Anyone no a good fif for leaking sunroof drains? We’re getting a ton of rain up here in Rochester, NY and both of my pillars are leaking water from the seatbelt tracks. I brought it to a couple body shops and got prices from 800 -1000 to replace the pillars 
stolen from the long-gone www.hondaprelude.com
In Car Shower
Contributed by Chris
I have often heard one of the common problems with the 3rd generation Prelude referred to as the “in car shower”. Basically what happens is after a heavy rain you start your car and begin driving and water comes pouring into the car through the sunroof. It is certainly enough to make a bad day a lot worse. The good news is that it is an easy fix.
The sunroof of the 3rd generation Prelude has water channels with drain plugs on all four corners. Honda knew that the sunroof seal would not prevent all water from leaking into the car so they built channels and tubes to funnel the water out of the car. The problem is that dirt and grime get into these channels and is carried down through the tubes and over time begins to build up at the end of the tubes.
The solution is easy. Simply pull the drain tubes out of the drain holes and clean the end of the tubes where the clogging generally occurs. There are drain tubes that run through all four roof pillars of the car. However, the rear two pillars tend to clog the most.
The first thing you will need to do is remove your trunk liner. There is an upholstery tool that looks kind of like a two pronged fork that is best for removing those plastic fasteners used to hold the trunk in place. You should be able to find the tool at most auto parts stores. Just pry out all the fasteners and remove the trunk liner. Now look on either side of the trunk just behind the sheet metal that is connected to the wheel wells. You should see a tube that is connected to the fender of the car. Get an old bucket into which you can drain the old nasty mildewed water. Grasp the black rubber end of the drain tube and pull it out of the drain hole. Chances are nothing will drain out of that black end because it is clogged. Now place the tube into the bucket and twist that rubber end off of the tube. Now you should see a plug that has a small hole in the end inside the end of the tube. I have no idea why that plug is there. All it does is trap dirt in the tube. Remove that plug. If your drain tube was clogged then dirty water will drain into the bucket. After the water has drained out remove and throw away that tube plug or at least trim the plug so that water an dirt can more easily flow out of the tube. Plug the black rubber end back into the drain hole in the fender and then plug the tube back into that end. If you want, you can use some sealant to make sure the tube stays plugged into the rubber tube end. Now repeat this same process for the other side and you are done.
For most cars this should do the trick. If you are unlucky enough to have your front drain tubes clog up then you will have to clean those out. I don`t think that this happens very often but I can produce a follow up article with pictures for any members that clean their rear drain tubes and still experience the “in car shower.”
hope that helps
shooting compressed air into the tubes can work good unless your drain tubes are too aged and then blow out from the force
(use less pressure to be safe)
a combination of the other post and compressed air will do a good job
mine did the same thing but it was because there was water trapped just in the bend of the rear tubes (couldn’t even see it until i pulled down on the rear section of the headliner and looked really good with a flashlight and shook the car). sucked the water out and bam no more water coming from seatbelt tracks and down my shirt throught the roof itself.
best bet is to park on a slope, pour some hot water(helps clear any dirt in the tracks) into the roof track with the roof open ofcourse and see if it drains out. front is usually clean but the rears are usually the culprit. turn the car around on the slop test the rears. i did this and wondered where my 2 super sized cups of water went to?? they didn’t leak out of the rear passenger drain. clean the drain under the car and everything. turned the car around again and found all my water, all over me!!! :rant:
after pulling the rear of the headliner down and an hour of cursing and thinking i was gonna have to rip the whole headliner off, i finally saw the 3 inches of water stuck in the drain tube. pulled off the end connect to the bottom drain, sucked air out till i saw the water coming and connected it back on the bottom drain. pulled the car out, did the slope test again and everything drained perfectly fine. ofcourse i ran a lot of hot water down the rear drains to make sure they weren’t clogged.
my long frustrating story to you after my experiences last winter of getting drenched alot when first pulling out of parking stalls and having the water come down on me. and yes it rains like a bitch here in northern california during the winter. :mad:
Thanks!!! I’ll blast those suckers with some air this weekend!
