Hello all-- After finding water on my interior floors after a heavy rain more and more frequently, I suspected that my windshield seal was bad. Much testing with a hose would not duplicate the problem. Water was dripping out behind the glovebox. I searched threads here online and found that while the windshield seal can sometimes be the culprit, as can the wiring loom entry point at the firewall bulkhead, especially for those who have run additional wires there; this was not my problem.

If you are finding puddles of water and soaked carpet inside your Infiniti g35 or g37, it is quite likely that the culprit is your sunroof drain tubes. While the sunroof is meant to seal tightly when closed, it has rain gutters inside to catch water that inevitably gets past the seals. There are four drains, one in each corner or the sunroof opening. The front ones are hidden within the sunroof trolley rails, but if you stand on a stool and look closely At the black plastic caps on the front of each rail you will see the small openings. The rear openings are not visible , even with the roof panel open, as they are still covered by the sliding roof panel.

There are long plastic tubes connected to a nipple on each of the four corners, and these connections are usually the source of the leaks. They're narrow and clog easily with debris. The tubes run from the sunroof corners down each of the four roof pillars and exit underneath the car. If you open the sunroof and carefully pour a glass of water in each corner of the sunroof gutter inside , look underneath the car and you should see the water pouring freely out of access holes. If not flowing freely, that tube may be clogged or even partly disconnected from its rooftop nipple.

Fortunately, this fix is practically free and most people will be able to fix it themselves. Unfortunately, fixing this problem usually requires the partial removal of the headliner to access the leaks. You can try to use compressed air to blow out the offending tube without disassembly, but you may instead serve to dislodge the tube completely from its nipple and force disassembly anyway.

The instructions for dropping the headliner can be found in the interior section of the shop manual, available online at http://x.infinitihelp.com/forum/loca...3#.UrX0PmRDszI. You don't have to remove the headliner entirely, but you do need to remove enough fasteners at the corner of the roof on which you are working to pull it down without force. Avoid bending the headliner which will leave permanent marks and creases. Wash your hands well before starting to handle the headliner. It is next to impossible to clean if you get your greasy fingers all over it.

In my case, the front passenger side was leaking. The carpet was soaked after a heavy rain. Look for the HIGHEST place you have seen water dripping from. It is too easy to start taking things apart from the bottom, working up from the floor, and behind the glove box since that's where you see the water dripping out. Like many of you will find, my leak was originating at the very top where the hose connected to the rain gutter nipple. Infiniti simply installs the hose slipped over the end, with no clamps or sealer, which is not the way I'd do it if I was building this assembly.

Pulling the headliner down and away, I was able to install a small screw hose clamp on the connection, which fixed the problem instantly. Installing the clamp is easy The hardest part is lowering the headliner.

Finally, if you have had such a leak, this last step is very important. If your car smells musty inside or the windows steam up when the car sits closed up, be aware that the floor of the Infiniti has large, deep troughs beneath the carpet which are filled with blocks of styrofoam. These are there as part of the sound deadening and structural rigidity engineering of the car. But they can hold over a gallon of water each. It shocked me to see this when I removed the carpet. If you do not remove the carpets and empty and dry the troughs and rug padding, no amount of air freshener will ever make your car smell good again.

The photos below show the headliner pulled away and the tube attached without a clamp, the clamp added, and the floor with the carpet pulled back and the styrofoam blocks removed (and the hairdryer added!)

Hope this, helps!

new member Bill Henderson

 

OK, but how exactly does the sunroof drain being clogged, equal a soaked FLOOR, and not a soaked HEADLINER???

 

Simple answer: Most of the interior pieces (headliner panel, A pillar cover, kick panel) are hard plastic, covered with fuzzy velour. The water tends to drip onto these, travel through channels on these panels, then pours out the bottom onto the floor. The first inclination is for most people (me included) is to start dissasembly at the spot the water is coming OUT onto the rugs. The weakest link is, however at the very top where the water is coming IN.

 

This is good to hear, I have torn apart my 07 G35x at least 3 times due to a soaked passenger floor....the first time it was the gromet under the hood, water came down from behind the dash, easy to tell, so I used silicon and issue solved.

Then I noticed water again, no clue where it came from, sealed up the AC line, but the issue returned. I would drive through the car wash, through the rain, AC on and off, couldn't reproduce the issue, even watching with the carpet lifted up, so frustrating!

I then noticed water in the back seat too! (again only the passenger side) So I am not sure if it's coming from the front, or the rear, there is more water in the rear, but maybe it just pools there...it def sloshes front to back during driving.

Nothing higher than 6" is wet, so not sure if that's because it's coming from a lower location, or if the top just dried on it's own already, and the bottom is simply wet because that is where the water pools. Everything seems like welded tight super dry paneling on the bottom where the water is, so can't figure out where it would come from.

I checked the sunroof drains before, and they seemed fine, but that was only the front drains, I didn't realize it had 2 rear drains also, so maybe/hopefully that is my problem...otherwise I need to bring it to a dealer to figure out, paying $100 a flipping hour to boot...that would suck.

Strange because everything up top seems dry, I see no source anywhere....where would it be coming from if the rear sunroof drain is the cause...where would the drip point be where it is finally reaching the carpet on the floor?

Also strange that I have used my hose on full blast everywhere on the car at every angle for extended time and found zero new drips in the car, also making it impossible to troubleshoot. If you can not recreate a problem, it makes it almost impossible to solve!

Will be taking off the headliner tonight and reporting my findings...really want to finally get this resolved so I can put it back together and stop taking it apart....the worst thing is, I can drive for weeks with the carpet up and it stays bone dry, but when I put the carpet back, months later I will notice the issue has returned and I have to tear it all apart again.

 

if it makes you feel any better, I had the same situation. I used a hose and could not duplicate the problem after trying multiple times. I found that it surely depended on the angle which the car was parked, and exactly where the water was poured.

When I finally became convinced it was indeed the sunroof that was leaking, and I took the headliner down, I was able to immediately recreate the problem (watching the water flow out around where the drain hoses connect to the nipples),, and due to partial clogs in the lines surely from years worth of leaf dust and pine needles that were partially blocking the tubes, I watched the rain gutter trough inside the sunroof fill up to the top, and then begin to spill out over the edges and start to drip onto the inside of the headliner. The circumstances had to be just right for this to happen: the water had to be flowing at the right spot and at a rate that was great enough that the water was going IN faster than the restricted hose was letting it OUT. The combination of cleaning out the hose with compressed air and then a hard stream of water (from inside the roof after detaching the hose from the nipple... I found it impossible to get a productive stream of air or water into the drain holes that are pretty well hidden at the ends of the sunroof tracks),

If you are finding water in the back seat floor as well, your rear drains are probably party blocked. While I had only one drain tube that was giving me problems (front right), i was able to address by removing SOME of the headliner fasteners and pulling down the front right corner. You will want to probably remove the headliner more completely if you have multiple drains leaking. If you try to yank it down and bend it enough to get your hands and a screwdriver in there, you will really bend it up and make a mess. The hardest part of this is whole job is the many hidden clips that hold the headliner in place, especially at the tops of the door pillars above the shoulder harness anchors and guides. The hoses are a piece of cake!

Go slow, ensure you have clean hands and take your time.

Bill Henderson

 

Reading all of your replies gave me hope, but alas it was for naught. Zero water leaking up there, the tubes allow water to run freely no problem and are fully attached. Also the headliner is not plastic-backed, so if there was a leak from the sunroof, I would know it, it would soak the headliner and be clearly visible.

So I am back to where I started...no clue where the water is coming from. Going to leave the car torn apart for a few weeks to try to narrow it down again, but I have done this before with no luck. The issue is so random, it could be months before the water returns, and it's not fun making my GF sit in the back because the passenger seat is removed, so I might just take it to the shop.

I will post back with whatever is found as this is a true mystery that others should know about when searching the issue.

Funny the dealer said when I called previously "our cars don't leak"....I beg to differ.

 

well, all I can say is that water leaks really are a pain in the a$$. There are "most likely" causes, but the list of places water can get into the car is long. Good luck, sir. Please do post what you find.

 

OK, time will tell for sure, but the issue seems to now be resolved.

Ended up taking it to the local stealer after taking down the roof panel to check the sunroof drains and finding nothing further. I figured if anyone could figure it out it would be them...they see these cars everyday.

It sat with the dealer for 2 weeks before they found the leak, running a hose over the entire car. They only found the leak after raising the front end a bit and hitting it with water at the right angle....and at that point they noticed water coming in behind the dash on the passenger side....it was not the power grommet that I already fixed earlier....it was a weld seam that had cracked sealant over it. So they re-did the sealant there, let it dry over the weekend, and tested it again, no more leaks.

I have yet to see further leaking as well, but it will take a good 6-12 months of zero moisture before I am 100 % certain the issue is resolved.

They said that was a very rare problem, FYI for others. They said it was where the firewall and the fender/a pillar meet, behind some plastic apparently.

Charged me 1.5 hours of labor for the repair which included taking out the glove box and re-installing that. Well worth it IMO....already took the car apart 3 times for this issue with no luck, so if it's finally resolved I will be super happy. I love everything about this car other than that issue...so happy it's finally resolved. (crossing fingers anyway)

Still have it somewhat apart to drive in the rain over the next week and be certain no more moisture before I reinstall the passenger seat. Also going to install a new cabin air filter as the other one got wet and is now in the trash.

 

Of course I spoke too soon.

A few days later I went to install a new cabin air filter (the other got wet from their testing) and as it turns out, there was water on the floor again.

Strange thing is, the carpet was only wet around the AC line, about the size of my hand, everything above, to the left, and right, were DRY.

I brought it back and it's been there for many days (once again) with no calls or information from the deal (once again).


Color me disappointed in Infiniti...I love the car otherwise, but this issue, and the dealer experience...ridiculous. (but pretty much every dealer is that way, the local BMW dealer is even worse)

And the government is backing these *******s against Telsa selling direct!?!?!?! God damn I hate planet Earth sometimes.

 

My front driver side drain is clog somewhere near the bottom. I know because when I slowly pour water in at the top, at first it drains fine but then stops draining and pools in sunroof; also no water comes out at bottom. On passenger side, water leaks out under car but I can't tell where it's coming from. Does anyone know where/how to access from underneath the car?

 

glad im not the only one having this problem. I've had my car since feb but my car just started flooding last month. one night there was a big rain storm. I walked into a MASSIVE POOL of water on my passenger side floor! i took it to the dealer and one of the sales guy noticed a gap where the pillar and hood of the car met and said my car was most likely frame damaged and that was causing the leak. he recommended i take it to a auto body shop to get it looked at. i doubt my car has frame damage.. i set up an appointment but got sick of waiting so i tried finding the leak myself. i removed some plastic pieces and peeled the carpet back. i found the sunroof drain and poured some water from a bottle into it and the water seemed to flow through bottom freely. i then started pouring water on the side of the windshield then boom i see it dripping vertically on the inside onto the insulation. i removed the windshield cowl and repositioned the rubber grommet on the firewall. tried reproducing the problem again and it seemed fine. i put the carpeting back together after spending HOURS of my life for multiple DAYS disinfecting and drying the insulation underneath the carpet thinking i had solved the problem. we had another rain storm today and what do you know, more ****ing water UNDERNEATH the carpet on the insulation. if the water dripped onto the top of the carpet i wouldn't care because it actually dries with minimal effort. the insulation on the other hand is a bitch and acts as a sponge for water. it takes FOREVER to dry and disinfect. i gave up and will wait until my appointment in a few days for the body shop to take a look at it.

for anybody else having this problem MAKE SURE you dry and disinfect the area and insulation underneath the carpeting every time it gets wet and remains wet for an extended period of time. if you allow mold or mildew to develop your car will never smell the same. it only took a week after removing the pool of water that sat on the surface of my carpet before i started smelling a NASTY odor and a very humid and uncomfortable feel everytime i entered my car. i started the disinfecting and drying process WAY too late but was successful in getting rid of the odor because i was VERY thorough. there is a huge opening underneath the carpet that holds an impressive amount of water and if you think the only water was on the surface of your carpet man are you in for a suprise. first you need to peel back the carpet and buy a WetVac and some DampRid which will be left in the area for the entire process. dry the area underneath the gap with the styrofoam and the insulation COMPLETELY with vacuuming with the wetvac, sponges, paper towels, and then blowing to air dry with the WetVac (or a hair dryer). then spray some lysol over the area and wipe off the nonporous areas with paper towels. don't over-do it will the lysol on the insulation, it should be mildly damp to the touch. allow the lysol to dry over the next few days with the windows open whenever possible. the next few days your A/C should be on full blast at the highest temperature setting whenever your in the car. when the lysol dries dilute some white vinegar in a spray bottle with water and spray the insulation and area with the solution. your car will smell like vinegar for a few days but once it dries up the smell will virtually disappear and the car will feel fresh and will be odorless again. when the vinegar dries, finish off by spreading scented baking soda on the area and let it sit for 15-20 minutes before vacuuming it up. after this your car will smell/feel as if nothing happened, if not better than before. trust me with this one. NO amount of febreeze or air fresheners will save you or your car if you do not get rid of the mold/mildew at its source and its actually dangerous for your health if you breath in the spores. its a pain in the *** this process.. which is why i was pissed when i put the carpeting back together and the rain water still got the insulation wet, but it will be well worth it knowing that even though i gotta go through all this bullshit again, when this leak is fixed my car won't permanently smell like the inside of crusty old gym shoes

 

It should be noted that the source of some water intrusion into many cars is caused by a clogged air conditioning evaporator housing. The box (housing) that encloses the air conditioning evaporator has a drain and it can and on occasions will get clogged causing water leaks. Don't rule this out if you find your carpet wet, particularly on the passenger side which where you commonly find the evaporator.

 

i think this is actually whats happening to me. how do you unclog it?

 

A way to determine if this is actually happening, is to run your A/C and see if you have water dripping from the front right side of the car behind the right tire area after a few minutes of running. I have never unclogged one of our cars, but what I have done on other cars with the same problem is this. I locate the drain tube, should be in the vicinity of the glove box, forward of it, I disconnect the hose going to the firewall and use a vacuum to suck the crap out from the case nipple and the hose both. This has worked for me every time and it requires minimal dis-assembly. Others might have different input on their method of unclogging.

 

I pulled out my front drain tubes from the pillars to clean them out. I snaked them back through but want to make sure they end out where they belong and not stuck in the cabin. Can anyone show me where they're suppose end so I can verify?