to look for that connector now

I'm sure you're glad to get that fixed, as it sure has been monsoon season 'round these parts.

 

[climbernyc]

This site rocks! Any time I have a problem with my 80, a quick search shows the solution! And I thought I must have a major problem with the water in ds footwell. Thanks, guys!

 

[MotoXmg]

...Any way to get the original pics back up?? Would sure be helpful.

 

[damagnan]

...Any way to get the original pics back up?? Would sure be helpful.

Agreed! Or is there another thread anyone knows about with comparable pics/documentation? (Either way, gonna keep looking around...)

 

[Impreza]

Agreed! Or is there another thread anyone knows about with comparable pics/documentation? (Either way, gonna keep looking around...)

Yes, same here. Rehost please somebody

 

[JerryLX450]

Yes please same here also.. can somebody rehost the pic?

Many Thanks.

 

[skibob]

I have been dreading this job, since it would obviously entail me tearing out my interior to find that pesky rear drain. Now I know where it's at I can just go after it. Thanks for doing this.

 

[skibob]

I hear a bunch about the heater turning your rig into a sauna, are you running the air conditioning along with the heater?
You should.
Pulling the warm moist air over the super cooled refrigerant evaporator will just flat rip the water right out of the air. You will see it run out the drain under your passenger side floorboard. Not drip, run.
It will also dry your windshield because all the water is pulled out before it runs over the heater coil, dry hot air blowing, picking up water, then passing that newly wet air over the a.c. condenser, dry it out, repeat as necessary.
Should dry out that waterlogged carpet in no time.
Just running the heat without will have the unwanted effect of growing mushrooms from any and all upholstered surfaces.

 

[Mopoke]

Hi tomatopants - would you be able to reattach your sunroof pictures in this thread? They have disappeared.

 

[Slabsides45]

Excellent thread, just sans OP's pics. Would be great if he (or someone who has the same knowledge base) could repost them!

 

[apdhillon]

are these pictures hosted somewhere else? does anyone have these pictures saved? im trying to see what i'm looking at for reference.

 

[Olaf]

Dried me out.

To get to rear drains had to pull down roof liner, like in pics. Was a snap. Disconected line at top used coaxial cable to clean, then blew out, me, big wind. Let it rain, no more leaks.

Thanks

 

[buggerlugs]

great info! 1992, 80 series TD from Japan

Big thanks for posting....if God ever was "going to get you" he has undoubtably changed his mind....that info is precisely what we needed to know.... we ran water down the drains and it seemed to go through okay and then blew in compressed air but still leaks front and rear driver side.....I saw a couple of drops escaping the seam at eye level from front driver's column too...we were afraid we had detached the drain hose..... maybe we should try to find bottom drain plugs and see if we can irrigate..... before taking down the head liner...... I taped the sun roof closed but.....still have wet floor on the driver side back floor.....also we are overheating driving up long steep hills....someone said transmission cooler should be installed...any idea on the cost? Thanks a lot. M

 

[retrofive]

Just bought a 97 LX last night and when I went to put the kids' car seats in this morning, the driver's side back seat belt (middle row I guess) was wet. The webbing of the belt itself was wet, like the retractor was sitting in water. Could this be a roof drain issue? Where are the drains for the c-pillar?

Thanks,
Eric

X2, but mine are the front passenger's belts, so it's the b-pillars. This started once i used some compressed air to blow out the drains when i was getting a little soggy headliner. I guess I just moved the problem (clog) lower in the vehicle. Next is use the wire, I think I have some 12 gauge romex sitting around here...

Digging for more info here as well. My passenger side c-pillar is taking on water. I can see the discoloration in the fabric up top where the headliner meets the sticking to the c-pillar fabric. Seatbelt webbing is wet.

 

[hicruise55]

Wanted to add: I've found the ARB blue pressure hose to be the perfect "tool" to clean the drains... I tape one end to my air compressor nozzle (airtight) and start feeding the other end, down the drain, while blowing air out. The ARB line is rigid so you can push/feed it all the way down! I then simple green the drains... works for about a year for me... I have LOTSA pine needles at my place