I went through a carwash yesterday and my son pointed out the interior panels wet on the passenger's side of the car in the back over the top of the door and down the rear a-pillar location. When I opened the door to look for anything that could be wet there I couldn't find anything. Could the water be coming through the seal on the rear window? It looks chipped/worn from the outside. Could it be coming in the "channel" on top of the car? Any idea how to fix?

 

possible roof molding?

 

i'd check your sunroof seal first, and if you have an older car, i'd go ahead and replace it. do you have any wind noise on the highway, particulalry if you have the sunshade open? if yes, then definetly change the seal.

 

+100
It is your sunroof seal. If it leaks too much it can't drain fast enough through the proper drains so it overflows over the track in the sunroof then drains into the car. The drains themsleves may need some maintenance but the root cause is too much water getting past the seal in the first place.

Search this site for sunroof issues - lots of stuff to read about. You can buy the seal for $30-$50 from your parts dept and do it yourself. Afterwards you will need to do an "initialization" of the sunroof to reset the movement - you do this by depressing the button as if you were opening the vent - hold it for about 30 seconds until the roof vents, then comes down, then opens and closes on its own. If that doesn't work, your dealer will need to update the software to get it to handle the new tighter seal.

Or.. your dealer will do the whole thing for about $200. For those in warrantee, the dealer will also remove and clean the water stains from the interior panels - at least mine did - twice.

-Jim

 

Mine was doing the same thing. Found out one of the drains was plugged. Haven't been through a car wash since the drain was cleared, but hopefully it's fixed.

 

Hmmmm, this is interesting. I had my sunroof seal replaced (for another issue) and I was still getting water in the passenger rear c-pillar. Hopefully having the drain unplugged will do the trick.

 

These drains are parts of my routine checks now. With the sunroof open, and the car parked uphill in the driveway, pour about a cup of water into the sunroof track. It will drain to the rear of the sunroof track and will come out down by the rear tire. If it doesn't come out, stop pouring

After dealer replaced mine and cleaned the interiror panels, it leaked again. They fixed it again and cleaned it again. Now I know enough to maintain it myself.

 

While I was backing up today, I noticed water stains on my C-pillars and the headliner. Poured some water into the sunroof and it drained at the back tires. However I opened up the back doors to check, and the pillars were wet. Both in the same places (at the C-pillar top, where it meets the headliner, and at the very bottom where it meets the rear deck.

My car is an 05 with 67K on the clock, so I plan on replacing the sunroof seal ASAP. Do you guys think this is a case of just too much water being used.....or clogged drains? Is there a DIY for the drain maintenance?

 

You don't wash your own j/k