Alright for this weeks how-to project I'm going to show you how to easily fix that leaky sunroof. This worked for me great, but as always your results may vary, especially if yours wasn't leaking in the same spot.
First thing first is to check the four drain lines coming off the corners of the sun roof tray, make sure they're cleaned out real good. Either blow some air down them, run some weed wacker line through them, or pour boiling water down them (carefully).
My drivers & passangers side headliner was getting wet in the rain, not much but maybe a 6" round area that was obviously coming from the sunroof.
First off is to take out the headliner (Probably not actually necessary, but its not hard and would help out alot.
There's enough guides and its a simple enough process that I'm not going to cover it here in-depth (Pull the a,b,c & d covers off, unscrew the sunvisors, grab handles, overhead lights and display and it falls right down)
Doing this will help tell you where the water is coming from, if you can't tell have someone take a hose and squirt it with you inside after the headliner is down to make a determination on where it is leaking in at.
If you're having a leak in the same spots as me right at the edge of the sunroof tray where the little rectangular tabs are punched out in the metal then you're in luck (easy fix). I highlighted one of them below in red
![Image]()
What's happening is when the water is in the trough around the rails swashing around as you're driving (while its making its way to the drain lines) it's making it past the seal and into the cabin.
So first you need to take out this screw
![Image]()
These two
![Image]()
As well as this one
![Image]()
Once you do that the rails should be free. Firmly pull them away from the center of the sunroof like so. Mine were pretty tight so it takes a little force, but don't go cray and break anything.
![Image]()
Now you can lift the rail up just slightly to get at the seal that's giving us trouble. Don't lift it up too more than an inch or so
![Image]()
I put a large bolt under it to hold it up while I cleaned and took photos
![Image]()
Now we can see the seal that was giving us trouble (highlighted in red). I know mine was leaking here because the seal was wet and had dirt & leaves and such on both sides of the seal.
![Image]()
At this point you want to clean the areas on both sides of this seal the best you can (old toothbrush works great
) and get it nice and dry. I then proceeded to put a copious amount of silicone sealant over the whole area, I didn't want to pull it back apart again because I didn't put quite enough on it, and there's not much you'll be able to see under the rails anyway so I wasn't shy putting it on.
![Image]()
Then put the rail back down and make sure it slides under the clips underneath it, as well as the screws holding it (and the sensor) back down. The other side goes the same way as the drivers.
I then also put a thin application of grease on the tracks and slides for the sunroof while it was open, as well as vacuum grease over all the seals and anything else I could see.
![Image]()
That should do it, let the sealant dry and wrap everything back up. I had the headliner out and drove it a few days back and forth to work in the rain before and after the seal to make sure everything went well before I posted this and everythings nice and dry as can be.
After I made sure of that I figured that since the headliner fabric was wet, dirty and falling that'd I'd take the time now while it's out to refinish it.
There's not much to it besides pulling the old fabric off, hitting it with a new wire brush to get the old foam off, and then gluing the new liner down. I got the fabric online for around $10/yard.
![Image]()
After that its just a matter of buttoning up everything in the reverse order you took it off. I did find out during this adventure that you can also grab another set of grab handles (same as the rear) and bolt them up for use in the front seats, the holes and everything is right there to bolt them up. I did not have an extra set to use so I just put the headliner back up and figured I'd save that job for another day as I didn't' feel like cutting the newly covered headliner back up
![Image]()
And here's the finished pics
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
If there's any more advice, critiques, or any further explanation or pictures of anything that anyone would like, please feel free to ask.
Thanks for reading!
First thing first is to check the four drain lines coming off the corners of the sun roof tray, make sure they're cleaned out real good. Either blow some air down them, run some weed wacker line through them, or pour boiling water down them (carefully).
My drivers & passangers side headliner was getting wet in the rain, not much but maybe a 6" round area that was obviously coming from the sunroof.
First off is to take out the headliner (Probably not actually necessary, but its not hard and would help out alot.
There's enough guides and its a simple enough process that I'm not going to cover it here in-depth (Pull the a,b,c & d covers off, unscrew the sunvisors, grab handles, overhead lights and display and it falls right down)
Doing this will help tell you where the water is coming from, if you can't tell have someone take a hose and squirt it with you inside after the headliner is down to make a determination on where it is leaking in at.
If you're having a leak in the same spots as me right at the edge of the sunroof tray where the little rectangular tabs are punched out in the metal then you're in luck (easy fix). I highlighted one of them below in red
What's happening is when the water is in the trough around the rails swashing around as you're driving (while its making its way to the drain lines) it's making it past the seal and into the cabin.
So first you need to take out this screw
These two
As well as this one
Once you do that the rails should be free. Firmly pull them away from the center of the sunroof like so. Mine were pretty tight so it takes a little force, but don't go cray and break anything.
Now you can lift the rail up just slightly to get at the seal that's giving us trouble. Don't lift it up too more than an inch or so
I put a large bolt under it to hold it up while I cleaned and took photos
Now we can see the seal that was giving us trouble (highlighted in red). I know mine was leaking here because the seal was wet and had dirt & leaves and such on both sides of the seal.
At this point you want to clean the areas on both sides of this seal the best you can (old toothbrush works great
) and get it nice and dry. I then proceeded to put a copious amount of silicone sealant over the whole area, I didn't want to pull it back apart again because I didn't put quite enough on it, and there's not much you'll be able to see under the rails anyway so I wasn't shy putting it on.
Then put the rail back down and make sure it slides under the clips underneath it, as well as the screws holding it (and the sensor) back down. The other side goes the same way as the drivers.
I then also put a thin application of grease on the tracks and slides for the sunroof while it was open, as well as vacuum grease over all the seals and anything else I could see.
That should do it, let the sealant dry and wrap everything back up. I had the headliner out and drove it a few days back and forth to work in the rain before and after the seal to make sure everything went well before I posted this and everythings nice and dry as can be.
After I made sure of that I figured that since the headliner fabric was wet, dirty and falling that'd I'd take the time now while it's out to refinish it.
There's not much to it besides pulling the old fabric off, hitting it with a new wire brush to get the old foam off, and then gluing the new liner down. I got the fabric online for around $10/yard.
After that its just a matter of buttoning up everything in the reverse order you took it off. I did find out during this adventure that you can also grab another set of grab handles (same as the rear) and bolt them up for use in the front seats, the holes and everything is right there to bolt them up. I did not have an extra set to use so I just put the headliner back up and figured I'd save that job for another day as I didn't' feel like cutting the newly covered headliner back up
And here's the finished pics
If there's any more advice, critiques, or any further explanation or pictures of anything that anyone would like, please feel free to ask.
Thanks for reading!
