The moonroof on my rig is leaking into the headliner when my wife takes the rig through an automatic car wash. I'm fairly certain it leaks during the drying phase. Can I safely assume this isn't a plugged drain problem?
Another member found his leaked at the seal. He noticed wind noise and a leak when going through car washes. IIRC, he built up the sealing area with some type of sticky tape and that's how he isolated the problem. I believe he was taking it to a specialty shop to re-do the seal. Might have been DrtDuck but I can't remember.
Later... It was ShortBus, not DrtDuck
Here is the thread. He said the car wash leak was a one-time problem. Dunno if this is related to yours but if your drains are clear then try this.
I'm not keen on the automatic washers myself, but what are you going to do? It's not like the paint is pristine anyway. I just hate the idea of water getting where it shouldn't.
Thanks for the replies. I'll give it a better look tomorrow. Unfortunately it's getting chilly these days. I suppose I won't have to worry about it until March .
I'd rather just pull the damn thing and weld in some metal.
open the sunroof, squirt some water in all 4 corners and see if it drips down under the truck. If not, a drain(s) is plugged and the pan may be getting too full and spilling?
E
Eric,
Where is the leak showing up? The moonroof seal only slows down the water, the drain holes are what really keeps the water from entering your truck.
I've been fighting with this for some time now. My leak is right near the handle on the A pillar. There is a seam in the headliner material in this spot. The backside of the headliner is coated to make it waterproof so the water travels down the A pillar to the seam (where the stitches allow the water to penetrate the waterproof headliner backing). The real source of the leak can be hard to trace. I think my windshield seal is to blame.
Just a thought before you weld the thing for good.
Is it a factory windshield or has it been replaced?
You can tell as the glass will be marked 'Toyota' - if it has been replaced, there is a good chance that the seal was not put in properly (shops tend to skip the outside 'glue' step) and it will leak.
I take mine through the "touchless" car wash from time to time. It uses high pressure water (no brushes). I get water leaking through my moonroof as well. Although I find it annoying, it' only happens when I take it through one of these car washes, so I'm not too concerned. In day to day conditions, I don't have strreams of highly pressureized water directed at the moonroof.
Yes, it has been replaced. I had a leak at a lower corner that was fixed. The seal was glued during installation, but it is possible it's leaking up top.
My wife just told me the last time through the car wash water leaked through the moonroof onto the seat during the wash phase in addition to the usual upper headliner leak. Lovely.
Well, I've got bigger issues, so I'll encourage my wife to avoid the car wash.
Cruiserman,
Before you replaced the seal on the front windshield were you having problems w/ wet floor mats on the passenger side? I am going to have the front windshield resealed in hopes that the leak in the lower corner on passenger side will stop. Plus, I am hoping the wet floor mats will stop too. Anyone have this problem?
No, the windshield was replaced due to cracks and really bad pitting. I really didn't want to replace it, knowing that the chance for a leak is relatively high. I noticed a slight leak at one lower corner right after replacement, and the shop replaced the seal and glued it. I haven't noticed any other leaks since then. You could try putting some silicone in that area.
e9999,
I am going to go to HD today and buy black GE silicone II in a large caulk gun tube and reseal. Hoping this will work and will be much cheaper than taking to glass place. Will let everyone know how it goes.
Yes. In fact, that is effectively what the manual shows. Although it notes that you should apply the required primer before installing the windshield and then apply the adhesive to fill the gap.
I've come to believe that a reasonable number of 'moonroof leaks' are actually partially the moonroof and partially poorly installed windshields (ie failure to prime and glue gasket to glass = less common and failure to price and glue gasket to frame - much more common). I'm completely guessing, but I would bet that many non-OEM replacements are thinner than OEM and this just makes the (potential) problem worse. I'm guesing that in many cases (ie other vehicles) there is no need to 'double glue' and so many glass shops ignore or skip this step.
I'm just a rookie here BUT, I had the same car wash related leakage when I bought my 97 last year. I had water coming out all along the A-pillar, from the edge of the windshield to the grab handle and all along the hard plastic next to the dash and just above the kick panel. Floor mats and carpet were soaked. Just seeing if water drains out the rocker panel doesn't prove your drains aren't the problem, as I had water dripping below the car when I tested it too. The issue for me was that the drain tubes couldn't carry the volume of water created in the car wash - and in really hard rains too - because they were crimped/bent inside the kick panel. There is a wiring harness in the kick panel that was compressing the pastic hose (black 1/2" tubing) and even when I moved the wire all out of the way, the plastic wanted to stay kinked since it had obviously been in this position a long time. I posted my fix last year but here it is again. I cut a 4 inch piece of thin walled metal tubing and threaded it onto the existing plasitc hose to act as an external stent. Taped it top and bottom and then crammed it al back into the kick panel. Not a drop of water since.
my 2cents
Jay
.
