Water leak from dome light?

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Justin Allen

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Hey guys. First time this is ever happened in the two years I've had the truck. 2013 LR4, pouring rain today, with truck parked slightly uphill. I jumped in to leave and water started dripping from the dome light onto my shift lever. It stopped after about 5-6 drips once I got moving.

I know sunroof drains get all the flack for water leaks on these vehicles, but I cleared mine out probably 9 months ago. However my truck does stay outside and near trees so it gets heavy debris, so maybe its time for a cleanout again? However a dome light leak doesn't seem to be the typical result of clogged drains from what I have read. I've also seen the issue discussed on a few other threads here and elsewhere however none have ever actually solidified what the cause was? Is it clogged drains, sunroof seal, windshield seal...?

Basically water was dripping where the little black LED light hole is here.


Pic.jpg
 

djkaosone

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Pretty sure you need to check your sunroof drains. Run some **** wacker line through your sunroof drains. They are located in the front corners and run down to the side air vent grills. I highly recommend turning off the dome light while doing this, hold the front center dome light button down for 10 seconds to disable/enable the dome light.
 

ryanjl

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With a leak that high, I think your drain tubes may have come disconnected from the channel in the sunroof. You may have to pull down your headliner a little and look around. It's pretty easy to pull the whole domelight/switch assembly and look around in that hole. IIRC, just pull down from the front of the assembly (nearest the windshield).
 

f1racer328

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With a leak that high, I think your drain tubes may have come disconnected from the channel in the sunroof. You may have to pull down your headliner a little and look around. It's pretty easy to pull the whole domelight/switch assembly and look around in that hole. IIRC, just pull down from the front of the assembly (nearest the windshield).
The front portion of the headliner is also super easy to pull down too. Remove a pillar trim (Torx bolt behind the airbag cover), remove both sun visors and grab handles, and it drops right down.
 

Justin Allen

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Well, without doing any of that, I believe I may have identified the issue.

When trying to run trimmer string and compressed air through the driver side, after a few feet of string is pushed through it starts to come back out through the side of the sunroof. I can also feel air coming out of the side of the frame when blowing directly into the drain. IE, I’m pretty sure the hose has become disconnected from the sunroof drain itself. What’s weird though, is if this has been the case for a long time, and I’m assuming it has, how my issues haven’t become bigger than they are with water draining right into the A Pillar. This past winter it even had six inches of snow sitting on it for a few days and never had a problem.
 

Potatodreams

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I had the same issue, but it only pooled up and leaked if I was parked uphill. Tubes were disconnected.

Edit: In fact, the whole dang roof leaked and I would also get water dripping down the c pillars. Great fun!
 
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Justin Allen

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I had the same issue, but it only pooled up and leaked if I was parked uphill. Tubes were disconnected.

Edit: In fact, the whole dang roof leaked and I would also get water dripping down the c pillars. Great fun!
Basically exactly the same scenario as my leak. Was parked uphill during a downpour. Although it does make me wonder, being uphill, shouldn't the water have ran backwards to the B pillar drains and drained out? Don't tell me they're clogged too? I haven't seen a clear out method for the rears.
 

Tbh1981

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When is someone going to invent a sunroof delete so every car with a built-in leak can finally be fixed?
 

Justin Allen

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The confusion continues. When I feed trimmer line into the drain opening, it starts to loop back out of the top of the sunroof rather than going down the drain. I tested it on the passenger side, which is draining fine and it does the same there. I'm thinking there is an opening at the top?

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Pic.jpg
 

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