spaceballs

Hey everyone, whilst driving on the highway during a downpour, water started leaking into the cabin at the A pillar on the passenger side:



I removed the panelling and really couldn't find out where it came from, and it only comes through when I'm driving, never when I'm sitting still.
I snaked both sunroof drains and found no issues, water goes in without hesitation and comes out of the bottom of the car.

What I did find is that one of the rain channels on either side of the windshield where it meets the trim was blocked, on the side that leaked. I cleaned it out with a bit of hard cardboard, and the leak stopped. I believe the windshield is the original and has never been replaced.



Does anyone know how I can possibly diagnose this a bit more? I poured water all over the top of the windshield seal thinking there might be a gap there but nothing came through.

ESh

I bet it is the sunroof drain. Nothing to do wirh the molding.
Open the sunroof and check the drains, most likely they are clogged.
This is a very big problem, I am afraid pur floor is also full of water.

spaceballs

Done that already, sunroof drains are good, everything drains quickly and effortlessly down to the bottom of the car, snaked both for good measure, no resistance, all clear.

MTurkay

Same here, after checking with several mechanics, it turned out the window seal was cracked and that's where it got the water. The person told me he cannot simply fix it without breaking the glass, so I would need a new glass. That would fix the problem. I passed it for now.

EZmirza

I’ll remove it first to fully clean out then usde a old Credit card and run it thought the right side where the water coming through.
Otherwise if you try to clean the sunroof with a wire hanger the rubber tube might be out from the nipple where the Small connector. If you don't then park your car a little slop put lukewarm water with the dishes wash sope and use Something soft like i use a Computer Cat5 wire make sure nothing sticking out of the wire should be prices cut you may need 2 or 3 meters or use the Wacker string need to soft and flexible.

Try each side slowly if is stop one place pull it few inches and try clockwise twisted if it stops it you should stop and pour some soapy hot water repeat the process the wire string might not completely out because then it might be a strainer in place if water coming through without the blocking the you sould be fine.

spaceballs

Hey everyone, thought I might give an update on this.

The shop removed the A pillar covering and didn't find anything but what I did do is try to run a toothpick alongside the window seal where it meets the rain channel (on the outside) and that seemed to resolve it.
What I suspect is the case is that water is being blown up through the channel from the bottom of the windscreen, meets some sort of obstruction, and starts going in a different direction (where there is a leak), this probably explains why it only happens when I'm driving the car and not when its sitting stationary.

spaceballs

So another update to this as after 8 months, this issue is back. So far latest observations:

- The symptoms are exactly the same as before, no leaks when stationary, only when moving.
- The rain channel on the side of the windshield is blocked again, going to try to clear it up.
- The sunroof drains are not blocked, I can pour an entire bottle of water down it and it will drain to the bottom of the car no problem.
- I finally managed to get some of the headliner removed, so far, everything inside is dry! I'm not able to see any evidence of previous water marks on any of the components (I also verified that the sunroof drain is attached and dry), which is infuriating.
- I thought it might be coming from this area between the windscreen and the top of the car, but sticking a paper towel in that area came back dry.



- I suspect there is a leak somewhere in the gasket surrounding the windscreen (which is original).

As this issue is probably going to be notoriously difficult to hunt down, I might just have the windscreen swapped out instead of trying to have anyone diag it, but firstI'm going to try to clean and caulk the area of of the roof rail where the clips meet the body in case I have some very small holes in that area.

spaceballs

Good news: I found where the leak is coming from, it's NOT the windshield :-)
Bad news: I have no idea *why* it leaks.

To provide an update, I finally managed to get parts of the headliner removed (after removing the front visor and passenger side grab handle, and found that the leak is indeed coming from the sunroof drains!
In the photo below you can see the bit of the headliner that is wet at the bottom and it sits directly below the passenger side sunroof drain.


However, the sunroof drain is securely sealed and seems to be in pristing condition, and there's no wetness around the pipe at all. I have tested and flushed the drain pipe several times and confirm that there are no clogs and it can effectively drain a bottle of water without backing up, as you can see the above is from a half hour drive so the leak is a drip at most.

Tomorrow if it's a warmer day I'll try to pour some warm water with dish soap down it, I tried feeding weed whacker line down the tube but it stops about a foot from where it should exit, although I can pour water down the drain and it comes out of the bottom no problem.

Does anyone know if these lines have a little filter at the bottom which tends to get clogged?

ESh

No filter at the bottom.

nevernu

Try pushing weed wacker up from the bottom, sounds like there is a little blockage

tolian21

Try cleaning sun-roof drain

spaceballs

So some more updates, I finally found the source of the leak, it is NOT the sunroof drain, but a piece just beside it. I poured an entire bottle of water down the sunroof drains and it all drained to the bottom of the car pretty quickly (it also made a sucking sound indicating there was a good flow), however, when I poured water onto the sides of the sunroof (behind the rails), it started leaking from the below point.



I suspect there is a very small gap between the sunroof drip tray and the sunroof rails in the red circled area, for now I've put a very small amount of silicone sealant (for windows) around both the upper and lower parts where its leaking.

I'll report back on how well my fix works, a proper fix would be to properly seal the drip tray but that would involve taking down most of the headliner which I'm not keen to do in the cold weather. Good news is that I can consistently reproduce the issue so I should be able to test it over the next few days even when it's not raining.