Odd water leak spot... help please

[univu2]

I have an interesting leak spot in the cargo area. Initially expected the alpine or rear quarter glass on the driver side... nope. The leak is coming from that inner lip between the two windows where caulking seals two body pieces just above the volumetric sensor. More specifically it's coming from the caulking. Is this coming from a drain tube off the sunroof, something wrong with the rain gutter outside, or is it something else? This is driving me nuts, please help. Thanks.

[Savannah Buzz]

Well, rain gutter is certainly easy to see (look for any hair line crack from above), and test (hose the truck) and seal (one write up used some windshield gasket sealer, which is a flowable silicone). Rain gutter hides repairs.

Sun roof drains are always a possibility (corners, tube(s) comes loose, fun begins). RAVE has a whole section on sunroofs. I don't have them, but I have thought that it might be possible to reach through the drain opening and snag the tubing and pull it back, if that would work, then you could apply sealant to the inside of the tube (with a small brush or long Q-tip), then pull it back tight to seal. Maybe use one of those flexible mechanical parts grabbers with the prongs bent backwards. Or maybe just Q tip and sealant, if hose does not come off but just sits there and leaks. Amazing that people have to take out the sun roof or the head liner or both...

[univu2]

Thanks for the response. The more simple tests are usually the most effective and didn't even think about the hose on the gutter, so thank you.

I guess regarding the sunroof, I'm wondering the routing of the drain tube from the sunroof. I have RAVE but couldn't find routing. Anyone know the routing from the roof?

Thanks.

[tee51397]

On the rear sunroof the routing goes along each side of the roof and then down behind the taillights.

The lines are semi-rigid and are incredibly well secured to the drain corners, virtually no way the lines could come loose from the sunroof drain pan. Unfortunately should by some miracle one come loose the only to reattach would be to pull the assembly, since the lines are poly they're not going to go back on easily. Again, the odds of one coming loose are like one in a million. On the other hand a separation of the drain block from the drain pan is very common.

[univu2]

Thanks again for the response and help. Isolated the drain line,nothing there. no water on the liner. Not the rain gutter... Again, seems to be coming right out of the bottom of that crude tube between the alpine and 3/4 glass. We've had a rain/snow mix here the last day or so and it showed up.

I took it to the car wash to re-create the leak, didn't work. Thinking it's coming from a bad roof rail gasket and leaking into the tube. Will tear apart next weekend. Here are pics if anyone has ideas. Thanks again.


You can see the tube where the wiring harness is sitting on top of it.
WP_000045.jpg

Spot underneath just above the sensor that's leaking.
WP_000042.jpg

[tee51397]

That tube is one of the sunroof drains. Look and see if there is seam seal above the rear door and roofline. It was left off from the factory on some vehicles, I'll see if I can find the service action on it. Anyway water leaks are a tough one as they can show up miles from the actual source.

[tee51397]

Here it is.

[univu2]

Thanks again, tee. That's very interesting. We're expecting more rain/snow tonight. I'll see about that spot tonight.