Sunroof Drain Tubes

[firebane]

So its getting to the rainy season here in Vancouver and lo and behold I got wet floors and I figure as its coming from the drain tubes being plugged.

So I've done LOTS of searching but can't find any definite answer so my question is that of where are the drain tubes? It seems they are behind the kick panels on the driver and passenger side? And if so I simply have to remove the kick panels to gain access right?

[surf4runner]

the rears drain out the back windows, and IIRC, the front down the A pillar
there are 4??? holes around the roof = 4 drain points

[Bob98SR5]

firebane,

make sure you seal the torx screw holes on your roof rack with some silicone sealant. i recall that some of the east coast guys sealed the holes up after retightening the torx screws down with some silicone sealant. if that doenst work, send me a pm to remind me to look up that drain hole info for you

[firebane]

Damnit wasn't hoping to be that much work hahahaha. Ah well guess I'll just pull it apart and see first and get back to you about the tubes.

[Roadrunner]

I had this problem a couple of years ago. The dealer shoot some compress air through the drain tubes to unclog them and guess what . . . free of charge.

[Bob98SR5]

Damnit wasn't hoping to be that much work hahahaha. Ah well guess I'll just pull it apart and see first and get back to you about the tubes.


its not that difficult. there are a few #24 (iirc) torx screws. unscrew them until the roof rack rail sits level with the two plastic end caps. gently pop off the end caps and the continue to back out the torx screws. lift off the rails, clean all the accumulated crap, and wax the area (hey, might as well :hillbill: ). put a light coating of silicone sealant around the outside of the hole, reseat the rails and end caps, thread the torx screws a little bit, and put some more sealant just under the torx screw head. screw down the torx screws and you are pretty much guaranteed that you will not have a water leak from the roof rack rail area.

[nrgetic99]

Bob,

How many of these leak ??? I am not aware of a problem but is it a good idea anyway or is it limited to certain vehicles ?

Thanks

David

[MillerPKA]

i'm not suffering from leaking floorboards...yet, but i do have a sunroof problem. after rain (and hell, even after morning dew the other day) i'll have a fairly wet spot directly in the middle of the sunroof closest to the windshield. i also took it to the service bay and the guy cleaned the gutters and they problem still persists. same problem?

[GOH10 Runner]

i'm not suffering from leaking floorboards...yet, but i do have a sunroof problem. after rain (and hell, even after morning dew the other day) i'll have a fairly wet spot directly in the middle of the sunroof closest to the windshield. i also took it to the service bay and the guy cleaned the gutters and they problem still persists. same problem?


EXACT thing happened to me, I had the drains cleaned twice to no success....ended up getting a whole new sunroof

[firebane]

Alright so did the roof rack thing and still leaks :(

So frustrating with this rain

Oh and to top it off! It has leaked near the handle on the a-pillar :\

UPDATE
Ok so when the sunroof is open if you look towards the front you'll see two small holes that is the start of the drain tubes for the front, these tubes end up draining out at the bottom of the kick panel on the driver and passenger side.

You get to these by removing the door sill (4 screws) and popping it off which allows you to remove the kick panel cover and at the bottom will be a piece of sponge in the hole for the drain tube.

Still looking for the rears :D

[cplvc]

In my 96 I saw the rear driver-side drain tube running behind the panel above the wheel well. On the passenger rear I see a tube ending just above the tail-pipe behind the wheel well (looking from under the truck). I was wondering what those tubes where for, now I know. You may be able to see the driver-side drain tube ending behind the wheel well as well, not sure though.

[firebane]

In my 96 I saw the rear driver-side drain tube running behind the panel above the wheel well. On the passenger rear I see a tube ending just above the tail-pipe behind the wheel well (looking from under the truck). I was wondering what those tubes where for, now I know. You may be able to see the driver-side drain tube ending behind the wheel well as well, not sure though.


I'll check them out thanks!

[Rock Slide]

Firebane, after it rains, what area of the inside of the cab is wet? And second, how long has this problem persisted?

[YotaChic]

could clogged drain tubes cause leaks to show up on the cargo area after a hard rain?

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q302/YotaChic/DSC_0016.jpg

[Seanz0rz]

laura, are there any wet spots on the headliner? or could it be blowing in through the seal for the rear hatch?

[YotaChic]

no wet spots on the headliner that I can see or feel.

might be the rear hatch, guess I need to take it down to the car wash and get the pressure washer on the back to check it out.

[Seanz0rz]

i had a bunch of leaves get caught in there last year, and the one day it rained, i got water on the cover in the back like yours, so that would be my guess.

[Rock Slide]

Wow, Laura, I've talked to other members just within the last few months or so with the exact same problem! Until then, I had never heard of this occurance before. (I for one, have never experienced it in my 4Runner.)

Check out this thread. It's a few days old, but maybe the member on it has solved his problem:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32873

[YotaChic]

Check out this thread. It's a few days old, but maybe the member on it has solved his problem: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=2110200&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending


<okay this is me being a dummy> the link isn't pulling up a thread just an error? what can I search on there to find it?

I was able to take it to the car wash yesterday evening. I sat in the back while husband rinsed around the roof and the door. After a while I saw a couple drops coming in at the very center of the top of the rear hatch. It must have been doing some serious rice paddy in monsoon season raining while I slept.

Could this be coming from my roof rack and running down the inside to drip at that point? Or would I definitely have spots on my headliner if that were the case?

also - since I don't believe this to be a sunroof drain tube problem should I even be posting in this thread?

[MillerPKA]

ha! i don't think anyone is going to bust your chops for trying to diagnose your problem. if you still plan on attempting to fix this yourself, the next step would be to take off the ceiling and have the husband pour water over it again so you can see exactly

[04 Rocko Taco]

Laura, I dont think you would definitely have spots on the headliner, since it has a foam padding on the back of the fabric, it will take a decent amount of water to spot the headliner, I would (although I wouldnt look forward to it) I would pull the headliner and all trim out above the doors, and take it back to the car wash, and soak it down until I found where the water was coming in, and then see what you need to do to fix it, whether it be sunroof, or rear hatch either way.

[Rock Slide]

Check out this thread. It's a few days old, but maybe the member on it has solved his problem: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32873


<okay this is me being a dummy> the link isn't pulling up a thread just an error? what can I search on there to find it?

Haha, you're no dummy...appears their site is currently down (happens more than not). I just tried going to the hm pg and got the same error. Keep trying the link though, they'll eventually have the site back up and running.

EDIT: I just tried it and it's back up now. Here you go: Water Leak (http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32873)