Driver’s Seatbelt Damp After Rain

[RunningForNow]

Hi all,

Just got back from Thanksgiving vacation, and left the car at the airport open-air parking lot for 8 days. During this time it rained a bit, and it’s the only probable cause I can think of...But I discovered that a portion of my driver’s side seatbelt was damp. Not wet, and no visible water pooling inside the cabin anywhere, and nothing was spilled inside the car, just the belt being a little damp. Haven’t had a chance to take the interior apart to investigate yet, but was wondering if anyone had this issue before? What were the causes, and where should I even start to look?

TIA for your help!

 

[rickmum]

I'm guessing you have a factory roof rack/rails.

The water is most likely getting in through one or more of the holes in the roof that the rails are bolted into.

To fix, pull the bolts out of the rail, pump a bit of silicone into the hole to seal it and bolt it back up.

More info here.

 

[gamefreakgc]

If you have a sun roof, try and clean out the drains. Some people have luck spraying compressed air up the drain holes.

 

[mtbtim]

Like others have already stated, it's either the factory roof rack screw holes allowing water into your headliner or you have a blocked sunroof drain(s). The roof rack rails are easy and self explanatory to fix. Just unscrew it from the roof, clean everything up really well and then shoot some RTV silicone into each hole when you re-affix it to the roof.

As for the sunroof drains, be careful with compressed air. If you use too much pressure, you could blow the rubber lines right off the fittings and then you'll be forced to partially or fully drop your headliner to fix it.

This video will help you with the sunroof drain unclogging.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qalXo4etX3Q" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[RunningForNow]

Thank you all for the pointers. I will give these th8ngs a try this weekend. Tim, always loved your videos, and it didn’t occur to me to search your video on YT. Of course you have a video for that! :cheers:

 

[anniesball72]

Plastic service door cover

It could also be this. In my truck this was the culprit.

The plastic door covers behind the trim piece will leak over time. The flexible butyl sealant will melt or if someone has worked on the doors and not replaced that cover correctly it will do that.

Where the seat belt winder sits, all of the water from the doors will collect there on the pan if the seals are bad.........

But I would look at the roof rack first since it's easy to do.

The door covers on the other hand, what I did was remove the trim cover, open the door and spray the window on the outside and start looking for leaks at the bottom of the plastic.

 

[RunningForNow]

So I’m finally going to tackle the potential leak areas from the roof. I watched Timmy’s video on cleaning out the drain tubes (very informative, btw, thank you, Timmy!). I know it was mentioned that I should use some silicone around the mounting points. Do I just put a dab of it on every single screw hole, or are there only specific ones to do? Has anyone done this that can give me a quick walkthrough?

Appreciated!

 

[rickmum]

So I’m finally going to tackle the potential leak areas from the roof. I watched Timmy’s video on cleaning out the drain tubes (very informative, btw, thank you, Timmy!). I know it was mentioned that I should use some silicone around the mounting points. Do I just put a dab of it on every single screw hole, or are there only specific ones to do? Has anyone done this that can give me a quick walkthrough?

Appreciated!

Get on up there, pull one bolt, pump a bit of silicone into the hole (enough to make you confident that once the bolt is in water won't get past it), then put the bolt back in.

Repeat til every bolt hole for your rails is siliconed and buttoned back up.