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Passenger Sunroof drain leak - Final solution
After some hard florida rain i noticed a small leak coming from underneath the glovebox i knew immediately it was the sunroof drain. ( this is my second sedan the first had the bcm destroyed by the water from the sunroof drain) knowing this is a design flaw i decided to buy a replacement drain plug. i bought some pliers from harbor frieght and removed the a pillar, side of the glovebox cover and the air vent (videos on youtube how to) it took some time but i removed the old drain plug. after clearing the line out with some hot soapy water i installed the new draig plug onto the house and wiggled it into the firewall hole. It appeared to be in correctly however when i did a water test it failed, worse then before. in a sort of aggrevated panic i took out and reinstalled the plug a second time and tried again, no luck , then i got unlucky and upon removing the plug it got lost in the small crevice between the a pillar and firewall. I scoured forums to try and find any help and I couldn’t however I found somone on the forum who had re routed both of their sunroof drains from the firewall holes, into holes in the bottom of the floorboard circumventing the problem from happening again. since mine was only on the passenger side it was even easier |
Diy steps
First you will need to buy a 5/8 hose it could be nylon,rubber or viynl your choice then connect the original drain hose into the 5/8 hose by pushing it into the new hose firmly about a inch in. once you do this run some water down the drain to test for any leaks. If you have none your ready for the next step. with the a pillar piece removed you have access to a small corner crevice which goes through the glovebox. this is where you will run the new hose through. i ran a shoelace through and down the glovebox to verify this route would work as shown below https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...a55802b51.jpeg |
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...8449b2157.jpeg Now that you confirmed it will fit through push the newly connected tubing down into this crevice (it helps to have to people, one to push one to guide and pull it through) you should see the otherside of the tube poke from under the glovebox as shown here |
The wrap up
Now that the tubing is under the glovebox you may wonder where will it exit? Good question right under the passanger carpet is the ac drain line which empties to a small hole in the frame of the car. This is where i mounted my new tubing. in order to access the hole you must remove the passanger foot vent on the left side of the footwell once you do that you will see 2 small black “screws” that hold the carpet in place. Once you wiggle the carpet out of these holes the firewall liner will be exposed and you will see the drain tube for the ac |
Pics
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...5f420a50f.jpeg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...382d03c8d.jpeg after removing the ac drain plug and grommet by pulling it out there was space for the sunroof drain i wiggled both tubes into the hole and put a piece of gorilla tape on to secure it, i also cut a small piece away from the firewall flap to prevent any pressure on the hose or bump in the fitment. |
Wrap up
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...1457ffe4b.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...61106960b.jpeg after connected the hose to its new location you can put the carpet back it will be a little tough as the new hose is in the way screw the carpet back into the posts and it should look simmilar to the first picture / the second pic shows the piece of firewall insulation i cut for the tube |
Final pics
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...3ad610d97.jpeg with the install done it should look like this visible but hard to knock around with your feet. and there it is the only REAL solution to this design flaw if you have any questions contact me |
The final pic failed to show properly.
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How has this fix held up?
Originally Posted by Soflov36
(Post 7162773)
After some hard florida rain i noticed a small leak coming from underneath the glovebox i knew immediately it was the sunroof drain. ( this is my second sedan the first had the bcm destroyed by the water from the sunroof drain) knowing this is a design flaw i decided to buy a replacement drain plug. i bought some pliers from harbor frieght and removed the a pillar, side of the glovebox cover and the air vent (videos on youtube how to) it took some time but i removed the old drain plug. after clearing the line out with some hot soapy water i installed the new draig plug onto the house and wiggled it into the firewall hole. It appeared to be in correctly however when i did a water test it failed, worse then before. in a sort of aggrevated panic i took out and reinstalled the plug a second time and tried again, no luck , then i got unlucky and upon removing the plug it got lost in the small crevice between the a pillar and firewall. I scoured forums to try and find any help and I couldn’t however I found somone on the forum who had re routed both of their sunroof drains from the firewall holes, into holes in the bottom of the floorboard circumventing the problem from happening again. since mine was only on the passenger side it was even easier |
I may have to do this as well. I ended up with wet floor and it did appear to be a plugged sunroof drain as water had gone down the a-pillar and soaked passenger carpet,
No wetness in heater or anything...nav freaked out this morning that is why I noticed and really wet inside. My question... when I pour water down the passenger side sunroof drain it comes out around this huge rubber grommet. Is this normal or indicative something else is plugged behind this? https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...c6de9bce05.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...754e85032b.jpg Thanks! |
I guess I was wrong where water drains in at.. it seems to come in along the full metal pinch weld or whatever behind this gasket
It seems to be flowing unobstructed. When I put in water today it was obviously blocked at sunroof drain. No water would drain and just a little bit of weed eater lines an inch or two in entrance opened it up. It sounds like I might have had one of the rarer clogs. She sits outside these days and exposed to a lot of evergreen and pine pollen. Just something I've never paid much attention to in the nearly 14-15 years I have owned it. Last year I did perform a test drain through the sunroof drains and it was fine... obviously this last year didn't do it any favors. Perhaps because it sat more than usual. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...cc57262604.jpg |
You have hit on a good point regarding outdoor sitting and pine pollen accumulation. I have the same situation. We have massive yellow clouds of pollen here in the southeast during the spring. This year the recessed area around the trunk gasket was a tragedy with all the gunk that collected there. I need to take a close look at the sunroof to see what all might be going on up there. I really would like to avoid the cabin leak issue if I can!
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Other than massive amounts of water on windows but it had been raining and not driven for a week I was met with this as my indicator something very bad had occurred. Nav did finally clear itself once the vehicle was flat. Vehicle is normally parked on a slope in my driveway and in this situation it was sitting face down off camber to the right. I assume if vehicle had been flat this wouldn't have occurred as well.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...57f3fec61.jpeg |
I could tell that drain plug was partially clogged as I could watch the water start to settle around dash level before going down and didn't really want to deal with a faulty design so retrofitted with OP's method. I wasn't seeing my leak at the drain but looks like it was going to start ... notice just the slightest of droplets forming on the firewall interior side.
The drain water almost sounds like it is being sucked out of that sunroof drain....it drains so fast. I'll tackle drivers side later... need to look through threads where most put the drain through vehicle at on driver's side. Just working on still drying things out the next few days. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...0069/300096242 https://www.homedepot.com/p/UDP-3-8-...7008/304185162 |
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