Water has been leaking into my cabin from the small separation on the inner hinge pillars on both driver and passenger sides of my 2012 RX350. There's a small divide in the interior padding near the top of the windshield area into which water is apparently seeping. . See in this picture the divider line in interior padding at top, and water stain below as it continues to pour here in southwest Connecticut for third consecutive day.

Just wondering if this is something I can DIY.....or what. Thx for any thoughts.

 

It is more likely that your sunroof drains are clogged and rainwater is leaking into the cabin interior as a result. You will need to clear your sunroof drains. There have been quite a few threads on the forum during the course of the summer referencing clogged sunroof drains.

 

There are many YouTube videos showing how to clear sunroof drains with weed Wacker line. It is the same procedure on every sunroof. You may even find a video for a Toyota or Lexus.

Amazon even sells a specific sunroof drain clearing tool that has a brush on the end of a long wire.

 

Small-gauge twisted-wire cable works quite well for me. It is more robust than weedwhacker line.

 

Thx, just ordered one drain cleaning tool from Amazon for $7. Hope it works... Had no idea, so after I posted here and was awaiting responses, I sent an email to the local CT dealer Service Dep't, asking *specifically if it was a "DIY job". His response: "unclogging all would be a 2-3 hour job which they could do, and would cost about $400-$500". Hopefully, the $7 part will do the job.

 

Just had this issue last weekend. 10 minute job to fix. What you'll need will be an air pump and a cone shaped rubber nozzle. Just clean the surround area and then insert the nozzle into the 2 drain holes by the sunroof and set air pressure to 15-25 and blow it into the drain. It'll clear it really fast. Run some water into it and look underneath your passenger/driver set side to confirm that the clog was been fixed.

EDIT: See attachment

 

If using compressed air to clear the sunroof drain (which I have done in the past with a Jaguar sedan), just be aware that if the clog is significant or if too much air pressure is used, you can blow the tip of the drain hose right off the nozzle of the sunroof rack. When that happens, you must pull the headliner down on that side in order to reattach the drain hose to the nozzle.

 

The drain cleaner arrived and now.....the sun roof won't glide, and won't tilt. I suspect it might have to do with the clogging, but at this point, I can't access the drain holes inside the sunroof area. Are u familiar with where the drain holes are at the bottom of the car? If not, I can take it to my local service station and they can put it on the lift. I'm just hoping the sunroof glife/tilt problem is somehow linked to substantial clogging (no carport area here). Thx

 

Try spraying the sunroof edges with PB Blaster or even silicone spray. I would take a butter knife and push in the gasket at the outer edge working around the roof then spray again.

If it has not been opened for years it may be stuck for various reasons. It has to be opened to clear the drains. The end of the drains under the car are a bit difficult to open.
So you should ask the shop to get your sunroof to open as it is best to attack the clog from above.

 

Once you manage to get your sunroof open, let us know if that Amazon cable with the brush on its tip will fit through the drain holes and down into the rubber drain lines. Judging just by the photo of the product, it may be too thick to be able to push down into the spaces where it needs to go in order to clear the debris from the drains.

I despise sunroofs. Both of our SUVs have them, and both of them have suffered from clogged drain lines during 2023. I had to clear my wife's RX drain lines back in March, and I had to clear my Outback 3.6R drain lines just yesterday.

 

Hope the water didn't do electronic damage. Good luck. The downpour in New York was insane this morning, if your leak was exposed to the same downpour it can explain why it's not opening.

 

The water can reach all these connectors at the drivers kickpanel. Causes all kinds of alarm messages!

 

^^ Yep, unfortunately that electronics assembly is squarely in the path of the rainwater as it travels down the inside of the A-pillar to wind up underneath the drivers-side carpet. The ECM panics and starts throwing spurious OBDII codes and lighting up various warning icons and messages on the dashboard. When that happened to my wife's RX back in March, I reamed out the sunroof drains and then ran our large canine hair dryer set on high heat down onto the floorboard and pointing up underneath the dashboard. After 4 or 5 hours of running it, the OBDII codes and dashboard messages magically disappeared.

I despise sunroofs....

 

i never got the chance to use that Amazon cable with the brush. II brought the car to a service center which showed me the slide roof motor was corroded due to water damage. So I turned it all over to insurance. My policy covered but the motor was hard to find, the service center purchased it on Ebay. No way the insurance company would've covered a $2,200 OID motor on a 2012 RX, so I guess I lucked out for the $295 part, although let's see how long it lasts. Service center told me it loked clean.

 

It took a while, but I brought the car to a local service center that fixes Lexus, and they told me the sunroof motor was corroded. Got my insurance company involved, and they paid for installing the part--the service center had found a motor on Ebay for about $300...no way the insurance company would've covered me for an OID part (on backorder) for $2,200 from a dealer. So, since the wet carpet smelled up the car, the insurance also paid for a car detailing. Just wanted to keep you posted, as the moderator, and appreciate your attempt to provide an answer. I now realize that keeping the car outdoors here in the Northeast means falling leaves might clog up my car....lesson learned.