Sunroof leak = Drains clogged. Help pleaee
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AuSeeker
Elite Member
Use some weed eater line and push down the drain tubes from the sunroof.
mwebster22
Member
In addition to the drain hoses, I used a screwdriver to open the bottom of the fender/rocker (I can’t remember which one it drains out of) a little. My hoses were clean but where it drains out of the body it was somewhat plugged with debris.
I checked for saved links but can’t find them. But there are some helpful write ups and YouTube’s to help you figure out how the drains are setup.
I checked for saved links but can’t find them. But there are some helpful write ups and YouTube’s to help you figure out how the drains are setup.
ive been chasing water on passenger carpet for a while. i cleared the drains (forward ones) in sunroof but only with like 15" of weed wack line. i need to find where it exits, that rocker/fender location and i hope its the culprit. brutal.
mwebster22
Member
I’ll bet it is, just like mine was. Take off the plastic panel inside just in front of the door and you can find the drain hose or just pour a little water in the drain up top, find where it exits the fender sheet metal and open it up a bit.
Montego Murph
Member
There are drains in all four corners. The rears are weird.
Someone on one of the many 4th Gen Facebook groups posted pictures of their truck completely gutted and you can see what I'm talking about. I'll try to find it.
The rear corners lead into a little open-toppped box -- maybe about the size of a deck of cards. A plastic tube connects to this and goes down behind the rear doors, along the side panel, and exits behind the rear bumper cover. You can access this tube on the left through the jack storage area, or the side panel/subwoofer area on the right.
I ended up removing most of the headliner to see all this. Mine was clogged with leaves and crap. The prizewinning move was to take a shop vac and, using my hands as an adapter, connected the drain hose near the jack to the vacuum hose and sucked the blob straight through.
One thing to understand about the sunroof is that it is a "controlled leak." Water WILL come through between the panel and the roof. The drains are there to make sure it goes right back outside the car and not on the floor!
Someone on one of the many 4th Gen Facebook groups posted pictures of their truck completely gutted and you can see what I'm talking about. I'll try to find it.
The rear corners lead into a little open-toppped box -- maybe about the size of a deck of cards. A plastic tube connects to this and goes down behind the rear doors, along the side panel, and exits behind the rear bumper cover. You can access this tube on the left through the jack storage area, or the side panel/subwoofer area on the right.
I ended up removing most of the headliner to see all this. Mine was clogged with leaves and crap. The prizewinning move was to take a shop vac and, using my hands as an adapter, connected the drain hose near the jack to the vacuum hose and sucked the blob straight through.
One thing to understand about the sunroof is that it is a "controlled leak." Water WILL come through between the panel and the roof. The drains are there to make sure it goes right back outside the car and not on the floor!
2010 4runner sunroof drainage flixed
After much, much wasted time I was able to fix this today...with the help of another post on here. I took some photos to help illustrate. My issue was the water was not draining completely and splashing into the passenger area. Easy way to test is pour a few ounces of water on the passenger and driver side holes. If it does not drain right away there is likely a blockage at the FILTER.
String trimmer line will NOT solve this. You must remove the molding at the door base and to the left the emergency brake pedal. Use a plastic pry bar on the floor base plate and locate the 'bump" on your floor board that is holding the other trim piece in. Behind that you'll find some electronics. CAREFULLY pop off the blue pieces and use a 10mm socket to remove the white harness. This will allow you to remove the drain tube. Take a pair or pliers and lift up on the tube to unseat it from the hole. At the bottom of the tube check to see if the filter is clogged. Both of mine were and once I cleared them water instantly drained from the sunroof.
After much, much wasted time I was able to fix this today...with the help of another post on here. I took some photos to help illustrate. My issue was the water was not draining completely and splashing into the passenger area. Easy way to test is pour a few ounces of water on the passenger and driver side holes. If it does not drain right away there is likely a blockage at the FILTER.
String trimmer line will NOT solve this. You must remove the molding at the door base and to the left the emergency brake pedal. Use a plastic pry bar on the floor base plate and locate the 'bump" on your floor board that is holding the other trim piece in. Behind that you'll find some electronics. CAREFULLY pop off the blue pieces and use a 10mm socket to remove the white harness. This will allow you to remove the drain tube. Take a pair or pliers and lift up on the tube to unseat it from the hole. At the bottom of the tube check to see if the filter is clogged. Both of mine were and once I cleared them water instantly drained from the sunroof.
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AuSeeker
Elite Member
This is a great informative post!!
While the fact that the drain tubes have filters at the end may have been posted but before I have never read it on this forum on the many topics on drainage issues,
all I have ever read was doing the trimmer line to unblcok the tubes, I'm sure many of the drainage issues may have this issue, I think you need to start a topic for
your fix on your issue so it will come up on it's own when someone does a search, this being sorta buried in this topic may make this info much harder to find when
someone has a drainage issue!!
Thanks for posting this, I'm sure this ifno will help many on the forum if they find your post!
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YetiX
New member
It may be because his a 2010 ie a 5th Gen.
AuSeeker
Elite Member
Yeap I see that now that you mentioned it, I missed that bit of info, I guess the 4th gens don't have the filter?
It almost also throws me with someone posts in the wrong forum section!! :shrug:
I tried to make a new post, but wasn't allowed since I was new to the forum. I only posted it because I had gone down so many rabbit holes on other threads and forums. Someone can feel free to post the info in another thread if they want. I am not sure if the older models have these "filters".
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4RunnerAquasport
Senior Member
Great pics, they helped a lot. I do have one FYI, the tubing labeled rear drain, is actually the washer line to the back window. On my 5th gen the rear sun roof drains are pink and blue and the same diameter as the fronts, but access to them is above the rear passenger doors. These lines run behind the wheel well into a grommet with a drain spout.
Rear passenger drain gutter & hose
For the rear drainplugs, I was having a similar issue. I discovered my right passenger drain hose came loose from its connection. When it rains, water is collected in the sunroof tray and travels down to a white gutter (which has an open top) where the rear passenger drain hose connects to. Because the top of the gutter is open, if there is something blocking water from going through the hose it then overflows the white gutter and overflows in the roof headliner and down the side of the rear passenger panel. To fix this you'll need to remove the bedliner, remove the rear passenger side panel, in order to peel open your headliner. Check out the link to see a video of what this white gutter looks like.
For the rear drainplugs, I was having a similar issue. I discovered my right passenger drain hose came loose from its connection. When it rains, water is collected in the sunroof tray and travels down to a white gutter (which has an open top) where the rear passenger drain hose connects to. Because the top of the gutter is open, if there is something blocking water from going through the hose it then overflows the white gutter and overflows in the roof headliner and down the side of the rear passenger panel. To fix this you'll need to remove the bedliner, remove the rear passenger side panel, in order to peel open your headliner. Check out the link to see a video of what this white gutter looks like.
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AuSeeker
Elite Member
It won't let me watch the video, the only option at that link on my end is for "downloading" the video, which I won't do because I don't want to put my computer at risk even though I would love to watch the video. :doh:
