Water leak... thoughts?.... SOLVED (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Mar 12, 2018
Threads
31
Messages
949
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I've been experiencing a leak at the top of the a-pillar for a little while... interesting that it doesn't happen when it rains but when I get the 80 washed it always is wet up there and now also wet on the passenger side floor. It gets under the mat and carpet gets wet..

I've cleaned out the sunroof and I don't have debris stuck in the channels.

I know there's a drain line, where is it supposed to poke out? Anyone else dealt with this issue? Thanks.

PXL_20200925_170251017.jpg
 
extremely common, search around lots of info. I ended up just sealing my sunroof shut

Sunroof drains. Windshield is also very common.
 
Could be the drains are still plugged, take some weedwacker string and fish it
down the drain holes, could also pour some hot soapy water slowly into the drain pan. The front drain hoses dump the water into the rocker panels,
not directly out on the ground.

The sunroof glass can sag over time causing more water to get past the weatherstrip/gasket which can overwhelm the shallow drain pan, made worse
if the vehicle is parked on unlevel surface during a rainstorm.

There are shims that can be added to lift the glass in order to attempt to make a tighter seal; have to remove the plastic molding on the sides of the glass. That trim often breaks when it's removed.

There are also black plastic cable covers at the front corners of the (open) sunroof tray. They can warp and allow water to trickle in when the water overflows the tray also. Some people use silicone, I used a non-hardening sealant underneath the covers.

The weatherstrip or gasket around the glass also shrinks with age, no replacement gasket is available, but you can try cleaning the rubber well
with soapy water then applying a product meant to help soften/rejuvenate rubber.

Also you may have more than one leak source; has the windshield has ever
been replaced? That leak ends up in the foot well area. Has the vapor (water) barrier behind the door panels ever been cut into and not resealed? If there's a hole in the barrier water can trickle out from behind the door panel and onto the carpet.

Try some more searching for all those fixes (and avoid car washes).
 
Last edited:
Could be the drains are still plugged, take some weedwacker string and fish it
down the drain holes, could also pour some hot soapy water slowly into the drain pan. The front drain hoses dump the water into the rocker panels,
not directly out on the ground.

The sunroof glass can sag over time causing more water to get past the weatherstrip/gasket which can overwhelm the shallow drain pan, made worse
if the vehicle is parked on unlevel surface during a rainstorm.

There are shims that can be added to lift the glass in order to attempt to make a tighter seal; have to remove the plastic molding on the sides of the glass. That trim often breaks when it's removed.

There are also black plastic cable covers at the front corners of the (open) sunroof tray. They can warp and allow water to trickle in when the water overflows the tray also. Some people use silicone, I used a non-hardening sealant underneath the covers.

The weatherstrip or gasket around the glass also shrinks with age, no replacement gasket is available, but you can try cleaning the rubber well
with soapy water then applying a product meant to help soften/rejuvenate rubber.

Also you may have more than one leak source; has the windshield has ever
been replaced? That leak ends up in the foot well area. Has the vapor (water) barrier behind the door panels ever been cut into and not resealed? If there's a hole in the barrier water can trickle out from behind the door panel and onto the carpet.

Try some more searching for all those fixes (and avoid car washes).
Thanks, I did a search and now discovered that I need to check the windshield, gutters and I'll check out the sunroof drains.. possibly need to shim, I'd really like to keep using the sunroof (even though infrequently) I'd hate to seal it shut. I believe my windshield is factory (I'll have to see if the gasket is easily removed or if its glued)
Appreciate your input!
 
Sunroof drains are clear, I poured water the corners and it drains out onto the ground..

Now under the carpet there are plugs...I took those out as I noticed I had standing water in that channel.. is it best to remove those plugs and leave them out?

The gasket around the windshield appears to be really tight...

PXL_20200925_192040761.jpg
 
Just dealt with this recently. In my driver's side case, floor was soaked like yours & driver front sunroof drain was plugged at the slit in rocker panel where it exits to ground. Cleared that with a paper clip & a bunch of dirty water poured out. Passenger floor was just damp, but was from the bottom corner of windshield slowly dripping inside, traveling down the outside of plastic trim in the footwell. Wasn’t able to get to it for a few weeks, so removed those floor plugs, and it prevented any more water from pooling up.

Resealed around the edges of my windshield gasket with NP1 polyurethane, and redid the sunroof to be safe. PO had sealed it, I assume due to misunderstanding the leak, but I don't care to open it. So far, so good. I live in a damn good testing ground for confirming leak fixes, hah. I don't recall wet floors when I bought it this summer, but noticed the above issues after I accidentally hit the sunroof button & broke part of their previous seal. Oops. I have since pulled the appropriate pins from the connector up there (shares same connector for overhead light switch) so that won't happen again.

Even though you can watch water come out the bottom, the slit in rocker panel is very small and only drains so fast, so can be overwhelmed, so the car wash issue makes sense. Easy drain hose mod for better flow & to prevent potential clogs is to remove the footwell side trim, pull the black drain tube out of the opening where there is some wiring, and run it through where you removed those plugs. Tube is just slightly smaller than the hole, and in my case sticks down maybe 1.5” on each side (don’t pull too hard when doing this). Driver side is kind of a pain to get out, and you also have the larger cluster of wires running over the drain hole, whereas passenger is easy. Footwell trim still fits over the hoses no problem. Thinking I may seal around the edge of the tube on floor, now that leaks are gone, although that area doesn't seem to get hit much from underneath.

Separately, had another leak-related issue I’m glad I found. Was noticing a little water at the rear passenger corner by grab handle & seatbelt, figured it was due to sunroof, but actually turned out to be the roof itself. Had a small patch of paint missing w/ surface rust that I'd been meaning to grind and repaint. When I did so, found a small pea-sized hole. Couple other small areas where paint surface was lightly cracking, and proceeded to find four more very small holes... so, I was getting very slow drips through roof landing above the headliner, running to that corner. I ground out any surface rust under the paint, used bondo & repainted. Not a single drip since I did all this, which makes me happy.

If it’s just your front floors, most likely it is/was only sunroof drains and/or windshield, not holes in the roof 😜 but wouldn’t hurt to take a look up there. Lots of threads on the process, but pretty straightforward. Clean everything first, and don’t use silicone, only black polyurethane sealant like NP1 master seal or whatever you can find locally.

To find windshield leaks, carefully look around every edge of the gasket outside and inside. Not always easy to see. You can also pull on the edge… in my case, there were areas at the outside bottom passenger corner where it looked sealed, but easily pulled up with my fingernail... surprise, that's where the inside drip was. My windshield was replaced at some point, but they did use proper sealant in all the right places, I guess it just gave out in that area. I did the whole gasket just to be safe.

Drain hose:

33B1FBCD-3BD2-43E5-B237-20C9375319D9.jpeg


A5E27B0E-E4B1-4326-91B0-B21EA814065D.jpeg


Normal drain slit, in case you didn’t specifically locate it. It’s at the very front of side step (if you have them) behind wheel well.. a little in front of where the hose would come out

5B65FEEC-2511-4573-9994-D6B77E0B3815.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Also a common location for water to end up with a windshield leak (or a big leak
in the vapor barrier for that door if a lot of rain/car washes).

Look at the right lower corner of your windshield, if it is stamped
Toyota it could have been replaced at some point in it's life with OEM glass.
If Pilkington or Fuyao (Chyna owned) it definitely was replaced.

Very common for replacement windshields to not be properly installed in our
vehicles. Been discussed many times in the past; the gasket must be glued to the glass, then the gasket is glued to the body using the correct Urethane Adhesive/Sealant (not RTV silicone).
 
i cleaned out the slits with a zip tie and a bunch of water came out... i also pulled the sunroof drain hose out and ran water to make sure it was flowing freely...they do drain a lot of water... i should stick the drain out from that plug like mentioned above and then test again...

now my windshield has toyota stamp on the lower drivers side corner..however i did just notice that the ceramic film in the corner is peeling back...id guess theres a leak somewhere around the gasket even though it appears to be tight and sealed.. thanks all
 
Okay...more digging revealed new information...so the drains are clear as I set a jug of water on the roof and let it empty somewhat slowly...

I've noticed the seal on the glass isn't creating a tight seal when shut. I think that's the purpose of the drains..

Attached photo shows where my leak is, front passenger side before the drain connection.

From the top there is a plastic corner piece and under that is where this particular screw head is. It was loose..

But still it looks like the water would all pool towards the passenger side front corner then overwhelm that corner, overflow the pan and spill over..

Is the sunroof supposed to completely seal when closed?

PXL_20200926_152731563.jpg


PXL_20200926_153507680.jpg
 
i ended up - removing the glass, tightening up all the screws i could see from the top and sides. re-installed the front covers with an extra bead of silicone.

cleaned up the seal and felt.
added washers at the shims to raise the glass up. it had been sagging.

let 4 gallons of water run over the glass. when i looked from inside i could see a few drops coming through the seal but nothing like it was before.
 
...
Now under the carpet there are plugs...I took those out as I noticed I had standing water in that channel.. is it best to remove those plugs and leave them out?
..
you can leave them out as long as you are not doing water crossing. You don't normally get much 'splashes' in via that hole. I've lost one of my stoppers and ended up doing a modified wine cork!
 
Hmmm...so when I poured 4 gallons over the top it didn't leak butttt I just went through the car wash, stayed inside when it was going through the car wash tunnel, headliner is out so I can clean it, I watched the water spill in on the driver's side and passenger side corner...I think there's too much volume of water for the drains to keep up, they basically just overflow.

Unfortunately I might have to get a new glass with seal which should solve it. :bang:
 
When I took my sunroof glass out and then reinstalled, I had to reposition the glass front to back a few times before the leaks stopped. FWIW.
 
When I took my sunroof glass out and then reinstalled, I had to reposition the glass front to back a few times before the leaks stopped. FWIW.
I just wonder if I want the glass perfectly centered or tight to the front or back...

I'm looking into trying that bicycle tube fix before new glass w/ seal. It looks like it's used for noise though oppose to water.
 
Last edited:
Got photos and details on the brand/size of tube and how you installed it
for future reference? It's been done before, just wondering if you did it using
the same method.
 
26" mtn bike tube (diameter doesn't matter as I cut a slit out of it) approx ¼" wide.

Remove glass. All this is done from the inside of the glass.

Stretch cut tube out like a giant rubber band.

Carefully pull factory seal away from metal frame, just a few inches at a time.

Stuff bike tube between the seal and the metal frame of the glass. I used a pick and a small flathead to push it in.

Work your way around carefully (it's easiest to start on the corners and leave the straight shots for last)

This effectively made the whole seal thicker all the way around.

Press the factory seal back in towards the glass all the way around to make sure there's no spot that is warped.

Once set back in roof, check for alignment and make sure level with the roof surface. I had to add (1) washer to each bolt along with the spacers that were there.

Now sunroof seals tightly when it closes, the tilt works too, it's a tight fit though.

You can see in the picture between the factory seal and metal frame there is now an additional piece of rubber there.


PXL_20201013_162900199.jpg
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom