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A couple of weeks ago I ordered a "Flexible Auto Car Drain Hole Dredge Cleaning Scrub Tool Brush QBW3" from walmart.com. $6.09 with free shipping. It arrived in yesterday's mail and this morning I used it to ream out the sunroof drain lines in my wife's 2015 RX350 as well as in my 2013 Outback 3.6R.
I did not have great expectations for this tool but it really surprised me. It is significantly more robust than the 5-foot section of thin-gauge twisted-wire cable I have been using for several years, and I was able to get its full 5-foot length down into each drain line. It has nylon bristles on its business end which help to dislodge any debris stuck down in the lines. You do not want to reduce its effectiveness by kinking it, so work it slowly back and forth while pushing it down into each drain line.
I will hang it on a nail in my garage to store it at its full length to keep it from getting kinked.
I bought the Amazon that I linked in another thread. I tested it on my brother-in-law's ancient Honda Accord as a shop claimed to have recently cleaned out his sunroof drains as he parks on the street under trees and it was not clogged, but close to it. It appears that they did. The brush at the end of the coiled springy wire fit the sunroof drain and was not that difficult to push through and back out again, although it needed some pulling to get it started back up again. This one appears to prefer being coiled for storage.
A couple of weeks ago I ordered a "Flexible Auto Car Drain Hole Dredge Cleaning Scrub Tool Brush QBW3" from walmart.com. $6.09 with free shipping. It arrived in yesterday's mail and this morning I used it to ream out the sunroof drain lines in my wife's 2015 RX350 as well as in my 2013 Outback 3.6R.
I did not have great expectations for this tool but it really surprised me. It is significantly more robust than the 5-foot section of thin-gauge twisted-wire cable I have been using for several years, and I was able to get its full 5-foot length down into each drain line. It has nylon bristles on its business end which help to dislodge any debris stuck down in the lines. You do not want to reduce its effectiveness by kinking it, so work it slowly back and forth while pushing it down into each drain line.
I will hang it on a nail in my garage to store it at its full length to keep it from getting kinked.
could you share some pics of the drain tool ? And if possible could you share the drain position / location on the 2015 Rx ?
For a noob - can someone give me the readers digest version of where the drain line is, what it does and how often it needs to be reemed out? I have a RX450h. Thanks
The front drains are the only ones that are easily reached. They are in the same position as every other vehicle, at the front corners of the sunroof. Look at some YouTube videos and you will see where they are and how to clean them. Just search clean sunroof drains.
The rear drains are another story as rear hatch panels have to be removed to find the drain lines which then have to be separated to clean them out. You cannot reach them from the sunroof area. There are some threads discussing this with photos. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...eparation.html
You can do maintenance cleaning every few years, but if your car is mostly garage kept, you may never have to clean them. If parked outside, especially under trees, then clean the front ones every couple of years. It is easy to do if you watch the YouTube videos.
The front drains are the only ones that are easily reached. They are in the same position as every other vehicle, at the front corners of the sunroof. Look at some YouTube videos and you will see where they are and how to clean them. Just search clean sunroof drains.
The rear drains are another story as rear hatch panels have to be removed to find the drain lines which then have to be separated to clean them out. You cannot reach them from the sunroof area. There are some threads discussing this with photos. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...eparation.html
You can do maintenance cleaning every few years, but if your car is mostly garage kept, you may never have to clean them. If parked outside, especially under trees, then clean the front ones every couple of years. It is easy to do if you watch the YouTube videos.
Is cleaning the rear drains from the end not a viable option? I started looking up forum about drain locations after you posted this review, and it seems like the only option is to tear apart the cargo areas trim pieces. That and shooting compressed air through the system, but the risk of pushing a clog upstream and ruining the headliner is always on my mind; hat along with not having an air compressor on hand.
My theory is that as long as you keep the two front drain lines clear, you will probably never need to clear the two rear drain lines. The caveat is being sure to park your vehicle on a slight downward slope for a couple of minutes every now and then with the front end lower than the rear end. That way, any rainwater still pooling at the rear drain holes will be channeled by gravity to the front drain holes where it will then run down the front drain lines.
Now that I have this useful tool, I will try to remember to engage it twice per year (Spring and Fall).
Can anyone post the location of the drain holes from the RX350 repair manual? I tried my best to locate them and clean them out with the tool, but what I though were the holes wouldn't permit the tool to go very far.
Can anyone post the location of the drain holes from the RX350 repair manual? I tried my best to locate them and clean them out with the tool, but what I though were the holes wouldn't permit the tool to go very far.
It's quite the project. I don't have the luxury of choosing where to park and which direction I'm facing since I street park, but I've had to clear the front drains out before with my friend's air hose after my SOS button started leaking water. I'll just continue to keep the fronts clear and pray I don't get caught in a downpour parked on an incline
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...l#post10906988
Originally Posted by TriniLex
Apparently my rear sunroof drains were clogged or kinked.
Water leaked on headliner which was not noticed... trickled down the c pillar and into the cargo area.
Symptoms Foggy windows and smell
I took apart the hatch and cleaned it up real well however the smell persisted because water went over the hump and into the rear seat foot well. Luckily Lexus put a cross bar that separated the rear and front seats which stopped the water at that point.
So if you have water from a sunroof drain here are some pics of what your car will look like during the process.
Removed everything out of wheel well
Removed rear seats
Removed all plastics (cleaned up nice with mr clean magic eraser)
Removed seat belt bolts holding the seat belt to the floor to flip the carpet at its maximum
Removed the old jute carpet backing. You should replace back with auto jute but couldn't find any locally. I just reused 2 layers of house carpet backing which worked fine. I haven't notice any different in sound.
Hardest part was removal of the rear seats (Cable wire) I have another post with details on how to remove the cable wire.
I believe this is for the rear drains, not the front ones.
Yes, that's just the rear, sorry I thought it was included in that post. The front has two small holes by the inner front corners when the sunroof is open. You'll know if you see it; they're unmistakable when you shine a flashlight onto the corner.
I don't see any holes in the RX350 with the Panoramic Sunroof. I did observe the water flowing towards two channels that were covered by rubber weatherstripping. So I just fed the tool through the channels as far as I was able. I also flushed both sides with a mixture of water and white vinegar. I did observe it come out on both sides near the wheel well, so I guess all is well.
Bought one off Amazon, but wondering - it only goes down maybe 45-50 inches before it stops. Is it supposed to pop out somewhere so you can see it or is this normal? Hate to test by pouring water in there if it's clogged. BTW - I'm not doing this because there is any problem - just routine maintenance based on threads out here.
Last edited by Finalist0946; 05-29-24 at 02:16 PM.
10-11-23, 08:44 AM
Sunroof Drain Line Clearing Tool
