Help! Leaky sunroof...

[03VIBEswfl]

Hey all,

Looking for some advice on what appears to be a leaky sunroof. I have a base 2003 Vibe with 127K on it.

About 2-3 months ago I started to notice that each time there was a really, really intense torrential downpour of rain, or anytime I took it through a high-pressure car wash, there would be a ton of water that would kind of pool right where the "fuzzy" roof liner ends and the hard plastic "column" near the door begins -- sort of right there a bit up and to the left of where your face is when you're driving. The water would either drip straight down from there or actually flow down the plastic part and drip down somewhere more or less where the left footrest is.

As of last night it's been steadily raining (more or less normal to light volume) here in the NY metro area, and although there's no major drippage (as described above), when I got in the car this morning I noticed a little bit of moisture and a couple water drops kind of beading up and just waiting to drop near the "back" of the sunroof, on the inside (the side closest to the back of the car; the side that "opens".)

Any ideas/advice? Could this be a problem just with the "seal" of the sunroof or is some drainage tube (?) clogged? Could it be both?

[zythr]

Hi

You answered your own questions. I'm not sure if there is rubber surrounding the sunroof, but after 10 years with different weather conditions, it could have dry rotted as well.

[joatmon]

The sunroofs on these cars are not and have never been watertight. Almost always when there is water visible from the roof it is because of a clogged drain. There is a tray around the opening to catch the drip that WILL get past the seal. The water catch gutter has a drain in each corner.

Since the water is showing up at the front corner, open the sunroof all the way and look in the front corners, see if there is anything accumulated in there and clean out any stuff blocking the holes. Maybe take a cup of water and pour it into the gutter to see it drain. If nothing is obvious and the water doesn't drain, then use compressed air to blow out the drain, or snake it with a wire. Let us know if the water does drain fine but you still get water showing up when it rains, then it might be something other than the drain

[03VIBEswfl]

The sunroofs on these cars are not and have never been watertight. Almost always when there is water visible from the roof it is because of a clogged drain. There is a tray around the opening to catch the drip that WILL get past the seal. The water catch gutter has a drain in each corner.

Since the water is showing up at the front corner, open the sunroof all the way and look in the front corners, see if there is anything accumulated in there and clean out any stuff blocking the holes. Maybe take a cup of water and pour it into the gutter to see it drain. If nothing is obvious and the water doesn't drain, then use compressed air to blow out the drain, or snake it with a wire. Let us know if the water does drain fine but you still get water showing up when it rains, then it might be something other than the drain

Great, thanks. I'll give this a try and let you know.