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Hi my fc every time I wash it or rains water leaks through apparently the sunroofs and it drips from left hand side of the sunroof, can it be a clogged drain? how do i get to the drains? thank you
(the area circled is where water drips infornt of the sunvisor)
You'll need to inspect by removing the headliner. Which means the front and rear headliner trims come off, along with the A-pillar and B-pillar trims. You can probably get by with just pulling the top few clips off of the B-pillar so that you don't have to remove the quarter trim as well. Take your time with this step, the plastic can be brittle with age and the mounting posts the metal retainers go on like to break. Use a proper trim removal tool to help.
Your problem is either a clogged drain as you suspect, or the sunroof frame itself has rusted through. Also your sunroof seal may no be sealing against the roof that well, but the drain is supposed to mitigate that problem.
FYI, here's a picture of B pillar and quarter trim with tape at the locations of the mounting posts. Not sure if it varies all that much for a car without the auto belts. This can help on knowing where to pry them off. I unfortunately don't have a similar picture for the A-pillar. And in your case, I guess full headliner removal may not be necessary - you can probably get enough information from removal of the A-pillar trim and a quick peak in there.
It's probably a clogged drain. There's a drain on each corner of the sunroof structure, sounds like one of your front drains is clogged and water is backing up and leaking inside. The openings for the front drains should be visible with the sunroof open - look for a hole low in the corners. To test if it's clogged, pour some water into the opening - you should see it dribble out under the car, roughly in the area under the A-pillar/front side of the door. If you don't, then the water will back up, and you'll know which drain you need to clear.
The nipples on the drains (which you can't see unless you pull the headliner out) connect to a rubber hose that runs down the A-pillar (or B-pillar for rear ones) to drain under the car. When they clog, it's usually from leaves/dirt/debris that collects right by the drain openings. To unclog the line, first clean up any crap that may have accumulated by the drain openings. If that doesn't clear it out (do the water test again), you can try some low pressure air (a blast of canned computer duster air should do it), or perhaps something like a flexible plastic coffee stirrer or similar thing to poke into the drain port. What you don't want to do while poking is dislodge the rubber line or poke a hole in it with whatever method you use.
The openings for the front drains should be visible with the sunroof open - look for a hole low in the corners. To test if it's clogged, pour some water into the opening - you should see it dribble out under the car, roughly in the area under the A-pillar/front side of the door. If you don't, then the water will back up, and you'll know which drain you need to clear.
The nipples on the drains (which you can't see unless you pull the headliner out) connect to a rubber hose that runs down the A-pillar (or B-pillar for rear ones) to drain under the car. When they clog, it's usually from leaves/dirt/debris that collects right by the drain openings. To unclog the line, first clean up any crap that may have accumulated by the drain openings. If that doesn't clear it out (do the water test again), you can try some low pressure air (a blast of canned computer duster air should do it), or perhaps something like a flexible plastic coffee stirrer or similar thing to poke into the drain port. What you don't want to do while poking is dislodge the rubber line or poke a hole in it with whatever method you use.
My car was apart for so long, I kind of forgot you can do some things without it being fully disassembled!
11-25-19, 07:23 AM
