Sunroof Leak

[PabloCruise]

another trick you can do if you continue to have the same problem is to follow the drain hoses to their exit point of the vehicle. They will be connected to a 90 degree rubber elbow to the exit hole. Remove the elbow and stick the hose in the exit hole without the elbow. It is a factory flaw. Overtime particles will build up in the elbow. Removing it will allow sufficient flow to be restored.

Does anyone have a picture of where the rear drain tubes exit the body?

 

[bucfl]

I fixed the leak as well, but mine was clogged drain lines from acorns, twigs, leaves and dirt. I managed to lose some of the screws in the process. Does anyone have the part numbers? Where did you source the gasket? The sunroof wont close down all the way and i can see light between roof and gasket. I think its so dry it wont flex.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

Does anyone have a picture of where the rear drain tubes exit the body?

Nope, I have been looking for some pictures for a while now

 

[shromani]

PabloCruise said: Does anyone have a picture of where the rear drain tubes exit the body?
Somebodyelse5 said: Nope, I have been looking for some pictures for a while now

Excellent Post, enjoy data mining this some 3 years later.
Did anyone get the answer to where this hose is supposed to exit. I am getting water in the door sills on passenger/left side of my '90 HDJ81. Wondering if it's been pulled from it's destination, or is the water dribbling down the outside of the hose and depositing where it collects.

 

[craaaazzy]

bumping this back up as I'm having the same water intrusion issue and am getting water dripping down to the headliner (not onto the tray) which then goes down the A-pillar and onto the floor. looking at the hand drawing from post #10, it seems like water is coming in from between the glass and the plastic trim. I've already replaced with a new rubber gasket (using silicone for securing it) and it doesn't look like it's coming from between the gasket and body or the gasket and plastic trim. my thinking is to put some silicone on the outside of the sunroof between the glass and plastic trim (or maybe the inside...I can't remember what it's like inside until I remove the sunroof again). any thoughts?

 

[michael99b]

PabloCruise said: Does anyone have a picture of where the rear drain tubes exit the body?
Somebodyelse5 said: Nope, I have been looking for some pictures for a while now

Excellent Post, enjoy data mining this some 3 years later.
Did anyone get the answer to where this hose is supposed to exit. I am getting water in the door sills on passenger/left side of my '90 HDJ81. Wondering if it's been pulled from it's destination, or is the water dribbling down the outside of the hose and depositing where it collects.

On my 1999 the hose exited behind the rear wheel. You need to stick your hand up there to find it.

 

[michael99b]

bumping this back up as I'm having the same water intrusion issue and am getting water dripping down to the headliner (not onto the tray) which then goes down the A-pillar and onto the floor. looking at the hand drawing from post #10, it seems like water is coming in from between the glass and the plastic trim. I've already replaced with a new rubber gasket (using silicone for securing it) and it doesn't look like it's coming from between the gasket and body or the gasket and plastic trim. my thinking is to put some silicone on the outside of the sunroof between the glass and plastic trim (or maybe the inside...I can't remember what it's like inside until I remove the sunroof again). any thoughts?

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Try tapeing that gap first to see if it makes any difference. No sense adding caulk until you know it will work.

 

[Slimm]

I tore apart my interior searching for a sunroof leak, bought a new gasket, and finally bought an entire sunroof glass/gasket assembly from ebay before I solved my problem. That plastic cowling on the outside of the sunroof is prone to leaking- i had a small crack and sure enough, water was getting in from there. Those inside gaps are normal (AFAIK) but the outer molding should seal with the plastic cowling surrounding the glass. If it doesn't, that could very well be your culprit!

 

[craaaazzy]

Try tapeing that gap first to see if it makes any difference. No sense adding caulk until you know it will work.

That’s a great suggestion! I’ll look into water proof tape.

 

[mrbigboy]

That’s a great suggestion! I’ll look into water proof tape.

@craaaazzy did you ever resolve this leak issue beyond taping? I’ve got the same thing going on. Seems like water is getting between the glass and plastic trim.
Already put some silicone on the outside but still get a tiny drip.
Does new glass come with the plastic trim attached or is that a separate item that can be replaced to get a good seal?

 

[highonpottery]

@craaaazzy
Does new glass come with the plastic trim attached or is that a separate item that can be replaced to get a good seal?

I’ve been looking into this because I started having the same problem this week. I just taped over it because it was letting quite a bit of water in, right onto the seat

The plastic trim appears to be part of the sunroof glass, so our only solution is to either silicone the plastic or buy a new sunroof glass - the part is ~$525 from Toyota right now.

When you did the silicone seal what was your process? Did you extract the sunroof to do it or just apply from the exterior?

My trim appears to be kinda loose along the length of it (gasket and trim got caught using tilt feature and it didn’t seat back in properly, maybe that’s what busted the seal) so I’m wondering if I’ll be able to remove it from the glass to apply silicone underneath before putting back on.

 

[mrbigboy]

I’ve been looking into this because I started having the same problem this week. I just taped over it because it was letting quite a bit of water in, right onto the seat

The plastic trim appears to be part of the sunroof glass, so our only solution is to either silicone the plastic or buy a new sunroof glass - the part is ~$525 from Toyota right now.

When you did the silicone seal what was your process? Did you extract the sunroof to do it or just apply from the exterior?

My trim appears to be kinda loose along the length of it (gasket and trim got caught using tilt feature and it didn’t seat back in properly, maybe that’s what busted the seal) so I’m wondering if I’ll be able to remove it from the glass to apply silicone underneath before putting back on.

Thanks @highonpottery

I had a feeling that plastic trim was likely part of the glass, and that the glass was going to be pricey.

I applied silicone to the exterior, without removing the glass. Actually did it several years ago and never saw it leak again, then with the heavy rains lately it came back. Looked closely today and found that the old patch I did was coming up a bit, so cleaned and reapplied with new silicone. This is at the center rear, where there's a gap in the plastic trim. Looks like hell but if it keeps the water out I'm okay with it, and no one can see it anyway.

 

[CloudCity]

I love this stuff for sealing up small cracks and crevices that leak, especially on older cars with shrinking seals.

Amazon product ASIN B000BKEBO0

 

[craaaazzy]

@craaaazzy did you ever resolve this leak issue beyond taping? I’ve got the same thing going on. Seems like water is getting between the glass and plastic trim.
Already put some silicone on the outside but still get a tiny drip.
Does new glass come with the plastic trim attached or is that a separate item that can be replaced to get a good seal?

I ended up not using tape but siliconed all around the sunroof where the glass and plastic meet. No more water since

 

[overlandish]

bumping this back up as I'm having the same water intrusion issue and am getting water dripping down to the headliner (not onto the tray) which then goes down the A-pillar and onto the floor. looking at the hand drawing from post #10, it seems like water is coming in from between the glass and the plastic trim. I've already replaced with a new rubber gasket (using silicone for securing it) and it doesn't look like it's coming from between the gasket and body or the gasket and plastic trim. my thinking is to put some silicone on the outside of the sunroof between the glass and plastic trim (or maybe the inside...I can't remember what it's like inside until I remove the sunroof again). any thoughts?

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I had the same leak. It ended up being the seal around the glass. I used a nice weatherproof silicone on the outside and sealed it up and after a week of rain I have not had one drop.

 

[Malleus]

Why didn't you just replace the seal?

 

[overlandish]

Why didn't you just replace the seal?

With weather dipping down into the 30s, and a garage that wont fit the vehicle, I will save the bigger job for a time when plastic is less brittle and the "summer car" is out incase I have to order new parts. It is not a safety item, and it works perfectly the way it is.

 

[rannon]

So today I got in the truck with the sunroof glass installed (and the sunroof closed) and had a friend pour water on the outside of the sunroof. Yes water does make its way into the truck. And yes, I have a couple of pinholes in the 15 year old original gasket, thus more water than desired drips into the drainage tray. I have ordered a new gasket and will install it.

I also noticed that some of the water that comes through the gasket remains adhered to the underside of the plastic trim, travels along towards the glass, and then drips into an area other than the drainage tray. This water falls into the area where the cable track is located and/or further inside of that. This area is NOT water tight by design. It is impossible for water in this area to drip into the drainage tray. This water simply drips onto the top of the headliner (if my headliner had been installed) and finds a place to go.

I also removed the sunroof glass and had a friend pour water into the drainage tray. The truck was parked on an upslope with the nose of the vehicle pointed uphill. When we poured water into the drainage tray, it went towards the back of the truck since I was parked facing uphill. The rear drainage tubes eventually could not handle the amount of water we were pouring into the drainage tray. The drainage tray then became full and overflowed towards the inside of the truck and into the area where the cable track is located and further inside of that. As noted above, this area is not water tight by design. This water then runs onto the headliner (if my headliner was installed) and finds a place to go. When the drainage tray is full, the water will not overflow the outside edge of the tray as the outside edge is higher than the inside edge. I should note that my drainage tubes are clear and plenty of water is making its way out of the vehicle and onto the ground as designed. We poured too much water into the drainage tray intentionally just to see what would happen. Since my driveway is on a slope, any water which leaks in is funneled to the lowest drains, so we were trying to replicate that scenario.

I have included a photo of the passenger side (right side) of the sunroof assembly/drainage tray. This pic is taken from the front of the truck looking towards the back. You can barely see the rear drain hole behind the piece of foam. You can clearly see the thin slot where the cable is located and the area inside of that, which as noted above, are not designed to hold water.

I have also included a section drawing showing the driver side (left side) sunroof assembly/drainage tray when viewed from the rear of the truck looking forward. This should help to explain some of my comments above.

I have also included a photo of the driver side (left side) sunroof assembly/drainage tray when viewed from the rear of the truck looking forward. This is similar to the section drawing noted above. You can clearly see the drain hose (clamped), the metal frame, and the round hole full of grease which is the cable track. Don't be fooled by the high black plastic end cap to which the drainage tube is attached...the high part is only on the very back of the drainage tray...the rest of the drainage tray looks like the section drawing (i.e. low). I have included a pic here which Landylover21 also attached above, as his pic shows the entire sunroof assembly out of the truck. On this pic, you can see the height of the drainage tray as explained above.

My issue: I'm parking on a hill forcing all of the water to go to either to the front or the rear of the drainage tray. Neither the front nor the rear is capable of handling the amount of water that is leaking through my gasket. Thus, this water is overflowing the drainage tray and into an area which is not designed to hold water. I am replacing the gasket and I hope this solves the problem.

Landylover21...thanks for your help. I hope this thread helps someone else.
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Thank you so much for the pictures and info here - very helpful. Is 63251-52020 Weatherstrip the part in question you replaced?

 

[buddysharp]

FWIW, I had a similar leak, with moisture showing up at the top of the windshield pillar. I ran weedeater cord all the way down both sunroof drains multiple times and shot air through them, but had trouble seeing it come out of the bottom. I thought I had done a good job but in heavy rains, I kept getting water in the truck. And, since it ran down the kick panel, it also wet the circuitry there and would start the emergency flashers blinking (always in the middle of the night of course)
I finally took off the kick panels and fished the clear plastic sunroof drain tubing out of the fender and pulled it back into the car - pretty difficult as the tubing is thick and not very flexible. Turns out the tubing was almost completely sealed with black gunk and as soon as pulled the tube into the truck, the plug of muck gave out and spewed me with lovely funk and water. I cleaned up the mess, then cleaned out the tubing with a brush and carefully guided it back in making sure not to kink it. But I then noticed some yellow foam at the bottom of the fender well behind where the tubing went and saw that it was blackened and rusty. Turns out Toyota, in their infinite wisdom, stuff the rocker panels with yellow foam. Noise deadening, I suppose, but this turned out to be a perfect breeding ground for rust. I fished the foam out as best I could, and then wire brushed the rust (nearly impossible given the angle) and then sprayed a butt load of rust convertor into the space. I am certain at some point in the future my beautiful 100 will have rusted out rocker panels and there's nothing I can do about it now.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[rannon]

FWIW, I had a similar leak, with moisture showing up at the top of the windshield pillar. I ran weedeater cord all the way down both sunroof drains multiple times and shot air through them, but had trouble seeing it come out of the bottom. I thought I had done a good job but in heavy rains, I kept getting water in the truck. And, since it ran down the kick panel, it also wet the circuitry there and would start the emergency flashers blinking (always in the middle of the night of course)
I finally took off the kick panels and fished the clear plastic sunroof drain tubing out of the fender and pulled it back into the car - pretty difficult as the tubing is thick and not very flexible. Turns out the tubing was almost completely sealed with black gunk and as soon as pulled the tube into the truck, the plug of muck gave out and spewed me with lovely funk and water. I cleaned up the mess, then cleaned out the tubing with a brush and carefully guided it back in making sure not to kink it. But I then noticed some yellow foam at the bottom of the fender well behind where the tubing went and saw that it was blackened and rusty. Turns out Toyota, in their infinite wisdom, stuff the rocker panels with yellow foam. Noise deadening, I suppose, but this turned out to be a perfect breeding ground for rust. I fished the foam out as best I could, and then wire brushed the rust (nearly impossible given the angle) and then sprayed a butt load of rust convertor into the space. I am certain at some point in the future my beautiful 100 will have rusted out rocker panels and there's nothing I can do about it now.

Hope this helps someone.

Ugh that is so frustrating! I am glad you found it at least. Cheers!