14ES350

A couple days ago I purchased a used 2014 ES350 with 46k miles in New York State. Today I took it to a touchfree car wash and noticed it was leaking quite a bit at the sunroof. When I got home took a bowl of water to see if it was the water pressure causing the leak so I poured a bowl of water and it was still leaking quite a bit but there was no water stains in the headliner for some reason. Now I am worried how long has this leak existed since before I purchased the car and I’m worried if mold or something has begun. I am going back to the dealership Monday morning for them to take a look. I’m wondering if it is mold or the problem isn’t reparable is the covered under lemon law in New York State? I’d appreciate as much help as I can get!

lesz

Most cars with sunroofs, including the ES, have drain tubes that are designed to drain any water that gets past the seals around the perimeter of the sunroof. Most often, those drain tubes run down the A pillar and drain the water out from the underside of the car in the area directly below the A pillar.

More often than not, when water from a sunroof is leaking into the car, it is because there is a clog in that drain tube. and the water is backing up into the car. Sometimes, the clog can be caused by leaf debris that has gotten into the tubes or from something like a spider nest.

When you take the car back to the dealer, the first thing that they should check would be to make sure that the drain tubes are not clogged.

My guess would be that, if you are not seeing any stains anywhere on the interior of the car, it has not been leaking long enough or in a volume sufficient to cause any problems with mold.

Poppa

Completely agree with lesz on this.. in fact it reminded me about a similar issue I had with a new Avalon I had purchased. There was a horrendous storm and my car had been parked outside at work. When I got in the car to go home, I immediately noticed there were two small puddles of water on my dashboard, where water had apparently ran down the A pillar and somehow, ( never figured this one out ) water was seeping into the cabin from around the speaker grills in the A pillar. I was pissed and immediately took the car back to the dealership... turns out the problem was those drain tubes. Service writer told me it appeared that the drain tubes had never been connected. anyway, never ever had another issue like that again. So yes, my first guess would be to have those drain tubes checked.