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Water leaks?

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Old 11-06-2012 | 01:49 PM
  #371  
panelmoxie's Avatar
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Joined: 01-14-2011
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From: north ga
my sunroof has leaked a couple of times as well as the area in the front left. If he parks on a hill the water will work its way to the rear. cause that carpet does not retain the water at all. Only the the insulation. And take it from me it will mildew if not handled correctly.
Old 11-06-2012 | 09:31 PM
  #372  
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Joined: 07-30-2012
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From: The Couve
Originally Posted by Snoopy
Joel......

First welcome to the forum, but it is to bad that your first post concerns such a depressing issue.

Now if I understand you correctly, ONLY the rear seat and floor boards were wet. Nothing in the front was wet? If that's the case, I doubt if the sunroof drains are the source of the leak. In all the instances that I can think of, when the sunroof drains are the problem, they leak to the front area first. And as you stated, the headliner is not stained so the leak is probably not at the sunroof itself.

Also, have you had significant rain prior to the fender bender? And while speaking of this, what exactly was repaired.....just the quarter panel for example, the door also, etc.? You mentioned the rear seats were wet. ....the seating surface, the surface edges, the seat backs?

You have "peaked" my interest with this. Others will also supply some ideas.

The TSB.... you are correct, mostly, on your understanding. But the TSB is just a suggestion/tool for the technician to use in assessing a problem and repairing. It is used for warranty and non warranty issues, when seeking to diagnose and repair a particular owner problem. It will be a no charge item for a warranty covered vehicle, and POSSIBLY (usually, but not always) an owner charged repair for a non warranty repair (.
Thanks for the welcome, Snoopy. I'll try to elaborate. As far as we could tell initially, yes only the rear floorboard carpets, and the one seat behind the driver.....the sitting surface and side to the door. Now it is basically dry, with a slight moisture at the crease to the seat back.
We park on a slight incline in the drive....maybe in the neighborhood of a ten degree slope, with car nose up.

Regarding the fender bender, it was primarily the bumper piece, and that is all that was repaired. I had asked them to carefully look at the quarter panel, but they indicated no problem. No, there had been no significant rain prior to the bump up.

Thanks for confirming my thoughts on the TSB's.

Just for giggles, has anyone tried to clear the drain tubes from the sunroof? The shop said sometime light compressed air, but I was warned that could blow the tube off the spigot, and also warned that trying to snake a wire or similar might damage the tube. I was thinking of using something less sharp, like maybe a bunch of pipe cleaner taped together and the wire end covered. Are those hole diameters too small? And would going from under the car up be a thought? Speaking of which, where are the drain holes?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I'd like to do something quickly before it starts to mold/mildew. I have no garage space to set up a drying spot. And we have much more rain on the way.

Thanks again.
Joel
Old 11-06-2012 | 10:41 PM
  #373  
Snoopy's Avatar
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Joined: 05-09-2006
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From: "Upland" Mesa, Arizona
The drainage holes (rectangular, maybe 1 x 1 1/2, are at the rear bottom of each front wheel well. They have a small flap over them (probably to prevent road crud from entering and blocking and to prevent cold or hot air from entering into the passenger compartment).

I believe others have used compressed air in the drain tubes. I have not seen how the drain tubes are assembled BUT, I would use maybe 15-20 PSI and not insert the nozzle into the tube. Have someone on the other end to see if anything is evacuated and to determine if air is passing through.

Now I'm not saying this is not your problem, BUT I'm having a hard time understanding why the amount of water you are describing did not stain, or wet the headliner....at the "B" pillars in particular.
Old 11-07-2012 | 07:39 AM
  #374  
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From: The Couve
As I poked around, I found this useful posting. Are there one of these holes at each corner? In the second pic, is this a split picture of two side by side? Is a panel removed in the left of the pic, which shows the tube? If so, where is this oriented? Thanks.
Joel

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Old 11-07-2012 | 08:24 AM
  #375  
db/sb's Avatar
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Joined: 06-26-2006
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From: San Bernardino, California
The bottom picture is on the passenger side with the door open and the access panel on the side of the dash removed. It's not a split picture.
Old 11-08-2012 | 09:42 PM
  #376  
burntOrange's Avatar
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Joined: 07-30-2012
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From: The Couve
Thanks db/sb, but this brings up another question. Explain what the "exit drain" is on the right side if it is next to the "drain tube" on the left in the panel? Are they not related?

Joel
Old 11-09-2012 | 05:27 AM
  #377  
firemangeorge's Avatar
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Joined: 12-06-2009
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From: Alabama
Originally Posted by burntOrange
Thanks db/sb, but this brings up another question. Explain what the "exit drain" is on the right side if it is next to the "drain tube" on the left in the panel? Are they not related?

Joel
Basically it is all one line that goes from inside to an exit outside. Here's a picture. Just follow the red broken line.( I'm no computer artist).

Old 11-09-2012 | 08:55 AM
  #378  
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From: The Couve
Hmm, somehow that doesn't look or sound right. I'll have to really take a closer look now.

Joel
Old 11-09-2012 | 11:03 AM
  #379  
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Joined: 12-06-2009
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From: Alabama
Originally Posted by burntOrange
Hmm, somehow that doesn't look or sound right. I'll have to really take a closer look now.

Joel
??? Not sure what doesn't look or sound right. It's very simple. The water drains from the sunroof to the "inside" of the car, down that plastic tube. At the point shown in the picture, the tube turns and "exits" or goes through the A-pillar lower area. The water is then drained outside.
The picture posted is what you will see if you remove the right dash end cover. Like I said. It is very simple.
Old 11-11-2012 | 01:26 PM
  #380  
burntOrange's Avatar
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From: The Couve
I finally had the opportunity to physically take a good look yesterday. I saw the holes up top at the sunroof channel, and they were clear. I popped off the side panel of the dash, and saw the drain tube, and saw how it turned to the exit port on the side of the door frame.
For some reason, I was led to believe the drains went to the underside of the car frame. For the front drains, they go to the side as shown above.

My next question is this. I cannot see the rear drain holes up top, nor see how they drain. Are there any pics of them? If they are set up the same, do they go down the B pillar between the doors? And do they go all the way to the bottom underside of the car? I did not see a similar exit point in the rear door jamb.
*edit* By the way, the moisture has dried, and I don't smell any musty odor, so might have gotten lucky. We also haven''t had a lot of rain since either.

Joel


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