I took my headliner out last week to see if I could find the source of my water leak.

Starting about 9 months ago, when I would start driving after a recent rainfall, then apply the brakes, I would get drenched with water coming out of the driver's upper shoulder belt slot in the B pillar. More recently, I started getting water coming out of the left side of the headliner in the rear cargo area,.....again generally after beginning to drive then applying the brakes.

So, reluctantly, I decided to pull down the headliner (which I had replaced about a year ago). I was hoping I would find a disconnected or broken sun roof drain tube,.....but no such luck.

So, after our first heavy rain a few days ago,....I went out and opened the rear tailgate,....and everything was dry,.....however, when I put my weight on the rear bumper,.....a stream of water immediately started coming out of the left rear corner of the rear sunroof. I removed my weight from the bumper and it stopped,...put my weight back on the bumper again and the stream of water started again. I kept my weight on the bumper until the stream quit, that took about a full minute,....so there was a lot of water up there. The water was leaking from a small slit in the bottom of the drain tray that had what appeared to be a spring clip from above protruding through it.

I decided to drive the truck at this point to see if I would get any water splashing out with application of the brakes,....AND I DID. In fact, got a lot more water splash when I hit the brakes.

So, my thoughts are that the water is NOT draining out of the rear sunroof drain tray surround. and would further speculate that I have a blocked sunroof drain tube.

I want to remove the drain hoses and try to blow compressed air through them (unless there is a better method) but, I have read that the plastic drain tube that the rubber drain hose attaches to can break when trying to remove the drain hose from the plastic tube.

Suggestions on how to safely remove the drain hoses? Is blowing compressed air through them the best way to clear the hoses?

Brian in Cedar Park,TX

 

mine are now siliconed shut. haven't had any further leaks.

 

Did you silicone it up top on the roof (outside)

That would have been a lot easier than tearing out the entire headliner again. The Rear A/C, rear sunroof and 3rd row seat headrests do make headliner removal quite the task,......and seems like I break something new every time I have to pull it down.

 

I pulled my sunroof drain tray out to hunt down a leak.
I had enough slack in the drain lines that I cut them to avoid snapping the plastic nipple on the drain tray the attach to. Then while the tray was out I carefully razor cut the remaining hose off the sunroof drain tray.
I removed the plastic trays and set them in some fresh sealant... mine were leaking.
open sunroof, pour some water into the tray.. does it drain?
I think you may be able to reach the bottom end of the drain hose by removing the rear tail light, or tracking it down a little lower. Should be able to find the ends with some patience. Maybe blow air back up into the sunroof?

 

CanamDiscovery

Did you have to remove the entire sunroof? Or does the drain tray come down separately? Also, when you say you "reset your plastic trays in sealant" are you talking about the plastic corner pieces that are glued to the metal drain tray and that the drain hoses attach to? Also, what did you use for a sealant. I have E6000 which I would think would work well for this and I also have some JB weld Plastic Weld,....which I have never used.

Brian

 

No...if my memory serves me well there are about a dozen star drive screws that hold the tray up from the bottom. Remove these and the tray should drop down.
The biggest concern i had was breaking the plastic drain nipples that the drain lines connect to.

The original sealant that bedded the plastic corner pieces was not doing its job. I used a clear marine grade sealant. figure that marine stuff is always better than the Home Depot for obvious reasons... if good enough to be used on a boat it should be fine on a truck?

With the headliner down... Have you poured some water in the tray to see if it does in fact drain?
I also noticed that i needed to adjust the glass as it was not sitting perfect... the 4 "bolts" that mount the glass can be loosened and the glass can be shifted
I must NOT of thought it was a big deal because after I did the front I
went ahead and did the rear
Have part of my interior down... installed the roof rail extensions the other day. Talk about fun...drilling 2 holes in the roof of the truck!

 

[QUOTE=CANAMDiscovery;503151]No...if my memory serves me well there are about a dozen star drive screws that hold the tray up from the bottom. Remove these and the tray should drop down.
The biggest concern i had was breaking the plastic drain nipples that the drain lines connect to.

The original sealant that bedded the plastic corner pieces was not doing its job. I used a clear marine grade sealant. figure that marine stuff is always better than the Home Depot for obvious reasons... if good enough to be used on a boat it should be fine on a truck?

With the headliner down... Have you poured some water in the tray to see if it does in fact drain?
I also noticed that i needed to adjust the glass as it was not sitting perfect... the 4 "bolts" that mount the glass can be loosened and the glass can be shifted
I must NOT of thought it was a big deal because after I did the front I
went ahead and did the rear
Have part of my interior down... installed the roof rail extensions the other day. Talk about fun...drilling 2 holes in the roof of the truck![/QUOTE

Hadn't ocurred to me to open the sun roof and pour water into the drain tray,....good idea.......only problem with that for me is that the rear sunroof does not open,.....wonder if it has a separate fuse,.....going out to check

 

Someone correct me if I am wrong...
The first line of defense against water getting into the truck through the sunroof is the "tightness" of the seal between the glass panel and the rubber gasket. If this were perfect you would not even need the drain tray and tubes. Drain tray and tubes are a back up for a failure there.
If your rear sunroof is not working, are you sure that it is closed, in the "all the way closed position" and not very slightly open? Possible the sunroof motor did not pull the glass down tight? Not sure.
Maybe get your head up there and see if there is any light between the glass and gasket.

 

I considered that and did climb up and look at the glass position in the opening, and compared it to my front sun roof. They do appear to be the same,....but, that's just by eye of course.

Wondering if the sunroof can be manually opened and closed. I know many sunroofs provide this option.