Leaking Sunroof

[Shade Tree]

My Daughter's 2001 Forester has a leaking sunroof. The gasket seems intact. I have wiped both the gasket and its seat under the roof with a silicone lubricant, and everything seems clean. It still leaks in a heavy rain.

Any suggestions on where to go from here?

 

Thanks,

 

ken

[BG 2.5 GT]

Ken,

 

Where do you find the water coming in? I had a puddle in the passenger side floor of my 97 Legacy GT, and I could see water dripping off the dash. Thought it was the windshield, but it turned out to be the drain tube of the sunroof! It pulled off of the drain for the sunroof surround and was leaking onto my headliner then running down the pillar, finally coming off the bottom of the dash. That was after the 2 weeks of rain that we had here in New England earlier this month. I just had to push it back on and hose clamp it.

 

Hope that helps.

[gbhrps]

There are 4 drain tubes, one in each front corner of the sunroof that run down the A pillar and out below the front fenders, and one in each back corner that run down the C pillar and out of the bottom of the rear fenders. They get plugged on some cars with maple keys, small leaves or dirt and usually just need to be blown out with compressed air. The dealership knows where they are and can do the job in quick time. If, as suggested in the above post, one of the tubes has come free from its drain , the headliner will need to be pulled down on that side of the car to reattach it. Good Luck!

[Shade Tree]

Thank you both for the suggestions. We will give the drains a good looking over, and cleaning out. Many thanks!

 

To answer the question about where the water shows up, the car is parked on a slight incline, nose up, and the water was draining out of the rear seat belt shoulder harness "accessory port" (there is only one of them, on the ceiling, in the rear seat, passenger side.) It dripped on to the rubber mat (fortunately) that covers the floor of the cargo compartment.

 

Thanks again,

 

ken

[gbhrps]

I recently have had my headliner (02 OBW LTD) down to chase down a leak, and for sure if you have water leaking into the accessory seatbelt retractor in the right rear ceiling, then your drain tube at the right rear corner of the sunroof drain track has come undone or split where it a pushes on to the drain rail at the rear of the car. There are no clamps on any of the drain tubes where they attach to the drain rails, but you can surely add one when you get the rear of the ceiling down. In your case, to get the rear headliner down in the back half of the wagon on that side of the car, remove the 4 push in plugs in the rear ceiling (forget about the one about a foot straight in from the rear ceiling light as its just access to the motor of the sunroof and doesn't need to come out), pull straight down on the rear ceiling moulding at the tailgate opening to remove it, pull off the ceiling light lens, remove the 2 screws that hold its assembly to the roof and unclip its wiring connector. Remove the screws (one on each side) where the rear security panel plugs into each side. Carefully pull the upper moulding that goes from the C Pillar to the D Pillar out, and carefully pull down the headliner on the rear of the car until you can get to the rear drain tube and fix the problem. In all, its fairly easy to do, just be sure to keep your hands clean so you won't mark up the headliner with greasy finger marks, and pry carefully on the mouldings to remove them, and then be sure that each clip or pin is correctly lined up before you push the mouldings back into place when you go to put the car back together.. Good Luck!

[Pillowsplat]

I had the same problem on a 03 OBW and dismantled a good portion of the headliner. Here is a hind site suggestion. I think he problem was a clogged drain tube. Silicone grease was the culpret in the tube. If you have not tackled the problem yet. Maybe some thick weed wacker string shoved down the tube would solve the problem. I don't have an air compressor.

[Shade Tree]

Thank you so much for the detailed fix info. My Daughter brought the car to the (non-Subaru) dealer where she bought it used, and they *said* they blew out the drains. But your explanation of the disconnected drain tube makes a great deal of sense: the tube is loose, so of course it would *seem" clear if air were blown into it...

 

So we have our work cut out for us.

 

many thanks,

 

Ken

[Hondasucks]

Thank you so much for the detailed fix info. My Daughter brought the car to the (non-Subaru) dealer where she bought it used, and they *said* they blew out the drains. But your explanation of the disconnected drain tube makes a great deal of sense: the tube is loose, so of course it would *seem" clear if air were blown into it...

 

So we have our work cut out for us.

 

many thanks,

 

Ken

 

Or it was plugged and loose, and blowing in it simply popped the hose off the fitting.