help with sunroof drains!!!

quick question,
I'm getting water in the passenger footwell from the rain.
I imagine it is because of the drains for the sunroof being clogged.
How do I clean them (the drains)???? and where are they located??? I see no water dripping from the room of the car and the liner or seats are not wet only the carpet!?!?!?
really annoying!!!!
Shouldn't dealership clean those as part of semi-annual visit??? ?wondering if I can guilt them into fixing the wiring for keyless entry that isn't working, for at least cost!!!

You can do a search for the sunroof drains and check them out, it may also be likely that the water is coming through the more than likely deformed seal at the bottom of your windshield and entering through the cabin air intake. There's a DIY fix here:

http://forums.landroverworld.org/showthread.php?t=17122&highlight=cowl

i'd love to see a picture of the LR3 sunroof drains. anyone have one handy?

See my post about "Cowl Replacement". If that is the source of wet carpet on the passenger side, the fix is easy. If it's the sunroof drain on the passenger side, not so easy. There is a drain at each corner of the sunroof, and I am told that the one on the passenger side requires dismantling almost the entire dash to access the point at which the drain tube goes into the fender well. There is a rubber elbow at the end of the tube that attaches to the fender well just like a grommet. The rubber rots and turns to mush. Don't try and snake the drain, you will tear the elbow.

Start by putting a line of tape over the lip where the cowl touches the windshield. If that solves the problem then follow my post for cowl replacement. If that doesn't do it, maybe someone else knows an easy way to replace a passenger side drain tube.

After a HARD rain, I'll get a couple drips from the LED light over my center console array and a damp carpet on the driver's side.

I haven't done anything about it yet, but was hoping that blowing out the sunroof lines would do the trick.

Anyone else have similar symptoms? If it is just likely clogged lines, I'll blow them out myself. If it is something larger, I'll run it in before my extended warranty is up. (if it covers this)

SoCal LR3 said:

i'd love to see a picture of the LR3 sunroof drains. anyone have one handy?

Click to expand...

i answered my own question:


credit to gareth over at disco3.co.uk

Thanks for that. My drivers side carpet got SOAKED for the first time last week.
Did you blow them out yet? I'm hoping that is my issue and it's a simple fix...

i was hoping to run a wire down there but might go with air.

Well, I'm open to tips! I tried to hit it quick with my neighbor's compressor today but there is no way to work a stiff metal blow attachment into that space. What have you all used?

I think I'll need to find some flexible rubber/plastic hose that I can feed in there to blow. Is it supposed to rain this week?

I would really recommend that you not try to stick something down through the drain. You will either push the tube off of the sunroof tray, which will require dropping the headliner to reattach or you will put a hole in the elbow that attaches the drain tube to the inner fender wall.
The mostly likely cause of water in the footwell is the failure of the drain tube elbow. If the sunroof drain is clogged, the water will be in the headliner. Is there water dripping from the interior light fixture? if not, then the sunroof drain is fine, the carpet is getting wet because the drain tube no longer exits out the fender wall.

Do this first:
1. Remove the A pillar trim; pop off the "air bag" cap, remove bolt, pull off trim. With the trim removed, you can see the drain tube. It's black, about 3/8" in diameter.
2. Remove the trim panel under the dash, this is the panel that closes the area above the pedals. There are two weird screws that take about one turn to loosen, an interior trim clip and wiring to the footwell light.
3. Remove the rest/dead pedal; lift the foot pad off of the left rest pedal, loosen two nuts with a 10mm socket and extension, remove the foot rest.
4. Remove the handle for the hood release
5. Remove the kick panel,
6. Move the seat all the way back and look up the side of the foot well toward the A pillar. If needed have someone shake the drain tube to make it more visible . Amongst all the wiring, you will see how the drain tube attaches to a rubber elbow that in turn, should attache to the inner fender well. Mostly likely, its just dangling there.

You will likely see that the rubber elbow is no longer attached to the fender wall, This is where the water is coming from. You will need to buy a new drain tube just to get the rubber elbow. You can slip the old one off and replace with new. DON'T pull on the drain tube, you might pull it off of the sunroof try and than you will have a really big job.

To dry the carpet, lift the door threshold and lift the carpet. You can slip a shop vac nozzle in there and get some of the water. Most of it is soaked into your carpet. I put dry towels under the carpet squeezed out the rest. Drying the carpet is a knuckle busting job that will really make you want to fix that leak.