Location Of Sunroof Drains?

[Saaarggg]

1993 LS 400

Sun roof drains must be glogged, local dealer qouted an all day job at 60/hr. to extract roof drain pan.

If i find drain tube end locations, compressed air should work?

somebody

WET PANTS...............

[tansupplyman]

one in each corner--you can see the front holes-haven't looked for the rears, but may can see also. try air but don't use excessive pressure you may blow the hoses off the connections.

[SKperformance]

i use wd40 on my civic ones

it worked fine but it is petroleum based

i wouldn't use compressed air unless it is in a can so it has low pressure

[jakeroux]

Saaarggg -

Did you ever get resolution to this? I think I must have the same problem - no noticeable drips around the roof itself, but the headliner on either side is soaked and dripping. Please advise if anyone can confirm this is a symptom of plugged holes and what you may have found that works to unplug.

Thanks.

[CUMan]

I have not had this problem on either of the Lexus cars I own (93 LS & 94 ES); however, I did have this problem on both an Acura Legend and a Honda Prelude.

In both of these cases, the dealers used compressed air to open the drains. I watched them work on the Legend. They had a special fitting on the air hose. They inserted this into the holes at the front of the sunroof and blew air into the lines.

Incidentally, both of the cars which had this problem had wind deflectors on the sunroofs. I think these deflectors exacerbate the problems with stopped-up drains. Debris collects under them and so does rainwater. This debris finds its way into the drain holes.

[jakeroux]

Thanks for the response - sounds like a trip to a mechanic may be in order. I tried the squirt of WD-40 followed, by low pressure compressed air (aerosol keyboard and electronics cleaner with a long nozzle), but that didn’t seem to help at all, as the headliner was soaked again this morning after rains last night. I’m surprised that much moisture could even get in through the outer seal of the sunroof to need to be drained.

Incidentally, for those of you who, like me, may have to search a while to find the drain holes, they are located somewhat vertically on the lip of the sunroof well rather than horizontally on the bottom of the well as I would have expected. And, I’m not sure if this is a related problem or not, but the passenger side floor board was also soaked yesterday after the rains. Any further ideas on the soggy headliner and wet floorboard would be welcome.

[jakeroux]

Just wanted to follow up on my experience with this problem in case anyone else runs into it. I did take the car to a mechanic to have them blow out the sunroof drain lines (among other things I was having done), but they suggested taking it to a sunroof shop to better diagnose the problem…so I did. His diagnosis was that the roof itself was sitting too low while in the closed position, particularly at the passenger side rear. This was allowing more water into the channel than could drain out. He was able to adjust the roof height up some using the adjustments (don’t ask me how- that’s why I paid him…) but said that it appears that the entire sunroof mechanism was mounted about 1/8 – 1/4" too low (design or assembly issue?). He tested for water after making the adjustment and all appears to be dry, but suggested that if the problem recurs, the ultimate solution would be to raise the sunroof assembly, which would get into more work, $ (I didn’t ask how much) and require the partial removal of the headliner while fixing.

Incidentally, he checked for proper drainage while I was there by simply pouring about 12 oz of water into the channel near each hole (duh! guess the fact that I didn’t think of that is further testament to my lack of natural mechanical instincts). If the drains are clear, it should immediately drain out below the door sills. The car will need to be parked level or slightly downhill to test the front drains, and slightly uphill to test the rear. He also mentioned that squirting WD-40 in there (as I did) was not a good idea as this could attract and collect debris in the drain lines. Anyway, if you’re having problems with damp headliner and floor boards, would probably be a good idea to just test the drain lines first, then check or have the sunroof height checked.

[90LS400Lexus]

This sounds like a discouraging problem. I hope my car does not develop this anytime soon. So far- so good- knock on wood. :P

I have another question about the sunroofs- not to take away from the original meaning of this post but....

When closing the sunroofs, are the supposed to stop about 1/2 or 3/4 way, only to restart by releasing the button and pressing it again? I am guessing it is a

convenience feature....?

Also too- SOMETIMES- when I exit my car and I leave one of the windows open- I can hear a "beep-beep-beep-beep" sound, as it was reminding me a window was down. It only done it once after I bought the car and has not done it again ..... ?

Any clues? Thanks

[blake918]

When closing the sunroofs, are the supposed to stop about 1/2 or 3/4 way, only to restart by releasing the button and pressing it again?  I am guessing it is a

convenience feature....? 

Also too- SOMETIMES- when I exit my car and I leave one of the windows open- I can hear a "beep-beep-beep-beep" sound, as it was reminding me a window was down.  It only done it once after I bought the car and has not done it again ..... ? 

Any clues?  Thanks

The sunroof does stop 2/3 of the way closed as a safety measure, but I find it very aggrovating! You should only hear a beep-beep-beep if you've left the sunroof tilted up and removed the key from the ignition.

[jakeroux]

Well I certainly don't want the dubious distinction of becoming the sunroof problem expert, but here's a little more info for future reference that I found when I picked it up yesterday. He was able to rig the roof mechanism to raise the height by inserting washers to act as shims on the bolts supporting the roof in the rear. He showed me that three shims to a bolt was about the max and what I had on the front bolts, but he was able to get a fourth on the rear to raise it. And although it tested dry when he soaked it, if this turns out not to fix the problem, he said I’d be looking at about five hours of labor (a $40/hr) to open up the headliner and raise the entire support mechanism. So, about $200 for a more permanent fix.

Finally, he said that he rarely, if ever, sees any design or assembly problems on Toyotas or Lexus, so he’s really puzzled about this one. And he could not find any sign of previous wrecks or body damage where it would have been repaired incorrectly. But with a few others in the forum apparently having this same problem, and the fact that it apparently came from the factory with shims, it does make me wonder if maybe there wasn’t some sort of design or assembly problem on these early models that becomes a source of problem over time.

[90LS400Lexus]

You should only hear a beep-beep-beep if you've left the sunroof tilted up and removed the key from the ignition.

Thanks for that information. Perhaps that is what I had open when that happened. I rarely just "tilt" it open and that may have been when I heard it. I had stopped for gasoline, turned the car off and heard it when I removed the key from the ignition. Guess all is OK. Thanks again.

Off to the tire store to have my tires balanced and rotated.

[rvgraham]

<_< Don't know if this'll work...

I just cleared the drain hose for the Gas Filler opening. Mine was just collecting water, after washing the car the first left turn would have it all run down the side.

I took a length of weed wacker line (I think .080, but you could try different weights). I put a little water in there, just enough to fill the filler 'basin', and then used the plastic line to clear the tube. It worked great. Took two times to clear it completely. The line is stiff enough to push crud along but not sharp enough to punture the tubing.

I'm hesitant to say it's a sure fix for the sunroof lines as they're much longer and have more turns, but it might be worth a cautious try!

Bob