Do Automatic Car Washes and Land Cruisers mix?

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R

reecescruiser

Joined
Feb 17, 2007
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Location
Pinole, California
headliner2.jpg
Hey all what's up? I'm a newbie to this site as well as a relatively new owner of a '97 Land Cruiser. I bought it back in mid-Feburary @ 159K miles and have no problems with it to date. I have noticed one thing that worries me. The Land Cruiser is a big truck. And lately I've been a bit lazy. Instead of washing my truck the old fashion way, (you know, bucket of suds and a hose) I've been going to the gas station's automatic car wash. I've noticed as I'm sitting there and the automatic arms and actuating pads are spewing water and suds, quite a bit of water is somehow getting into the car, soaking the fabric headliner above the driver's/passenger door from the inside, travelling down the pillar, merging with the dashboard and finally coming to wet puddly mess on the carpet. Has any other LC/LX450 owner ever experienced this? Thanks for any input you all can give.

Reece
 
Does that just happen when you run it through the car wash, i.e. doesn't get wet when it rains or we you hand wash it?

The last time I ran it through a washer, the wheel scrubbers did a number on two of my repainted center caps though :mad:.

:beer:
Rookie2
 
It really hasn't rained all that much here, and I haven't noticed any water when I hand washed it. I only notice it when going through the automatic car wash and I feel water dripping on my ankle.
 
Yeah there was a post about something similar the other day. Also wash it at your house, save some $$$ and get to check out your lastest door dings!
:grinpimp:
 
vbcrush said:
Clogged drain slits under rocker panel. Pull plug under rocker panel and let it drain.
Click to expand...

Clogged drain slits in the rocker are causing the headliner to be wet??

I'm guessing the real problem lies in the sunroof seal or weather stripping.
 
Water can back up, from the rocker, up to the roof line?

Wouldn't it drain out onto the carpet first?
 
I took my 97 LC through the car wash once this winter to get the salt off and found that the high pressure forced water in through the sun roof somewhere. No problem during rain storms but the extra pressure in the wash sprayer let a mist in and left drops on the passenger seat (the sliding cover was open). No more auto car washes for this rig.
 
My 97 had a similar problem when i first got it.... turned out the rubber hose was loose on the sunroof side :eek:

Funny thing is, everyone kept telling me it was plugged... The wierd part is those drain tubes are usually held down really tight by the clamp so i have no clue how that happend.

Just goes to show it's not always a plugged drain
 
This is pretty easy,
1. cut about 10 feet of line off of your weed eater.
2. open your sunroof
3. take weed eater line and put it in the end of a LOW speed drill.
4. slowly and gently feed it down the holes in all 4 corners of your sunroof.
5. if it will not drive through use drill, SLOWLY.
6. The line will end up either in your rocker panels or hanging out the bottom of the truck, This is where the tubes drain out, You probably have a lot of mud and debris built up clogging the drains. Take a good straight blade screw driver and clean out and open up the vents.
You can use an air compressor to blow out the lines but either they are clogged up top or in the bottom. with these clean you can pour a gallon of water as fast as you can in the tray around the sunroof and will drain just fine.

Dave
 
BHM is on it.
The tubes are solid from the drain to the rockers, look up in the tray with the sunroof open and you will see of what we speak.
Dave
 
Happened to my passenger side a couple weeks back :frown:


Thought it was the OEM roof rack holes since it happened right after I yanked the bolts, but it was in fact the drainage hole for the moon roof that was clogged :whoops:


Had a damn twig sticking out of it :doh:


Yanked the twig, blew out both tubes with air and all was good after that :cool:


Put it through the carwash about 4 times since then without a drop :)
 
water can also weep in through the sun roof seals if the pressure on the sprayers is high enough.

that said, it looks like yours is an issue with the drainage tubes being clogged...that's a lot of water seepage...
 
can you pop the rocker panel drain plugs out from the exterior or interior of the truck
 
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