How to clean sun roof drains?

black03rt · Post by **black03rt** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:40 pm

So I don't know if I'm missing a write up on how to clean them or not but I've been looking here and on neons.org all day.

Anyway, my sunroof has been leaking for quite a while but I have been ignoring it since my bf refused to do it. I turned the corner to get on the interstate and about drown this morning so I figure its probably time to fix them and do it myself.

What do I need to remove to get to them? How do I clean them? Really any info would help.

Post by **occasional demons** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:46 pm

I would try a wet/dry shop vac first, to suck the water out, and then an attachment to push against the drain inlet to try to pull w/e is clogging them out of the tube. If that don't work, maybe compressed air? I am not sure where they drain to, to find the outlets, if they won't clear from above. LSP might have some better info, IIRC, she has posted something about the drains.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:49 pm

occasional demons wrote:I am not sure where they drain to, to find the outlets, if they won't clear from above. LSP might have some better info, IIRC, she has posted something about the drains.

She did...

LilSparkPlug wrote:Sunroof drain (if you have one, the drains are in the corners of the dash underneath the pad). Spiders can clog these, so can debris.

Post by **occasional demons** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:55 pm

Yep they will stuff themselves in anything.

black03rt · Post by **black03rt** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:59 pm

I've taken off the dash and I saw that they run through there but didn't follow them very far. I also saw some in the trunk when I replaced the struts recently. Just not sure how to clean them. I can try the wet dry vac tonight and an air compressor but I'm not sure if they will reach all the way to the end of the drain.

Lantern04rt · Post by **Lantern04rt** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:24 pm

I am willing to bet its not the tubes mine leaks the exact same way . If you want to be sure take a glass of water and with the sunroof open pour some slowly at the front corner and then listen to see if you hear it coming out of the bottom of the car. This will tell you the drains aren't clogged.

What actually is leaking is the seal around the glass itself and allowing more water then can drain in time so it runs out by the front of the sunroof and makes the roofliner by the holy shit handles and seat wet. Buy a can of silicone spray and soak the outside seal and massage the rubber to make it more pliable and leave the sunroof up a tiny tiny bit the leak should stop.

Cokedoctor · Post by **Cokedoctor** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 11:52 pm

My old '01 ES (now is my brothers car) had a sunroof that would give you the chinese torture everytime it rained, and you'd drive it. First acceleration or turn, you'd get wet, and it would usually make you wet around the areas where people think you pee'd you pants when you got out of the car. Always wondered why it did this, it annoyed the heck out of me, but now its my brothers problem. I tried compressed air on the drains, that didn't seem to help at all.

srtgtr34 · Post by **srtgtr34** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:12 am

To stop my leaking sunroof, I took the whole thing out and cleaned it up.

Removed the six screws holding the glass to the car, took the rubber weatherstriping off of the glass. I then grinded most of the rust off the lip where the weatherstripping mounts, masked off the glass, sprayed it with epoxy primer, cleaned all the junk out of the weatherstripping and put it all back together with some clear rtv.

No more leaks.

btw a new peice of glass with weatherstripping is 250 from mopar. I know there is a vendor that remakes the weatherstripping but the problem is that the metal sandwhiched between the rubber starts to rust and causes sealing problems.

My fix is only temperary until I have the money for a new peice of glass.

I plan on using por15 on the lip of the new one, when I get it, to make sure that it won't rust for a very long time.

Midnight_Rider · Post by **Midnight_Rider** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 12:33 am

Found this while searching for instructions on how to clean out the sunroof drains. I was hoping to save the labor charge at my dealership by using compressed air when I have access to a garage next Saturday but, after reading this thread, I guess that I'll let the pros take care of it when the new sunroof glass is installed next year. It looks like my having bought new glass was the right thing to do.