Leaking sunroof - need some advice

[t00manyuserz]

Looking for some advice. I have a leak in the sunroof, in the corner where the drain connects to the sunroof - but it’s not from the drain, it’s from this weird rusty screw bit. I’m not clear what _exactly_ is leaking and what I can do to fix it - but it runs quite freely if you pour water into that area.

That slightly recessed rusted spot is where water freely runs from. Should I just spray some flex-seal into it and forget it? Or should I do a proper fix (and if so, how)? Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[t00manyuserz]

I wonder if this screw is the top part of it? I poured water into that general area.

 

[FirstToy]

Looking for some advice. I have a leak in the sunroof, in the corner where the drain connects to the sunroof - but it’s not from the drain, it’s from this weird rusty screw bit. I’m not clear what _exactly_ is leaking and what I can do to fix it - but it runs quite freely if you pour water into that area.

That slightly recessed rusted spot is where water freely runs from. Should I just spray some flex-seal into it and forget it? Or should I do a proper fix (and if so, how)? Thanks for any thoughts.

View attachment 3268404

the screw to the right with rust ring looks like it may be the same as the second photo. That looks like a small screw to hold down the top plastic piece. I would unscrew, seal the hole w/ a flat gasket washer or some silicone (don't cover the screw head in case you need to remove later)

The larger rusted one to the left looks like the mounting tab for the smaller drain pipe. That looks like a leak as well. Might as well seal that too.

 

[t00manyuserz]

Ok. I undid that screw and indeed, it just holds a plastic cover. I can’t figure out if I’m missing something underneath it or not though. Would anyone be kind enough to share a picture of a NON leaking setup? Am I missing some rubber gasket or what’s the story here? I tried plugging with some random foam, but it’s still leaking, and I can see why - there’s holes aplenty.

 

[Kernal]

That is the cable cover, known for water to leak past the screw threads but also
IIRC that area is a low spot which allow water from the drain pan to overflow.

I used something like butyl rubber (3M Window Weld) to build a small dam in the low area and put some under the cable cover, IIRC it would go where the foam strip is now. You should also use a thread sealer on the threads of the screw when you reinstall it.

The bigger picture is that the sunroof may be allowing too much water past the
gasket around the glass and that can overwelm the ability of the sunroof drains
to empty the drain pan fast enough. That can be made worse if the vehicle is parked on an incline front to rear, rear to front, or side to side, like tipping an almost full bowl of water will make it overflow.

One other thing you should do is check if the sunroof has sagged down. You can push up on the (closed) sunroof glass while sitting in the vehicle and see how much the glass moves up. If it has sagged there are shims that can be added to the mounting studs to raise the runroof, three on each side of the sunroof. To get to them you have to remove the plastic trim.

WARNING: that plastic trim IME is difficult to pry off and very brittle with age/sun exposure, so expect to break some or all of the pieces.

With the sunroof glass removed some people have stuffed a very thin strip of ?? under the gasket to push it outward for a tighter seal, but if you put something too thick the runroof might not close. Others have cut a bicycle tire lengthwise and wrapped it around/over the original gasket like a big rubber band.

Also, if you remove the glass you can clean the gasket well with soap and water and then apply a rubber revitalization grease, might help a tad.

Of course, make sure the drains are clear; most people use something like weedwacker string, doubled up if needed, but don't expect to see the string come out anywhere, the front drains empty into the rocker panels so you only need about 4 feet of string up front. The rear drains come out on the inner side of the lower quarter panels you would need a very long piece of string for that. You can pour some dish soap mixed in warm water down the drains to clear out any muck. Do not use anything much stiffer than weed wacker string
or compressed air as you risk pushing or blowing the drain hoses off the drain pan nipples.

All the above has been discussed in the past, try some searches in the 80 forum for terms like Warped cable cover, sunroof leak, weed wacker string, etc, etc.

FWIW

 

[t00manyuserz]

Thank you. That's incredibly detailed. Totally removes any need for searching for any other threads J/k but much appreciated. I'm going to try the butyl route first - I'm trying to prevent that general area from leaking. I am trying to just pour a cup of water there and see if it leaks, and it currently does - horribly so, it's basically a straight river down the headliner. Once I get that to agree to route water to the drain, I'm going to poke at the sunroof - I think it does currently leak as that's how I came to notice the problem to begin with. Since the car has always lived in the dry desert, I think nobody has ever bothered to even check if this is an issue...

 

[Malleus]

The problem with the system drainage design, and the reason the front corners leak and the rear ones (usually) don't (unless they become pinched) is that the front drains fill the lower end of the kick panel pockets AND THEN drain into the rocker panels. This is the same pocket the floor harness connectors are tucked into. They are supposed to be situated above the level of the overflow weir, at the bottom of the pocket and so will never be wet. Supposed to. Toyota tried to add bits and pices to the pan design to help guide teh flow into the drains, without success (this is why the other series design aren't the same).

What actually happens, and Toyota recognized this as a problem when they rerouted the drains in other models, is that the water cannot completely drain out of the pocket since it has to flow over a low weir to get out. So it sits there until is evaporates. It's not much, but it doesn't take much to corrode the terminals in the connectors. Also, the lower end of the tubing is below the connectors, and extends into the area where water would pool, preventing the water in the tubing from discharging into free air, and effectively plugging the tubing.

You can do the same thing with a length of tubing and a bucket of water. Slowly pour water into the tubing with the lower end in free air, and it'll drain out the bottom. Now put the end in the bucket , with it below the waterline and the tubing will fill instead of draining. You can achieve the same result by pouring water into the tubing at a fast rate.

The reason the sunroof pan overflows is that the seal is designed to be a dust excluder not a watertight seal, so some water flows into the pan, hence the need for the corner drains. What happens when more water flows into the drains than the tubing can accept is that the air below the water column is sufficient to support the water above and it pools in the drain pan. This will happen even if the drains are clear and they can discharge into free air.

The rear drains work better because they are higher than the fronts and usually see a lower flow and the lower ends discharge into free air in the rear wheel wells.

The only permanent solution when the seal has been compromised to the point that it cannot sufficiently restrict the ingress of water into the pan is to replace the seal, which requires a new glass, since they seal is not available separately.

Last time I looked, the '94 glass was still available, but the later '95-'97 was not. I haven't compared the two, but I think the difference is the mounting arrangement on the glass. The glass and seal seem to be the same.

The problem with simply replacing the seal is that Toyota designed it as a multiple piece/material seal and it's not as simple as gluing a rubber strip onto the glass.

 

[t00manyuserz]

Ugh. I see. So basically all these shenanigans I’m going through with butyl and so on are ultimately bound to be futile, and new glass is the only way to go if the seal no longer holds, eh.

This is an interesting dilemma. On the one hand, my glass hasn’t sagged so badly as to have a terrible leak yet - I think I can shim it. But on the other hand, if the process has started, then where will I be in five years - at which point the replacement glass will most assuredly be NLA. Sigh.

 

[t00manyuserz]

Any chance you might have the part # for a '94? I swear I saw it "available" on MZ, but I am looking now and it shows NLA. Mystery.

[edit] it looks like this is the one: 63201-60023. But reading other threads, it looks like the 1990-94 had a different seal from 1995+? This one shows as "1990-2006" on ToyoDIY, so I wonder if it will fit my car or not.

 

[Malleus]

1994 vintage:

The glass should be the same, the seal may be the same (I never compared the two, but I can't remember any difference, offhand), but the mounting is definitely different (different number of mounting bolts). The two are not interchangeable.

The stock changes constantly, as do the prices. I do not know if either is out of production, or is just out of stock. Maybe @OGBeno knows.

 

[Kernal]

FWIW I tried Amayama for the runroof glass (63201-60023) at least a year ago and at first it seemed like it would happen but later the order was canceled as they didn't want to ship the glass.

 

[t00manyuserz]

FWIW I tried Amayama for the runroof glass (63201-60023) at least a year ago and at first it seemed like it would happen but later the order was canceled as they didn't want to ship the glass.

With a bit of sleuthing I know where Amayama gets their Japanese stock from, so while it’s completely useless to almost everyone for items like this, it IS possible to get those items as long as shipping is inside Japan. Question is, does that item fit my car, because that isn’t what ToyoDIY has for my year (I seem to have -60021, which also seems to be available).

 

[t00manyuserz]

How much can I trust ToyoDIY for the glass sunroof part number, and how can I figure out if there is a replacement? For my year/market/package, ToyoDIY (and Megazip) say that I need 63201-60021. But I see several folks mentioning different numbers, and while mine is around $500 USD, -60012 (two posts above) seems to be over $1K, which is absolutely insane.

How can I ensure I order the right part? And also - is there any way to find out if there is a compatible replacement? I suspect at least some model # difference is due to tinting of the window, so if the frame is the same, I don't care if the tint is different - I can always adjust it myself after, but at least it would give me more options for sourcing the glass.