Well, my leak wasnt the windshield (1 Viewer)

[thebeedeegee]

Had a leak in the passenger side pillar that would come out in the floor board. Thought I found it at the windshield where the top trim piece is. Had safelite replace the windshield and confirmed they used a new trim piece and it still leaks.

Turns out it's the front passenger side roof rack mount and it looks like both torx screws aren't attached to a nut inside and it's leaking from there. I could see a gap and could wiggle the mount at that point. Also one screw just spins, I loosned the other and now it won't go back down

What's next steps after removing the rack? Can I replace the captured nuts? How?

 

[BMThiker]

You have a long day ahead of you. You will have to remove the headliner to retrieve the flange that the bolts thread into.

 

[thebeedeegee]

You have a long day ahead of you. You will have to remove the headliner to retrieve the flange that the bolts thread into.

Well dammit. I had the roof repainted and they must have screwed it up when they put it back on.

This seems like a really dumb design. Anyone know the part number for what I'm looking for? Or what it's called?

 

[BMThiker]

Oh, you probably didn't lose anything. It's a slender strip of steel that ideally clips to a bracket on the roof and has two threaded holes in it. When you unscrew both bolts with a screw gun, it has a very good chance of unclipping from the roof bracket and then just spins on the other bolt.

Found you a pic:

 

[BMThiker]

The way to avoid this is to unscrew both bolts by hand once you've broken the torque load on them. Carefully threading them out so they don't dislodge the threaded bracket from it's "mooring" on the roof bracket. Then do the same when you are putting the bolts back. Thread them by hand, ensuring both bolts engage the threads and then you can torque them down.

 

[BMThiker]

You might be able to reach this one by removing just the A-pillar plastic, grab handles, rear view mirror and visors from the front of the headliner. If you have roof line airbags, then you will have to carefully work around those as well, but you should be able to reach up in the headliner and find the threaded bracket that's probably still clinging to one of the bolts.

 

[thebeedeegee]

Thanks dude! That's really helpful

 

[thebeedeegee]

Should I put some type of sealant around anything?

 

[BMThiker]

I put some FIPG just under the bolt heads when I replaced them.

 

[thebeedeegee]

I was able to pull down just the passenger side of the head liner (removed rear view mirror, visor, handles, B pillar plastic) and find the threaded insert laying in the headliner. It was missing the small metal clip that holds it to the roof so I ordered that for like $2 (with $8 shipping )

The piece you showed above seems to be for clipping the plastic covers on the roof rack mounts if you don't have the roof rack. The piece in the headliner looked similar but had threaded inserts and seemed to have been held in by this piece

 

[BMThiker]

You are correct. Sorry if it threw you off, they have the same bolt spacing (visual cue) and it's hard picking out the right part from the poor diagrams Toyota relies on for parts ordering.

 

[thebeedeegee]

You are correct. Sorry if it threw you off, they have the same bolt spacing (visual cue) and it's hard picking out the right part from the poor diagrams Toyota relies on for parts ordering.

No problem I wanted to make sure I was right haha and add the photos here in case anyone else had the same issues.

Appreciate the help. Hopefully this fixes it for good