Rain water leak in 2000 Legacy GT Wagon!

[jlpulone]

I searched and found a previous post from last January pertaining to this same problem but did not find any resolution information.

 

I've got a 2000 Legacy GT Wagon with dual moonroofs.

Whenever it rains heavy and/or steadily all day, I'll get large amounts of water sitting up in the headliner, and then pouring down through the child restraint head tether hook holes in the roof/headliner at the rear of the car.

 

The problem has become progressively worse and after the car being parked for a week, while on vacation, I noticed a mold smell. Well, I pulled up the spare tire cover and sure enough I had mold growing on the foam and some of the sound insulation. The spare tire wheel well was 3/4 full with water. I also found quite a bit of water in the space right below where the emergency jack is stowed.

 

Am I going to have to drop the headliner to fix this?

It seems it has to be related to the dual moonroofs and their respective drain holes/hoses. Is it possible to clean those out without removing the headliner?

 

Herb Gordon Subaru in Silver Spring, Maryland wants about $300 do have their "water leak specialist" come out and fix the problem. Ouch!!!

 

Any and all help is incredibly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Joe

 

[charm]

I searched and found a previous post from last January pertaining to this same problem but did not find any resolution information.

 

I've got a 2000 Legacy GT Wagon with dual moonroofs.

Whenever it rains heavy and/or steadily all day, I'll get large amounts of water sitting up in the headliner, and then pouring down through the child restraint head tether hook holes in the roof/headliner at the rear of the car.

 

The problem has become progressively worse and after the car being parked for a week, while on vacation, I noticed a mold smell. Well, I pulled up the spare tire cover and sure enough I had mold growing on the foam and some of the sound insulation. The spare tire wheel well was 3/4 full with water. I also found quite a bit of water in the space right below where the emergency jack is stowed.

 

Am I going to have to drop the headliner to fix this?

It seems it has to be related to the dual moonroofs and their respective drain holes/hoses. Is it possible to clean those out without removing the headliner?

 

Herb Gordon Subaru in Silver Spring, Maryland wants about $300 do have their "water leak specialist" come out and fix the problem. Ouch!!!

 

Any and all help is incredibly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Joe

 

 

Never had an open air sube, but in my old camry I too had a leaky moon roof. It only happened to me when I was washing the car. The first attempt should be to clear the drains. You can do this from where they come out underneath the car with anything that will fit in the drain line and bend with the drain line. With my camry, somehow one of the lines had been pinched and I ended up having to drop the headliner. Rather then replacing the entire tube, I spliced in a new piece.

 

Your bigger issue is the mold. You might as well drop your headline and dismantle the interior and buy a gallon of bleach because you've got a lot of cleaning ahead of you to deal with the mold problem. Most molds are not harmful but me cause allergic reactions similar to hay fever. Hay fever while driving, however, can be dangerous since you end up taking your eyes of the road for a second when you sneeze. All molds are very persistent and it'll take a very thorough cleaning to resolve the problem. In fact, you might be better off taking the car to somebody and let them be liable for the cleaning...I have no clue who does automative mold clean ups.

[Sydfloyd44]

If you want to make a road trip north to York, I would be happy to help you out. I live about 2 minutes from work where we would have access to our full service auto glass garage.

I do get down to Baltimore often as well. (was at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse near the Harbor last night!) Could also try and work out the timing for that. Would have to be Saturday or Sunday.

I have done auto glass professionally for about 12 years now. In those years, I have dealt with HUNDREDS of leaks. I am confident we could get to the bottom of your problem.

 

If interested, let me know.

[thavelos]

I have the same issue. Water will start running from the passenger side car seat tether hook in the cargo area. I thought it was coming through where the rubber hose protects/hides the wiring from the tailgate or the actual hinge. I attempted to cover all the seams with silicon sealant to see if it would stop, but the sealant did not hold up and I couldn't really apply all around the hinge very well due to the tailgate itself when open gives no clearance. My next choice was to take the headliner off and see if I can find it. My sunroofs seems to be tightly sealed so I don't know if that is part of the problem or not.......so bothersome. Great car otherwise.

 

TH

[unibrook]

Ah yes, that is the beautiful thing about owning cars without sunrooves. No leaks. Love it. I actually deduct $ from the price I will pay for a used car if it HAS a sunroof. Just a leak waiting to happen.

[bellaru]

I realize this post is old but I am having this problem. How did you solve it? Or any advice would be nice. Thanks.

[Scoobywagon]

Open the sunroof. Drain any standing water in the tray. Pull the headliner down enough to work in there. disconnect the drain lines and insert the tip of an air gun. Blow all the schmutz out of the drain lines. Clean up nasty mess on garage floor. Problem solved.

[bheinen74]

Ah yes, that is the beautiful thing about owning cars without sunrooves. No leaks. Love it. I actually deduct $ from the price I will pay for a used car if it HAS a sunroof. Just a leak waiting to happen.

some manufacturers make sunroofs that don't leak.

just not our cars.

[Scoobywagon]

some manufacturers make sunroofs that don't leak.

just not our cars.

 

Really? I've never seen one. How does one go about building a sunroof that isn't a giant hole in the roof? Ok, ok...there's the skylight you can get in some Nissans and such, but that's a skylight, not a sunroof.

[gbhrps]

There was a TSB on that generation of sunroofed cars that had water leaks into the front overhead map light area. If the sunroofs were opened and you looked at the steel roof opening along its sides, you would see areas in the paint where a factory sealant under the paint was missing or cracked. Water would then be wicked into the cracks of the paint and find its way forward to the overhead maplight console. The fix was to lightly sand the area and apply a thin coat of 5 minute epoxy to the area.

 

Leaks to the rear areas are either plugged drain tubes (blow out with air or unplug with a coathanger carefully). Many times the plastic drain tube cracks or splits, or shrinks off its connection at the end of the roof rail channel. The only fix is to drop the headliner (time consumming but not difficult). I'm a backyard mechanic whose been in the backyard a little while, and I dropped mine in less than an hour and had it out the open tailgate.

 

You have to pull down the door opening weather stripping and then carefully pry off the A, B and C pillar mouldings. The B pillar mouldings come off after first removing the top mounting bolts for the seat belts (T50 or 55 Torx if I recall correctly). Remove the headliner plugs in the rear, the top moulding at the tailgate opening, the overhead lights and consoles, the assist straps, sunvisors and rear view mirror. Pull the moulding around the sunroof opening and the headliner drops.

 

When I did mine, I went so far as to put clamps around each of the drain tubes where they connect to the sunroof rails. Normal tools, some patience and less than 3 hours time total. Its a DIYer, just be sure to keep your hands clean as the headliner marks easily.

Edited January 26, 2010 by gbhrps