Sun Roof Drain Tube Diagnostic

INFORMATION Articles / Teg Tips
1

I’m not sure if this has been done before, but what I’m going to do is a “write up” on this very common problem so hopefully it can be used as a reference in the future.

Problem: You have a lot of water in your car, appears to be coming in through the hatch somehow. I noticed this when I was driving after a big rainstorm and I heard sloshing that definatly was not the gas tank.

Diagnosing:

Tools You’ll Need:

A watering can- Those green plastic things your mom uses to water indoor plants.
Basic tools (screwdrivers, you know the drill) no pun intended…
A flashlight
A friend

Step one: Remove a few interior things: Hatch cover, Carpet (just pull hard on the snaps and they will release from the rear seat) and the rear plastic panal.

Note- These interior panals seem to be the bane of everyones life. They don’t have to be that bad if you just understand them.

On this rear piece, unscrew the 3 screw/snap things (idk the official name) on the bottom. To do this: Unscrew this + a ways, and then grab and pull up. Set aside. I broke one doing this, no biggie.

I think there may be screws inside where the rear taillight access is? I can’t remember. Just pop those things off and take a look.

Once you decide you’ve removed all the screws, simply give it a good hard yank STRAIGHT UP. it will pop out, and if you pull straight up, you probably wont break anything.

Step Two: Park your teg in your driveway. If your driveway is slanted downwards, then pull straight in (so the rear of the car is lower than the front) If your driveway is flat, no biggie.

Now open your sunroof. Along the sides you will see little “canals” of rubber. Go fill your moms watering can, and SLOWLY pour water into the canal, (diagnose one side at a time.) Have your friend stand behind your teg and watch for water. If your tube is plugged in, the water will run out by your mudflaps kinda. If water is coming inside your car, then stop.

Repeat on the other side.

Now you have established which, if any, of your tubes are unplugged.

Step Three: On the side(s) you have water coming in:

Remover your rear speaker cover thing. Just three + screws. Easy. Now remove your rear speakers and set them aside.

Working from the rear, undue screws and stuff until you can pull back the panal to see what is underneath. NOTE- unlike the rear panal, these need to be pulled STRAIGHT OUT or you’ll break the connectors. Just give a hard tug straight towards you and they’ll be fine Have the friend hold it back for you while you take the flashlight and find the tube itself. It’ll be kinda a nastly clearish yellow color, about 3/4"-1" in diameter. Once you’ve located it, pull softly upwards. If the tube is unplugged, you will be able to pull it right out. If not, then its plugged in and you’re diagnosing the wrong problem.

If you establish that the tube is free- follow it down with your hand to where it stops. Now feel (or look) around and you’ll find a rubber “female” end (the gromit). Once located simply plug it back in.

Once plugged back in, go back to the watering can and pour more water down the canal. If you fixed it, it’ll run out the car by the mudflaps, and you’ll have no water in the car.

Note- The passenger side is about 100 times easier than the drivers side! On the drivers side the power antenna makes the job very difficult, and you have to undue some screws and jam it sideways (to the right, towards the front of the car) to gain access to the tube. I also seem to remember removing the rear speaker bracket thing (plack plastic) That thing is a b!tch too.

Step Four: Obviously, replace your interior (after you dry it out!) Check your rear seat. It is made of foam, and if you drove at all with this problem, it is likely your rear seat (bottom piece) is wet!

If both sides are leaking, start with the pass. side to gain experience.

Sorry this is so long, but its detailed and some people like that.

Total time with minimal experience with cars and two unplugged tubes: 3 hours at a relaxed pace. I’m serious about the firend though. 2 people doing this will cut your labor time in half.

Good luck!

2

Yeah, that is one of the not-so-obvious ways that you can get water in the trunk (obvious being your hatch seal is bad), but definitely not the propper way to fix it. Don’t just super glue it or plug it back in (unless you know for sure that you unplugged it yourself). The problem is that the ene of the drain is clogged and water was backing up enough to cause it to come apart. The end of the drain is pinched mostly shut to keep stuff from backing up it, but it also keeps crap from exiting. It can be seen after the rear bumper is pulled off. So, remove everything else as described above and pull off the rear bumper. Blow compressed air through the female end of the connector (the part that the tube was pulled out of) while holding the pinched end open until you can see through it that it is completely cleaned out. No glue should really be needed to fix it. Just slide the tube back in the female connector. Fixed.

Also, the other two (well four if you count both sides) places that can leak are the taillights and around the vents on either side that you will see when you have all of those rear panels off (on the sides next to the sunroof drain.). The taillights, you just buy new seals from the dealer or glue them to the body with a tube of silicone or both. The side vents should not leak unless you have had any rear damage, in which case they are likely to shift, causing water to leak around them. They can be fixed with silicone as well. I had a swamp in my trunk after I got my car and figured out that the new APC taillights that the previous owner had installed were not the only cause. I was also leaking from both sunroof drains (both heavily clogged) and around the side vent on the side that had a dented quarter panel.

My hatch was dry all super rainy summer.

3

Great timing! I found my trunk full of water this weekend and though I had if figured out. Now I will take a look at the sunroof drain tubes. by chance do you have any pics available? If not I will take some this weekend.

4

Phatcar- Good add, thanks. I hadnt really concitered that. The reasom mine came out is i had an acura dealership “flush the tubes” back when i knew nothing about cars and they sadi that would fix the problem. All they acctaully did was unplug them unintentially. So in my case, plugging them back in was clearly the solution. And theres nothing wrong w/superglueing them in in my opinion.

No pics, sorry. I did this many months ago

5

Ok, so you did actually have them cleaned out. That makes a bit of difference. :up:

6

say no to superglue!

i just did this exact fix today, i have been gettin a little water on my drivers side rear and alot of water on the pass side , i took all the interior trunk panels off or pulled them back outta the way so i could work but once this was done it was all smooth sailing . The sunroof drain tubes are clear and run down the side of the body from the roof to the black rubber gromets on the body in the trunk and allow water to exit, the tubes are just inserted in the black gromets these are the focus i rotated the black grommet and pulled them out they were both full of fine dirt i took out the antenna drain tube as well and cleaned that . Re install the grommets using a flathead screwdriver to get them back in properly

Now if u used superglue you will not be able to disconect the drain tube from the black gromet or to remove the black gromet from the body to clean it out again heaven forbid it shud get clogged up again

i hope this fixes my leaky trunk

7

alright due to the fact that several people have pointed out my error in the superglue idea, I edited the post for future views.

Thanks for the opinions :salute:

8

Pics

I finally made some time to fix my leak before the rainy season really kicks in. Here is a pic of where the drain tube is, and what it looks like for those who may need to do this in the future.

Drain Tube.jpg