jvangun

Got my wife a 2014 ES350. Took it through one of those inexpensive $7 drive through car washes. Water leaks in through the rear part of the sunroof. Dealer replaced the seal and problem persists. They were able to replicate the issue and have sent over a summary of the issue and pictures to Lexus. Anyone else had this problem? Hard to believe it's just this one car wash that causes the issue.

williakz

Two more times and they owe you a new one - car that is. Save your paperwork...

Mike728

My wife's CR-V sunroof leaks in those cheap car washes, too. My ES will never know.

lesz

Even if water does find a way between the sunroof seal and the roof of the vehicle, that water still should not be entering the passenger compartment. There is a fairly deep gutter-like trough around the perimeter of the sunroof, and there there are two drain holes in that trough that should allow any water that gets into the trough to drain through downspout-like tubes in the A-pillars of the car. I presume that the dealer already did so, but I would check to make sure that there is no debris blocking those drain holes or the the drain paths in the A-pillars and preventing water from being able to drain out of the vehicle.

LexBob2

You should continue to persue this with your dealer, or try another one. Modern sun roofs rarely leak like this thses days.

Mike728

I don't know. If you take a pressure washer and place it at the right angle, the spray can get through pretty much any seal. Like I said, my wife's 2010 CR-V has this issue at a specific car wash. It blasts the pressure at the right angle, which allows water to penetrate the seal. I'm talking a couple drops, not anything significant. When I wash it by hand, it does not do this.

lesz

I think it might be more accurate to say that modern sun roofs rarely leak water into the passenger compartment. If the sunroof seals never leaked any water at all, there would be no need for the drainage system that I described in my previous post. If any water does get past the seals, it should be taken care of by the drainage system as long as there is not a blockage somewhere in that system. Back in the 70s and 80s, I had two GM vehicles, one with a sunroof and one with T-tops, and they both leaked. Neither of them had a drainage system to take care of any water that got past the seals.

It should be fairly easy to determine if blockage of the drainage system is a possibility. Just carefully pour some water into the trough/gutter surrounding the sunroof opening. Within seconds, you should see water streaming out of the area a bit in front of the front doors. If the water does not come out in those spots, that would be an indication that there is a blockage either at the drain holes or somewhere in the path between those drain holes and where the water should be exiting the vehicle.

ALIGN

With already thousands of ES250, 350, 300h around the world, I'm sure this is just one of those few occurrences'. If this were a major design flaw, we should have all experienced it already since this went out to market. We all washed our cars numerous times, hit by heavy rains and snow in other places.

All cars pass through a rain test as part of quality control.

The drain is just probably clogged up with dirt. But I will never stop pressuring the dealer to fix the issue or get you a new car.

jvangun

Thanks for the input. I called Lexus directly after the dealership told me that they had submitted a ticket without much confidence that anything would end up being done about it.

GTChilton

I've got a 2013 ES300 with the same issue. Water drips at the rear of the roof but nothing in the passenger compartment. Taking it to Lexus next week to see what happens.

drodella

have this same problem

Poppa

This is an interesting point about the drain being possibly clogged up. I completely forgot about this with my 2013 ES.. Shortly after I bought it, I had parked the car and went in to a local business.. It was raining like a son of a gun, when I got back in the car I noticed a very small pool of water on the dash, near the bottom of the A-pillars, and it actually looked like water was dripping thru those little speakers. Took it immediately to the dealership and the first thing they said was " bet the drains clogged ".. Turns out it wasn't because they were clogged, but according to the service writer, the drain wasn't hooked up. Now I don't know how that could be, but that's what I was told. I only know they said they " hooked it up " and it has never happened again.

Aegean

On my 2013 Lexus ES 300h I replaced the sunroof seal for another issue. The car was making noises that originally I thought they were from the suspension. Noises disappear with the new sunroof seal. However, because I installed it myself I was checking for leaks after car washes or heavy rain. There were never any leaks into the cabin but the rear u shaped gutter under the sunroof was wet inside. Somehow water makes its way to that point but drains out without issues or leaks anywhere in the cabin. I assume it is normal and this is how it is designed to operate.

mandyfig

Absolutely right, there is a drain channel all around the perimeter. We manufactured panoramicj\ sunroofs and yes, the rood is not waterproof, it is designed with water channels around and is connected to a drain to outside the car, nomally located on the passenger side footwell.

jgscott

iTrader: (1)

If the Tech or whoever is not careful trying to clear the drain like with too much air pressure they can blow the drain hose loose disconnected while clearing it and not even know it.

Seen this a problem many times. Sometimes replacing a front windshield also gets the drains messed up if they are not careful and don't line everything the way it should be along the front pillars. Seen this happen before too where they dislodge the drains, or crimped them stopping them off, replacing a front windshield then all of a sudden the Sunroof top is leaking.