Water leak woes - help needed (1 Viewer)

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Jan 5, 2016
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Location
Bay Area, CA
Hey guys,

Yet another water leak thread. Before the pitchforks come out, I have searched and feel like I've read every thread on here, several times in some cases, to figure out what's going on before replacing and fixing a bunch of stuff on the truck but here I am.

In preparation for the rainy season, I spent an inordinate amount of time and money last summer waterproofing my 80 and replaced the following with brand new, Toyota OEM parts:
  • weather stripping/moulding around the windshield, installed by a reputable shop and 99.9% sure it's not a source of any leaks
  • all four belt panel mouldings on all doors, inside and outside
  • belt panel mouldings on the rear sliding windows
  • rubber weatherstripping for every window
  • rubber weatherstripping for outside of every door
  • weather stripping/mouldings around the backs sliding windows
  • plastic louvre/vent pieces behind the rear sliding windows
  • removed and had the carpet cleaned, and plugged all unused holes in the floor board with the Toyota vinyl stickers, wherever they were missing.
It finally started raining here, I drove the truck a bunch in the rain, and to my massive disappointment and dismay the carpets in certain areas feel damp, the inside smells swampy again, and the windows are fogged up every morning. I commute with my kids in this truck regularly so the last thing I want is a moldy smell.

The areas of the carpet/floorboard that are dampest are closest to the door jambs/plastic piece that hides the wiring harness. The rear passenger side (2nd row) is the wettest, then the front passenger. The front driver floorboard is slightly damp, and the 2nd row driver side floorboard/carpet is pretty wet also. The further away the spots are from the doors/door jamps, the dryer they are. Here is a picture of the wettest spot, passenger side 2nd row:

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There was also lot of wetness/water under the plastic door jamp cover pieces that clip into the body/holes in the door jambs, on all four doors:

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More alarming, I discovered some water inside the actual door panels, and some of the water was actually trapped in the plastic coverings under the door panels which are now starting to show rust :(


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The weatherstripping around the doors also had standing water on the bottom of all of the four doors:


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I am at my wits' end here, thinking that replacing all rubber would have taken care of this. Worst part is I have no idea how the water is getting into the cabin, and why/how the water is getting into the doors where all of the new rubber pieces were replaced.

Please help with any pointers/ideas. The truck is drying in the garage right now. It will rain here again in 2-3 days. If necessary, I am going to strip out all of the door panels/interior and leave it outside/drive in the rain to see where the water is getting in. Ideally I would have a list of places/items to monitor or address before it rains, to see if I am stopping the water from getting in.

Thanks in advance.
 
Thats a bummer. Sounds like you shouldn't have this issue after everything you've already done...Perhaps taking the door panels off is a good start if you can have someone with a hose blast the truck while you investigate. Have you thought about removing your headliner to inspect the sunroof pan? Maybe even though your drain lines are clear, there could be a crack and water is getting down inside the truck that way? I know this wouldn't lead to all the water intrusion based on your issues, but it could be one source.

I feel like when you have an issue like this, you can't rule anything out. As strange as it may seem.
 
What about unclogging the drains and drain holes? Also making sure the tubes are still connected so it can drain properly
 
It's relatively easy to strip out the interior of this truck...carpet, seats, plastic, trim, headliner, etc...worst case take it all out and use the hose. I am sure you'll find something!!
 
The sunroof is the only piece I haven’t looked at in full detail. It’s definitely next on the list now that I have a functional garage again. That being said, the areas that are getting wet don’t match anyone else’s descriptions of the wet areas they had when their sunroof drains were blocked, since the affected areas in those cases are around kick panels and cargo area.

It seems like in my case the water is getting through the doors or the door jamb holes covered by the plastic trim, but not quite sure how to confirm or rule this out.
 
The sunroof is the only piece I haven’t looked at in full detail. It’s definitely next on the list now that I have a functional garage again. That being said, the areas that are getting wet don’t match anyone else’s descriptions of the wet areas they had when their sunroof drains were blocked, since the affected areas in those cases are around kick panels and cargo area.

It seems like in my case the water is getting through the doors or the door jamb holes covered by the plastic trim, but not quite sure how to confirm or rule this out.

If I were you, I would take the time to strip everything out...as I mentioned above your last post. It's the only way to know for certain. You have some weird issue going on and getting the interior down to the metal will allow you to see everything...and some time with a hose!
 
It's relatively easy to strip out the interior of this truck...carpet, seats, plastic, trim, headliner, etc...worst case take it all out and use the hose. I am sure you'll find something!!

Agreed it’s not a huge deal, I did it once this summer to get the carpets out for cleaning.

At this point I am looking for ways to figure out where the water is coming in from, where to look and for what. Especially now that I am finding water pooling inside the doors which is crazy since all door rubber and mouldings are brand new!
 
Agreed it’s not a huge deal, I did it once this summer to get the carpets out for cleaning.

At this point I am looking for ways to figure out where the water is coming in from, where to look and for what. Especially now that I am finding water pooling inside the doors which is crazy since all door rubber and mouldings are brand new!

What about taping up all the trim areas outside. Take the door panels off. Leave it outside for a few hours or whatever and see if it solves it?
 
What do you mean by trim areas?

I mean to tape up the window belt molding areas...maybe even around the door from the outside. You will see if that cures the problem.
 
Starting taking apart the interior last night, and made a couple of gruesome discoveries. It looks like water is coming in through the doors, as far as I can tell from the bottom of the doors, and getting onto the carpet. Of course this is just a theory at this point, as I am going to strip the rest of the truck out tonight and park it outside during the upcoming rains/water hose test everything.

What I found:

All four doors have evidence of water in them, both on the bottom/inside of the doors where they are supposed to pour out of the weeping holes - moisture sitting in the bottom and not fully evacuating through the weeping holes. More alarmingly there was water trapped in various sections of the door panel plastic, which I will be replacing/re-caulking once I figure out what the actual source of the water is and how to block it out. Mostly around speakers, but really scattered throughout the pockets in the plastic barrier. Inside the door panel, speaker surrounds, the foam wiring connector piece were all soaking wet too. Rust spots a plenty :( FML

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Not sure if the water is getting through the top or the bottom while the truck is driving through water, but the cardboard backing of two of the door panels were soaking wet, with evidence of water present on the other two panels - both front and rear. Driver side front and rear passenger had it the worst:

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Important to note that the belt mouldings and the rubber weatherstripping are brand new on all of the doors. Was I supposed to be using silicone/sealant in the holes during the install? When I removed the old stock pieces, I didn't see any evidence of any additional methods of waterproofing.

One thing I am trying to isolate is water that gets in while the truck is under water vs water that gets in while the truck is driving on wet roads. Hopefully I am able to strip out the rest of the interior tonight and park it outside for the stationary water leak, and then drive it tomorrow to see if I can catch water getting into the cabin in action

I did read on several other threads that some water is supposed to get into the door panels by design, and flow out of the weeping holes. What I don't understand is how/why it's getting the inside of the door panels wet, and getting trapped in the plastic barrier in the process? How do I make it stop/waterproof this, and is that even possible? And most importantly, how is the water getting from the door panels and onto the carpet?

Any help would be much appreciated - I feel like I am flying blind here and would really love to narrow some of the areas to chase before throwing even more money at the problem.
 
Thanks for documenting this - esp for those of us in SoCal who want to be prepared.
 
Have you cleared all weep holes at door bottoms? If water is not in doors at moment, take panel/s off, pull barrier back and pour some water into door. Then take a zip tie and work into each drain hole. That should save some time and suspense.
 
Check your gutters. If you can, take off the pretty molding stuff so you can get a good look at the sealant.
There is a weld seam directly above the back edge of the back door movable glass. Look around there, and elsewhere for any cracks in the body.
Do you still have a roof rack? It's possible one of the riv-nuts has rusted through.
Since you're in Cali, you can blast it with a garden hose to find your leaks. Mine would likely seal right up due to icing...
Good Luck!
I'm still trying to figure out why my sunroof lets water in. I think the plastic perimeter seal is no longer pliable, and letting more water in than can get out of the drains. There's some fishing line fix for this I think.
 
Thanks for documenting this - esp for those of us in SoCal who want to be prepared.

Ironically bought the truck from someone in LA... clearly he wasn't paying attention to any of this stuff, among many other things I've had to fix.

Have you cleared all weep holes at door bottoms? If water is not in doors at moment, take panel/s off, pull barrier back and pour some water into door. Then take a zip tie and work into each drain hole. That should save some time and suspense.

Not yet, but definitely on the list. Going to peel off all of the barrier plastic tonight and pray to Toyota gods that I can get OEM replacements... mine are mostly shot.

@blkprj80 have looked at the gutters, but not seeing any obvious cracks or issues especially at the part where they meet the roof. The black moulding/covering is still attached to them and I was hoping to not have to peel it off. The factory roof rack was deleted a year ago, and all of the holes were welded/painted over, looks like it was never there. Also, not seeing any evidence of water/leakage in the headliner, which is where I would expect the gutter leaks to show up?
 
Confirmed this morning that the sunroof is a source of one of the leaks - found several wet spots on the headliner. Going to clean out and inspect the drains this weekend, and also got a quote from my buddy's shop to completely delete the sunroof (which I never use) for 1k to make it look like it was never there. Very tempted to do that at this point...

But, this still doesn't explain how the carpets are getting wet from underneath. Even if the water was dripping from the headliner onto the carpet, which it isn't, all of my carpets are covered by Weathertech mats and the carpets are getting wet from below.

The truck sat outside under light rain all day and night yesterday, and I found no evidence of water where the carpets were wet before. By the time I drove it, freeway was mostly dried off, so if water is coming through wheel splatter, the roads are not wet enough to test that theory. Going to hit it with the hose but again... struggling to figure out how this water getting into these spots and making them as wet as they get.

Any thoughts on why the floorboards/carpets could be getting wet? Anyone? Bueller?

Here is a pic of the discovery I made this morning... wet spots were on both sides of the headliner, but definitely worse on the passenger side.

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Windshield leaks are common and will soak the carpets in the front and the headliner around the visors.

The doors are designed to take SOME water. The door cards MAY be getting wet because there is water standing in the doors and it is sloshing around, splashing onto the cards. Remove the door cards and plastic, then vacuum / wash out all the crap inside the doors, making sure the slits are clear and free at the same time. Lube your window mechanisms at the same time. Get new heavy plastic from hardware store and cut to fit. Can use duct tape or packing tape to adhere it or use new caulk / rope tar from FLAPS to stick it to the door.

Clear out your drain tubes from the sunroof. Front drains soak the floor in the front or on the crotch of the front seat occupants.
Rear drain leaks soak the rear floor and rear seatbelts.
Front drains drain into the rocker panels from inside the A pillars. The light black tube cannot be kinked as it runs through there down into the rocker. Make sure the slits in the rockers are clear as well. You can pull the plugs in the rockers and flush them out as well.
The rear drains drop out the bottom of the rear cargo areas behind the rear tire. The hose has a rubber grommet out the bottom. Have to make sure the hose is not kinked or detatched from the sunroof.

Sunroof leaks can be resolved a number of ways.
The most expensive way is to fix it the correct way with parts replacements, time, adjustment.
The least expensive is very effective. Black Polyurethane sealer and caulk in place when the sunroof is closed.
The third option is to remove it and weld the hole shut and paint it. Then you still have the headliner slider to look at.

New belt mouldings do NOT require any kind of sealant.
 
Ok folks here is an update. I pulled all of the interior, including the headliner, to get this sorted out. The headliner definitely need to come out to get cleaned and there is a potential mold spot on it that needs to get cleaned up as well. This gave me unlimited access to all areas

I spent a bunch of time this weekend troubleshooting and pouring water down the sunroof. All four drains were pouring out water perfectly fine out of the right spots (slits in the front and fender tubes in the back), there was an immediate leak somewhere in the back corner of the passenger side, near the drain, somewhere out of the tray that the sunroof sits in - unreachable area. The wire cleared both rear drain hoses just fine. But a bit more prodding around and voila, I found a pretty major kink in the rear hose on the passenger side:

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There was no kink in the hose on the driver side and the water drained fine without leaking into the tray, but there was an immediate drip coming out of what looks to be a plugged hole next to the drain. Upon closer inspection, there was leaking from the same hole on the passenger side as well.

Does anyone know what these holes are for, and why they are leaking in water?

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At this point I am definitely tempted to delete the sunroof altogether. I never use it, and frankly it’s proving to be a huge PITA to maintain. But it’s looking to be around $1600 when it’s all said and done for the roof and the headliner to get closed up, so I would still prefer a reliable and a long-lasting fix in place to use the cash for my long range tank.
 
Thanks for digging into this. I followed all the advice from previous sunroof cleaning threads and still had very similar symptoms to yours (and mine is stationary only). I'm worried about having the water in door panels like you but after doing the best I could with thick weed whacker line, I decided I would pull the headliner and inspect in the coming weeks.

I know the rear drain access holes are tough to reach but could you maybe replace the kinked tubing and put some sort of spring sleeve or something to keep it from happening again?

I've also read that replacing certain sunroof parts can help..not looking forward to figuring out how much rust is in certain spots but the whole water removal system seems like a design flaw to me.
 

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