Water in the map/roof lights... already replaced drain tubes

2992 Views 8 Replies 4 Participants Last post by contactCasey.Jones, Apr 10, 2022

sirloins

Discussion Starter · Apr 17, 2020

Hi again,

This one is kind of a funny story. I was driving to my grandparent's house to give them a spare water leak sensor for their smart home monitoring stuff (dropping on their front porch anyway). The wife and dogs came for a drive as well. Half-way there my wife feels a drop of water on her arm. We find out it is coming from the ceiling map lights at the front of the car. Guess we really didn't need the sensor to find another leak in this car.

I have previously swapped both front drains with clear tubing and gone through the whole carpet removal etc. I did recently wash+wax the car, so quite a bit of water got on the roof. During the wash, the car was facing downhill. I am thinking perhaps the sunroof seals are shot and too much water got in and overflowed the drain tubes and leaked into the headliner.

Anyway, I actually have a new sunroof seal I bought when I first thought that was the issue before finding all the info here about the tubes being clogged. I tried searching here for someone else with water in the lights, but it seems most just had it on the floor or headliner itself. The rest of my headliner was dry and we couldn't find any other wet spot except a puddle of water in the ceiling lights.

I haven't had a chance to look at it further, but I will inspect the full damage tomorrow.

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J5T

· #2 · Apr 17, 2020 (Edited)

Check the windscreen for leaks at the roof junction near the ceiling lights. I have seen where it leaks in this area. If you run water above the windscreen line but in front of the moon roof so no water goes into the moon roof and water ends up in the light, then it is the windscreen seal that is leaking. In some cases I have seen when pushing on the top of the windscreen from inside and looking at the outside you can see the glass move.

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sirloins

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 17, 2020

Thanks! That is a great suggestion, I will check it out today.

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avenger09123

· #4 · Apr 17, 2020

Also consider the design and construction of the sunroof drain channels. It is seriously like a flat area with 1/8" lip that directs the water as it goes to either side (IIRC to curves in which the hose barb for the sunroof drains are in the middle). If your driveway is steep enough, is it realistic to consider that your water flowed over the lip instead of flowing outwards to the curved corners and didn't build up enough to reach the drains before the center of the sunroof drain built up enough to overcome that lip and drip onto the map light area. Given that the water never needed to go anywhere else after it found this drain, and how you sprayed a good amount directly on the seal and there isn't exactly a good amount in the map light plastic....my vote would be avoid spraying the area directly and your seal is probably not the best and is far from failing. I think you may have become a victim of gravity and surface tension.

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sirloins

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 17, 2020

Thanks for the responses guys.

I went out and took a look. The entire headliner is dry. There really wasn't much water in the lights. I took off the center console and cleaned it out, but all the water was on the clear plastic piece. I could not see any water or residue on the electronics etc.

I ended up replacing the seal since my old one did have a gap at the center on the rear side and I had the replacement already.. It took 10 minutes to change. I think that area with the gap could have let a lot of water in while spraying the roof as you said avenger09123.

As for the windshield, I noticed there is a lot of play when pressing the windshield out from the inside top. My mechanic neighbor was passing by asked what I was doing and gave his two cents, he said it was definitely not sealing correctly.

I think I am fine in the short term, but I e-mailed a mobile window place to see what it would cost just to get re-sealed.

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J5T

· #6 · Apr 18, 2020 (Edited)

Now that you have the seal on, you can do the same water spray to verify that you have no water leaks. One of the things I did on my daughter‘s P1 was to put blue painter tape across the top of the windscreen to the roof the stop the water from leaking past the seal until it could get fixed. I was told by the glass place that the windscreen would need to be replaced since they could not reseal it. Well, they got into the job and found that they could reuse the glass and reseal it. About U$60. Glück

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contactCasey.Jones

· #7 · Apr 10, 2022

sirloins said:
Hi again,

This one is kind of a funny story. I was driving to my grandparent's house to give them a spare water leak sensor for their smart home monitoring stuff (dropping on their front porch anyway). The wife and dogs came for a drive as well. Half-way there my wife feels a drop of water on her arm. We find out it is coming from the ceiling map lights at the front of the car. Guess we really didn't need the sensor to find another leak in this car.

I have previously swapped both front drains with clear tubing and gone through the whole carpet removal etc. I did recently wash+wax the car, so quite a bit of water got on the roof. During the wash, the car was facing downhill. I am thinking perhaps the sunroof seals are shot and too much water got in and overflowed the drain tubes and leaked into the headliner.

Anyway, I actually have a new sunroof seal I bought when I first thought that was the issue before finding all the info here about the tubes being clogged. I tried searching here for someone else with water in the lights, but it seems most just had it on the floor or headliner itself. The rest of my headliner was dry and we couldn't find any other wet spot except a puddle of water in the ceiling lights.

I haven't had a chance to look at it further, but I will inspect the full damage tomorrow.

View attachment 60359

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contactCasey.Jones

· #8 · Apr 10, 2022

So, I just had a small fender bender in my 2010 s40, and did not think there was anything amiss but bumper, ... until I went through the carwash today. The water actually seeped in from the upper ridge of my windshield, not the sunroof.
My question is, could you (or anyone for that matter) suggest how I could get the water out of those map lights you showed without breaking it taking it appart? Seems something possible without having to pay for the quick draining of them while I make plans to get the windshield resealed....
Thanks for any ideas.

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contactCasey.Jones

· #9 · Apr 10, 2022

sirloins said:
Hi again,

This one is kind of a funny story. I was driving to my grandparent's house to give them a spare water leak sensor for their smart home monitoring stuff (dropping on their front porch anyway). The wife and dogs came for a drive as well. Half-way there my wife feels a drop of water on her arm. We find out it is coming from the ceiling map lights at the front of the car. Guess we really didn't need the sensor to find another leak in this car.

I have previously swapped both front drains with clear tubing and gone through the whole carpet removal etc. I did recently wash+wax the car, so quite a bit of water got on the roof. During the wash, the car was facing downhill. I am thinking perhaps the sunroof seals are shot and too much water got in and overflowed the drain tubes and leaked into the headliner.

Anyway, I actually have a new sunroof seal I bought when I first thought that was the issue before finding all the info here about the tubes being clogged. I tried searching here for someone else with water in the lights, but it seems most just had it on the floor or headliner itself. The rest of my headliner was dry and we couldn't find any other wet spot except a puddle of water in the ceiling lights.

I haven't had a chance to look at it further, but I will inspect the full damage tomorrow.

View attachment 60359

I think I replied with a question to you further down in this thread than I intended, mine got moisture inside due to bad seal on the windshield I was not aware of just now, not sure how to open the lamp covers without breaking them or another way to get the moisture out short term.... considered a blow dryer with an extension cord, smh but that seems ineffective and time consuming at best. I just don't want to shatter the plastic cover experimenting.
TY

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