HELP - I'm LEAKING!!!

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doctorJ

doctorJ

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Dec 2, 2003
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We just had our first rain since I bought my 97LC, 7 weeks ago. I have a large amount of water in the drivers floorboard area - mostly forward and on the left(door) side. In retrospeect I thought it was kinda strange a few weeks ago when I took it through a hands-free car wash that right after the highpressure washer circled the car there was a small drip coming from between the plastic molding and the window pillar - just above the hand hold and where the pillar covering meets the headlner. It just driped a few seconds and then stopped. Well we had 1.5 inch rain yesterday and this morning the carpet is soaked and there is a small amount of water on the egde of the rubber floor mat, I assume it must be coming from above - but where. Is this a common problem. Is it the sunroof (no evidence of any moisture up there)? Or is it the factory roof rack? Or something else?

HELP

Jay
 
The old sunroof problem. Do a search under Sunroof/Moonroof leak and you will find the solution. :cheers:

Mike
 
DoctorJ-
First off use the search utility on here and use keywords like sunroof or perhaps drain. Use the advanced search and look at the 80s board only. There's tons on info already here.

But basically there are 4 drain holes in the sunroof cavity. Open the roof and look down around the edges (front and rear) and you will see them. Try pouring water down into the "tray" and you should see it flow to the those holes. There are little drain hoses that carry that down to the rocker panels on each side. You should see puddles under the rocker panels.

These get plugged and water build up in the rocker panels also the drain hose gets kinked or screwed up somehow and perhaps leaks. I think that hose travels thru the pillar in the door. Check that the drain hole in the roof doesn't have a bunch of leaves and junk in it.

Try the searching, there's more info here for those that are resourcefull.
Riley
 
Thanks Riley - and nice trout too!
I'l get right on it.
 
Jay,

The tubes are about 3/4" OD as they pass down the A-pillar down to the rocker. There have been reports of the tube getting kinked behind the left front kick panel. Check behind there and make sure the tube isn't in a bind.

When cleaning out the drains up at the sunroof you need to be careful not to knock them off so be careful jamming things down them and if you use air pressure, don't crank it up too high.

If cleaning the slits in the rocker, cleaning the holes up top, and checking for tube kinks doesn't fix it then you might have a tube loose under the headliner. When the drains are working properly, you can pour gallons of water down the drains and the water will flow smoothly and quickly. As others suggested, do a search for details on that and let us know if you don't find the information.

We're here to help you find the leak.

-B-
 
So Far - there is no blockage in the sunroof and the opening to the drain is obviously open - since I have leakage inside the pillar ( I assume). There are 4 black rubber plugs along the length of the rockerpanel ( is this where my sliders will attach when I buy one?), I took them all out and no water in there. Under the truck sort of above the rocker panel in the front (by the back of the front wheel well), there is the same kind of black rubber plug - when I removed it a flood came out on my head. I assume this water isn't supposed to be there. Is this overflow from the drain or was this the water under the carpet in my front floorboard?
thanks for all the suggestions.
 
UPDATE - actually while the drain hole bubbled - it didn't actually drain :doh:, water from the other side pours through and comes out a slit at the bottom of the rocker panel ( about 1/8' by 1/2"). Nothing comes out on the drivers side. I ran a soft core plastic coated electric wire down fromt he top and got 3 1/2 feet easy and then NO MORE. the wire isn't stiff enoung to force it. I can now see water comeing from the edge of the plastic as it wraps around the pillar at the height of the securtiy module on the dash - drips onto the floorboard from there.

Should I try a stiffer wire or is there a way to come from below, or maybe some low pressure compressed air?

Jay
 
PAGING HUGH TO THE BOARD.................


He is the tube guy. Simon also has spent his share of time on this one.
 
:-\ Hopeful now :-\ , Just before it started raining again I pushed a fairly stiff wire through the tube and a bunch of black, rusty smelling water came out of the slit mentioned in my post above. Hopefully I didn't pierce the tubing. I'll check again in a few hours when the current rain showers stop. I haven't taken the kick panel off yet - it was next until I had success with the wire.

more later.

Jay
 
Dr J

...sorry for they delay - asleep at the computer. It sounds like you found the problem and congratulations on the initiation of water jetting onto your head!

The tube is as thick as your thumb OS) and you should have no problems reaming out the hole with a sturdy piece of wire or lowish flow air (the tube wall is quite thick as well).

You need to clear 4 drains - two forward in the corners and 2 aft. feed the cable in (I think I used a coat hanger) and give it a few prods. Then, get a large jug of water and pour a full jug down each hold (the sunroof tray can hold quite a bit, but careful not to overflow). You should get a strong flow of water out of the holes. The rears drain just aft of your rear tires (if you have a look under the truck you should see the tubes). The frnts drain into a pannel just aft of the frnt tires - so flow may not be quite as good.

If all this doesn's seem to work, do a search/get back to us - you will need to have a look in behind the drivers side kick panel and, potentially, pop part of the headliner to eyeball the connection at the top.

Cheers, Hugh
 
Doc,
Hopefully by cleaning out the drains for the sunroof you have fixed the problem. But when i read that there was water dripping through the door panel around the handle it sounds like you have an issue with the plastic behind the door panel. Pop the door panel off, :banana: easy, and check that the plastic is sealed all the way around. And that there are no tears. That is exactly what mine was doing when i bought my truck, checked and the plastic was torn. Now, no more leaks! :D

Let us know!
 
HELP - LEAKING!!! STILL , updated

??? Well, the problem is still there. When I pout water down the front drains it actually leaks on both side of the truck. Water does now come out of the small slits along the bottom front edge of the rocker panels, when I pour it into the front drains. The rears are clear and you can see the HUGE tubes they drain going into the rear wheel wells. Took off the driver side kick panel cover - white steel behind it welded to the continuation of the front windsheild pillar - I assumne that is where the tube is running and that is where it is leaking. There is a huge mess of wires behind that kick plate and they are dripping wet ! :o ! Have tried running a stiff wire and continue to meet lots of resistance at ~ 4 1/2 feet of wire. Since I can't get to the front drain tubes not sure what to do next ? ???

to clarify - no water coming out of the door panel itself (concretejungle's post).



thanks again

jay
 
Jay,
You need to get the leak fixed pretty quick. Hugh had the same problem (water in the kick panel) and his cruiser nearly burned up. You'll also want to check all the connectors in that panel for corrosion. (Sorry, but checking them is very important!)

Hugh's problem was a kinked tube behind that panel. You can find it so keep looking. It may help you to read his posts in this thread.

-B-
 
Jay:

It sounds like the problem is not just a plugged drain tube (although it could be - can you feed a thicker wire down the hole farther than you used to?) and you do need to fix it.

As B-W pointed out, the drain tube shares the pillar with a major wiring harness - one of my connections got wet and started to shut down parts of my system (e.g. the sunroof) - finally the plug shorted while I had the family in the car and caught on fire - so make sure the problem is fixed. You should disconnect the plug and have a look - look for green corrosion and spray with WD40, fill with grease, whatever...

You likely need to check two things (1) make sure that the drain tube is not kinked by the wiring harness. If you poke around inside the channel beside the wiring harness you should see the drain tube (same thickness as the rear). try to see if it is restricted in an way by the wiring harness and fix as needed.

IIRC, you can pull the plug/connection that I noted above out of the rectangualr hole in the pillar to see the tube - it takes a bit, but it comes out quite easily - I think I left mine exposed and just covered it with the kick pannel.

(2) you should pull part of the headliner to eyeball the connection point at the top. This is quite simple - IIRC - remove the DS grab handle, remove the DS visor, remove the rear view mirror and slowly peel off some of the trim around the sunroof. You should be able to pull the headliner down a few inches -- just be careful that you don't pull too far. See if the connection at the top is ok.

This may sound bad - but it's only about 1 hr of work.

Let us know what happens.

Cheers, Hugh
 
>> ... fill with grease, ... <<

Dielectric grease.

-B-
 
Thanks for the encouragment and info Hugh and 'B'. The grab handle to take off is the one on the pillar? I don't have one over the door - just the plastic covers where one would have gone. I broke one of the yellow plastic connectors for the door sill cover - are they easy to get at the dealer? Also - hope I don't catch fire this week as I can't get back to work on it till Saturday (gotta WORK :doh:).
is taking the rearview mirror off easy?
Do I need any adhesive to put the headliner back up?
Jay
 
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