Water Trickling Sound...

[Deegan]

Purchased an 2003 ES300 and have been pretty happy; however, the other day I took a trip in the rain and noticed a very loud water trickling sound coming down the primary roof beam (directly behind driver's left, directly behind passenger's right). I've never heard a sound like that before. I really sounded like someone was slowly pouring a pitcher of water down the inside of the beam. Even at freeway speed, it was very audible.

Upon arrival, some 30 minutes later, I opened the driver's side door and noticed water pooled in the door lock and footing area. Hmmm, not a good description, let me try that again. Okay, open the door and you can see where the door shape fits into the body. I could see water splashed and pooled down the beam and at the bottom edge where the door would sit. Same on the passenger side. Exactly the same.

My door seals appear fine, they are flexible and I don't hear any wind noise at speed but this has me quite puzzled. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[blk_on_blk]

My first guess would be something to do with the path way from the drain around the sunroof. I think it's a tube that runs from the perimeter drain down through the body... perhaps that tube is off and it's just running freely down through the body. That would be where I'd look first. Hopefully someone else has some more detailed insight.

[gbhrps]

Deegan,

Evidence of water laying on top of the rocker panel (the opening where the door fits into) is common, and unless its massive amounts, I don't think its a problem. You might check to see if the door seals along the bottom of the doors are intact and in place. As far as the sunroof drains are concerned, there is one plastic drain that goes down both front A pillars (between windshield and side door glass) and empties behind the front fenders. The rear drains usually come off the back end of the sunroof tracks ( the tracks are twice as long as your sunroof is from front to rear). Again, usually the drains go down the C pillars and empty behind the rear wheel well between the body and the rear bumper cover. Some cars, my Subaru Outback Wagon for one, have dual sunroofs, and then you have another set of drain tubes that go down the B pillars and empty out below the rocker panels. In all of the years that I've owned sunroof equipped cars, I have never heard water drain down those tubes, whether the car was at rest or at speed. I'm betting that you heard a combination of wind noise/water noise caused by the water being blown past window mouldings/the mirrors/ etc. and upsetting the normal wind blow by pattern, if such a thing exists? Just my 3 cents worth.

[SW03ES]

Totally normal, mine has done this since day one. It is quite startling at times and it sounds like water is trickling into the cabin, but its not its just the way the rain runs up from the A pillar and drains down the B pillar.