Okay, so the forward info, it's a 90 Civic Si. When it rains the sunroof will leak, but you won't know until you start driving and moving, and then about 2 gallons of water dump on the passenger. It's hilarious, but ultimately annoying. It almost sounds like the sunroof is drinking, like a loud gurgling sound. I need to do away with the problem. I assume the drains for the sunroof are clogged. But where are they? It's raining out, so I don't want to go out there and check, and the search function is currently down. Any other ideas? Maybe the seals?

 

Lol happens to me all the time, but only when i wash my car on a incline.

 

I had the same problem, only i was the victim. not fun.

the sunroof isn't designed to seal off completely. but it does have four drain tubes at the four corners to keep unexpecting passengers dry. when they get plugged, water builds up in the moonroof pan. i just blewn mine out with compressed air. A plug of leaves/sticks/broken egos from beaten VW owners/dirt came out under the car along with alot of water. I then tested it by dumping water at all four corners.

i wouldn't recommend trying to use a hangar or anything poky. your tubes might be old and brittle, if you broke or punctured one, its possible to leak water on the inside of you car, possibly over the ecm/pcm.

if you can't get access to compressed air, i'm not sure what else you could use. any ideas?

 

Yeah, I have access to compressed air so I will try that out when it's dry next. I work in a bay so that's not difficult. I did solve this problem on a VW once for my gf's mother, there was a little nipple on the end that pinches closed and holds in whatever dirt and debris may fall into it. I was hoping to find the ends of the drains, but lets see if this works next. Thanks!

 

this is for a CRX, but I would think a civic would be the same. Yes there are nipples, and there are four drainage tubes. you can get at the rear ones semi-easily. the hose is behind the plastic behind the rear wheel wells. the ends with the nipples snap into the car frame right there. Be careful, the hose comes off that peice easily, dumping all the rotten water backked up the hose into the car where it collects in the spare tire well, and is difficult to get back on. I started cleaning mine from the underside. I've never had to mess with the front drains. I think they come down the A pillars?

btw, this is one of the two most common sources for water in the hatch, the other being the gasket behind the rear tail lights.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mhorton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Be careful, the hose comes off that peice easily, dumping all the rotten water backked up the hose into the car where it collects in the spare tire well, and is difficult to get back on. I started cleaning mine from the underside. I've never had to mess with the front drains. I think they come down the A pillars?

btw, this is one of the two most common sources for water in the hatch, the other being the gasket behind the rear tail lights.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The same thing happened to me. I thought I had cleaned them, cleaned up all the water, but failed to realize that the water was now running right into the spare tire well. I had to tear all the interior out to figure out what the hell was wrong.

I also had leaky tail lights too. I have now fixed both the waterfalls and the car doesn't smell like a fish tank any longer.

 

I have the EXACT same problem - same thing happens to passengers and everything.

I, however, do not have a compressed air source.

If it is a bad idea to use a coat hanger, what should I use to clean these suckers out???

 

take it to a shop and ask if you can use the air for a a few minutes.

 

or if you still don't have access to air, crawl under there with a paper towel and wipe/pinch/spread the nipple. Just don't have your face right under it when the debris finally gets pushed out followed by the water.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mhorton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> wipe/pinch/spread the nipple.</TD></TR></TABLE>

oooohhh

 

So my engine took a **** on me on the way home. So I was stuck on the side of the road, cold, wet, and wasn't about to sit in the rain. It was ironically hilarious.

 

make sure your rear drain tubes at the metal junction are not plugged. Just remove your tail light covers at the corners, and remove the clear tubing from the gronmets. If you have water standing in the tube, unplug your drain tubing at the chasis metal point...