2011 Toyota Highlander Clogged Sunroof Drain / Leak Fix
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ย. 2024
- Water started to pool inside my 2011 Toyota Highlander because the sunroof drain was clogged and not draining properly. After many failed attempts to fix it including blowing air through the drain hose and using a wire to try and push the blockage out, I finally found a fix.
I followed your directions and when I finally saw the water whirlpool down the drain I was elated. Black gunk clogged the drain of the plastic type container, I didn't see any white material. I thank you every time it rains!
That’s awesome! Very happy for you! 😁
😂
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
I was going to replace my windshield until I saw your video. I used some electrical wire and cleaned out a bunch of leaves and pine straw and other junk that I had unknowingly blown up in there with my leaf blower while clearing off the driveway. Your video and $2 worth of electrical cord saved me a lot of money.
Happy to hear! Glad it worked out for you.
White vinegar down the drain line may help with the sludge in the bottom. Thanks so much for showing this video. It shows great insight into how I can correct the same issue in my 17 yo's Highlander. Sorry you had to spend the $150 at the dealership for a "repair" that didn't work. Take care and thanks again!
You have saved me lot of time, hassle and money. I had same issue on my 2011 highlander and turns out driver side hole on top was plugged in.
People sharing their stories on the internet is just such an incredible leap forward. My new , used , Highlander started pooling water. After watching this, I thought back to the 90's, when trying to fix some unusual, or usual, car problem. You could spend days, or more, digging through stuff. All alone, isolated from some helpful knowledge that someone out there would have. Now you just hope that some helpful person shares their problem, and solution, right there on your computer screen. Incredible. Kids working on cars these days are spoiled, compared to pre internet years. Sure you could join some kind of club, and mail letters back and forth, and meet up several times a year. That was the speed of info. Now, I know right where to turn my attention, 10 minutes after plugging my problem into the browser. Thank you to all those that take the time to film themselves, and share their knowledge! What a great resource!
Well said, my friend. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Hope you got the issue worked out with your Highlander!
Amazing video, by far the most detailed I've seen covering this issue. About to take mine into a shop to have them clean it out, and I will make sure they watch this first. Thanks!
Glad you found it helpful! Appreciate the kind feedback 😁
This is by far the best video I've seen on the issue. Thanks for posting!
Thank you. You saved me a trip to the dealership and a few dollars. Much appreciated!
I just did the ‘procedure’ yesterday. Once you take off the plastic trim by the floor, I recommend you go ahead and disconnect all those connectors in and around the plastic recessed box - they are all push tab and easy. Take off the grounding screw too, and if you are on the drivers side, pop off the white plastic channel the wire snake is in. Takes some force. I loosened the two dash cover bolts down there too. The box will then come out easily. I was able to then reach my hand inside the pillar and scrape the bottom of the drain box with my finger tip. You might need a little helper for this... my hand went into existing standing water, and I felt silt over the drain hole area. Scraping it allowed the water to flow. I used a long funnel to dump more water in to rinse further. FYI initially only had leaking on one side, but went ahead and checked both sides and both were clogged. Thanks for the video confirming my suspicions!!
Jonathan Stotts nice! Thanks for the feedback and tips. Glad you got it cleaned out!
Thank you for sharing this video! I had a similar leak on my 2008 Highlander on the front passenger side and while I didn't follow your solution to a tee, you certainly encouraged me to attempt a fix myself. The fix for me was to remove the plastic harness for all the electrical cords and use a bottle brush to scrub out the area. A frustrating design for sure.
Thanks for the video, it helped me find the issue in my Highlander. I tried scrubbing it out like you did but I ended up having to use hot water and draino to get mine cleared. My car sits under a tree and there was a lot of buildup.
This was better than 2000 leagues under the sea. I have wet carpets man I hope I don’t have your problem. Thanks John North East England
Haha that’s high praise - that’s a great book! 😉 Thanks, bud! Good luck with the wet carpets.
Did you ever add clorox-type bleach to the area with the filter material? That is the standard procedure to clear and keep clear blocked drains in residential and commercial A/C systems which tend to have algae and other stuff growing in their drain pans and drain lines and related closed-in types of environments. Thanks for your perseverance and for sharing this procure with us. The camera and the cable were essential tools in this situation. I am facing the same problem with a 2013 Highlander, the "Mobile Wading Pool" edition.
This is not a problem limited to Highlanders or to any particular manufacturer. I had a late-model, dealer-maintained M-B SUV which was recently declared a total loss by my insurance carrier after 8 to 10 gallons of water accumulated under the carpet and fried the essential electronics after a very heavy rainstorm - blamed on clogged moonroof drains. Happened 2 weeks after a dealer service.
Update: I cleared the front drains in the moonroof on the Highlander I borrowed from a family member, but by getting on a step ladder to work on the moonroof, I found a tiny piece of hard plastic wedged into the front end of one track, preventing the moonroof from completely closing by a millimeter or two. For the left front drain tube I used plastic wire to clear it out as much as I could, but I got it to more fully drain from the filtered container in the left fender, the area shown by the micro-camera in this video, by pouring about 9 ounces of a solution of "Wet and Forget" anti-fungal and anti-microbial chemical down that drain. About a day later, it had pretty much emptied the fender tank's contents onto the pavement - and it had been only partially blocked before. I also removed and cleaned the A/C drain line by pulling back the carpet near where it comes out of the A/C evaporator under the passenger side dash and then goes through the firewall to drain on the ground beneath the rear of the engine. I cleared the hose using plastic wire and the shop vac, which I also used to suck any debris out of the evaporator box. After putting ll that back together, I examined the windshield wiper and the cowl area. It appeared that the area under the cowl cover was filled with leaves, pollen, seeds and other trash from years of being parked under oak trees in a wet, Southern environment. I opened up the under-cowl area (directions from TH-cam) and using a shop vac and my hands, I cleaned out all the trash that was blocking the drains in that area and removed every speck of accumulated trash out of there, including trash in and under the windshield wiper motors and links. While cleaning these various areas, I noticed that you could see the cabin air filter right through a large opening for fresh air in the firewall , which, if the drains are blocked, allows any water that accumulates in the under-cowl area to be splashed into, or overflow into, the passenger floor by coming through the porous cabin filter and the blower housing under it. The filter was filled with leaves and pollen, and had obviously never been changed before. I removed and cleaned it completely with the shop vac. I suspect the water infiltration in my vehicle was from a combination of a moonroof that didn't seal tightly, moonroof drains that sometimes couldn't handle the flow of water, and water getting trapped by clogged drains in the under-cowl area and flooding the area at the front passenger's feet. The problem was compounded by the water never being fully removed from under the carpets, and the inability of the water vapor to get out of the vehicle when it was sealed up tightly when parked. It smelled so bad that my family member had essentially stopped using it and they were thinking of getting rid of it because of the smell. I also had the carpets steam-cleaned and then vacuumed dry, and I put it under a canopy for several days with the moonroof opened an inch or so to let any remaining water vapor escape. It's not perfect, but no water is getting in and the smell is getting better. To avoid leaving any stone unturned I used a couple of special chemicals that restore flexibility to rubber and applied these chemicals to every piece of old weather-stripping and to the moonroof seals and door seals.
Nice! Very thorough write up. I might try the 'Wet and Forget' if I can find it, but I wonder what vinegar & baking soda would do?
Anyhow, what exactly was the special chemical you applied to your weatherstriping? I have a 2008 Highlander & want to start giving attention to seals and whatnot. Thank you!!! 👍
Man vs Leaky Sun Roof. Man wins! Gotta respect his pure determination.
Watching the gunk getting cleared was like watching the documentary/discovery channel. So satisfying to see this Victory!!!!
Haha amen! Thanks for the laugh 👍🏽😆
Thanks for this awesome video! Now I have an idea of what to do to fix my 2005 Highlander's leak problem. I just moved to Florida and there have been a number of heavy rains that has flooded my passenger compartment, so your video will make a big difference for me.
Awesome! Glad you found it helpful. Good luck with your move to the Sunshine State!
@@KhalidAli1 I’ll look
Thanks for taking time and sharing it for others . Your persistence and patience paid off. Wonderful job !
Thanks, Riaz!
My 2013 Avalon started doing something similar. Such a pain to get in the car and breath in that musty stench. Thanks for all the tips.
Glad the video helped!
There no way to go from the bottom up ? I have a 2001 Toyota Corolla and I'm getting water on the back passager side floor .
I had the same problem. I just rerouted the drain hose through the floor next to the gas tank door release lever. Maybe I should make a video of it.
@MEATMANGARY I'll try to get a video up in the next few days. Please don't do the drill trick. I tried it. It didn't work. Hang in there a few more days.
@MEATMANGARY the video is up! Come take a look.
Funny, I was watching this video and was thinking I just watched a video by Rabid Beagle and he has a great solution!
th-cam.com/video/ZH4yx0jWgN0/w-d-xo.html
My n loo
This problem is making me crazy right now. Being that our 2008 Highlander Sport was our son's high school and college car, I hardly had time to work on it except the critical stuff like brakes, tune ups, oil changes and suspension work. Well, we've picked up a new ride for him now that he's graduated, and I'm giving the 'Lander a once over to sell it with over a QUARTER MILLION MILES on her. The floor below the driver's matt has been wet for years now, caked with sand and salt from winter use, and always damp from this sunroof drain issue. Last week I watched this video, plus several others, all with differing approaches. I decided to try and tackle this, so I started by using compressed air to prove that my problem was not the hose from the sunroof. Then I pulled up the carpeting to find sopping wet sound isolation materials bonded to the bottom of the carpet. These layers had crushed down in thickness over the years, leaving an oval shaped depression in the carpet below the driver's left knee. The exposed painted surfaces of sheet metal which were not covered in bituminous NVH coating were rusted and flaky, thin in some areas, and there was about 3/4" of standing water there once I squeezed out the sound isolation materials. After lots of wet vac action, some of which included pulling up chunks of the asphalt sound deadening which delaminated due to rust creep below it, I went to work with the Draino method, adding hot water to activate it. I then crawled under the car to tap an awl (which snapped off) and then a screwdriver into the small gaps in the rocker panel pinch weld, which somewhat helped open the drain passage. At that point the water in the cavity finally seeped out. However, I fooled myself into believing that what I did was sufficient. WELL, yesterday here in southeastern Massachusetts a deluge blew through the area, raining hard for hours. Guess what? The carpet below the driver's feet is back to being thoroughly soaked. I think I'm just going to drill some holes at this point. I just don't care now. F*ck you Toyota. So many wasted hours of my - and every other owner's - life dealing with poor design.
And now I need to spend an entire day once again tearing the carpet up and pulling everything apart to de-water that area again. Awesome.
The scope camera views and quality are great
Yeah that camera was a huge help!
I appreciate your video, sharing attempts at this problem. I found your vid on Toyota Nation so I'm glad to stick this on the side for later.
I haven't experienced problems yet, but I'd like to start being proactive. Have you known anyone to use baking soda & vinegar to flush lines? I use it in drains in my house so I might try it as well as the commenter suggesting 'Wet and Forget'.
I love how you used the borescope to enlighten us concerning the problem area.
Thanks so much for your contribution! 👍
Thanks for your feedback! Really nice to hear people are still finding this helpful. It’s been over two years since I did the procedure, and knock on wood, still good!
Thanks for an entertaining video. For a minute there, I wasn't sure if I was watching a car being fixed or somebody undergoing laparoscopic surgery. Had the same problem with both Toyota 4Runners in our family. I bought weed wacker replacement wire and ran that down the drain holes in the sunroof, simultaneously pouring water into the hole to make sure it came out the bottom. That seemed to work but did not entirely eliminate the problem. Based on your camera footage, I'm wondering if some debris is around that white filter material you were playing with and is slowing drainage and allowing it to back up in heavier rains. I did catch a video from another commenter here (Rabidbeagle) who rerouted the drain through a plug in the footwell using a new length of tubing. Not sure I want to go that route. A couple of others mentioned pouring bleach or white vinegar down the holes, a common procedure used to keep condensate lines clear in HVAC servicing. Anyway, appreciate your perseverance in tracking down the cause of the problem so many Toyota owners are experiencing.
Hey @joemartino6976 thanks for the comment! Yes quite a trip 😂 I recently had the issue reoccur and I gave in and ended up pouring some bleach down the drain hole. Lo and behold, it worked! Just be careful to dilute the bleach and be mindful that some of it will leak into the car cabin into the carpet, so your car will smell like bleach for some time. Plus it damaged the carpet a bit.
Working on our 2001 rear drivers drain hose was pulled off at top also after a days worth of sprinkler action bolts on luggage rack and plastic inserts were leaking New hoses plus flashing sealant
Gotta be the worst design ever. Thanks for your video my friend. Dealership charged me 150 and the problem didn’t stop. Then I went back and questioned them and luckily they educated me on what’s happening but then wanted over $1000 to do the job. I’ll be doing this myself now m8.
Seriously! 😪 All the best!
@@SandfishMedia Khalid I poured Drano down the sunroof drain, it worked for another guy on here hope it works for me too lol
Would this work on an older corolla? I tried to access the drain tube from underneath my car, but its hidden behind the body of the car. I was about to cut open the seam to make sure the end of tube wasn't clogged or blocked by anything, thank god I found your video before attempting that.. The passenger front drain hole drains just fine, but driver side does not. (Not sure about the rears yet, i plan on trying to clean them out when it quits raining) This is by far the best diy sunroof repair video on youtube though!! Great job sir!!
Hey Jordan, thanks for your kind note! I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in the Corolla, assuming it’s got a similar construction. Let me know how it goes and if I can address any specific questions.
Thanks for the video. Looks like there is a gold fish in there.
Yup, beats me how it got in there but oh well 😆
Great video. Very helpful.
I'm wondering about some clear/tough tape around the sunroof/roof gap as a temp fix to stop the water. 3M makes something that looks good. Also T-Rex "clear repair tape". Both on Amazon.
Also, yeah would love to know if any of these work:
1) drain cleaner (of one type or another - vinegar, etc).
2) clearing the drain from below.
3) drilling a larger opening from below.
Thanks for the video.
Nice job!
Thanks!
Thank you, now mine drains too.
Great! Glad it worked out!
This video is great - I noticed this situation when vacuuming yesterday after a very rainy week. I figured I must have left a window cracked, so I took out the floor mat and dried it out with towels and then it rained more and it's really wet again. Sooooo.... googling here in my office this morning and I found you. Question before I get started...if I had some type of wire/brush contraption, do you think there is a way to get at the area from under the car? Through the hole it drains from? Or is this reservoir where it's clogged not really accessible from there? I'm trying to avoid pulling the bottom trim and carpet up. Thank you so very much for the video!!!!!!
Hey thanks, @hmcginnity! Glad you found the video useful. I tried to see if I could get at the clogged spot -- the reservoir -- from the drain hole under the car. However, the "hole" (at least in my Highlander's case) is really just a slight part where two pieces of metal come together. So it's not really a viable place to insert anything. You "could" try and expand the hole, which I initially tried to do, but it felt too risky, and I was not successful. The "easiest" way may be to try and enter the reservoir from the hole at the driver's feet (where the water overflows into the cabin from). Another alternative may be to pop out the electrical box inset into the fender on the driver's side (roughly about thigh height) and see if that will give you a better opening. All the best! Let us know how it goes.
@@SandfishMedia so there's no hole ! That's suxs .
How about pouring clog opener? The ones you use for the toilet? 😌☝️
You should try pouring in some hydrogen peroxide or vinegar. Would at least get some gunk to unstick. This also sounds like some routine maintenance you may have to perform so it doesn't clog in the future...
vash01000100 you could try it but I was just concerned about potential side effects / smells; I don’t know what that material is made of but not sure how it would hold up against different chemicals. And yes, I’m definitely expecting it to clog up again 😂
Excellent video! Thanks. I’m about to tackle this job on our 2008 Highlander. I’m curious, did you try blowing air up through the drain holes from the bottom of the car?
So i didn't have the same problem. If you find that cleaning out the drain and tube doesn't work. Try check out if you banged something and messed up the crease along the frame by the tire jack notch. Had to pry it open a bit.
Wish you posted a shot on the bottom where the water supposed to leak out. I think I'm just going to drill it out to widening the hole
Sorry bud!
🥇for this video.
Thanks, bud!
Thx!! It’s been driving me crazy. Can you pop off that plastic piece with all the electrical without killing everything? (I’m willing to risk any issue at this point).
adammarlin glad it helped! You don’t need to remove that plastic piece entirely to do what I showed; you just need to gently pop out the two (or three?) plastic rivets which keep the box in place (I used a flat screwdriver to do this) and then gently pull the box out as far as it will go (maybe a few millimeters). That was sufficient for me to snake the drain hose in behind it. I didn’t try removing it entirely for fear of causing a bigger issue (like you), and frankly, even pulling it out those few mm was a pain, so I didn’t want to try removing it entirely. However, if you do manage to get it out, that should technically give you a much larger opening to get into the fender area where the drain pan is; that open access would make the cleaning process a heck of a lot easier!
Thanks, was going to buy a Toyota…Will buy a different brand now!
I am having a trouble finding where you put the little camera
Mellissa Cook, you have to remove the plastic molding I show at 4:10. Also remove the carpeting, and you’ll see a small hole in the fender close to the floor. That’s where the water flows into the cabin from. I just placed the camera at that hole and “peeked” inside the fender. Good luck!
Can you reach the clogged drain from under the vehicle where it empties out, and clean it from there?
Hey Doug, thanks for your question. Unfortunately, the answer is "no." The "drain" under the vehicle is so narrow, that you can't realistically get anything through it to clean it out. You can check your own vehicle to confirm, but in the case of my Highlander, it's literally just two metal panels that come together to form an imperceptible crevice. The water is intended to drip through there, and I'm guessing the logic is that they don't want stuff flying up into the vehicle, which a larger gap/hole would most likely lead to.
Thank you!
Is it possible rain could enter the fender area where the water is pooling simply from the windshield / fender area and not necessarily from the sunroof drain?
crayh5o I highly doubt that. Based on my assessment of the fender’s construction, that really should not happen unless you’ve somehow managed to pop a hole in it (maybe an accident?) Regardless, if you’ve got water pooling inside the fender and then overflowing into the cabin, you might have a similar issue to mine. If so you might want to try cleaning it out like I show in this video. Another area to check for clogs, by the way, would be under the cowl. For more info about this, Google “toyota highlander cowl clean”. Good luck!
Very helpful video. I've had this issue several times, and had to remove a seat and interior trim to ensure it dries out. Is there possibly a spot underneath that could simply be drilled out to allow for better drainage?
@@SteveGoldman Sorry about the delay getting back to you; theoretically, yes, you "could" do that. As a matter of fact, you could try expanding the existing drain hole, which in my Highlander's case at least was surprisingly small. However, it's risky; you could end up drilling through/into spaces that are meant to be watertight. If it's an older car, and you haven't had luck with any other options, then maybe you give it a go. Good luck!
I wonder if you could pour something down the drains, like bleach or vinegar, every couple months as a proactive measure.
Huffordability you could try and I did consider it but was reluctant to try, not knowing how the material would hold up against different chemicals. If you end up trying it, please do let me know!
Where’s did you stick ? What area you feed that wire to to ?
The same place where I pulled the nylon hose out from.
We are having trouble figuring out where to stick the “brush.” Do we just stick it in where the water is coming out? we definitely have this same problem.
Hey Tyler, you could try sticking it where the water is coming out, but it’s not going to give you much space to move the “brush” around. What I did was, I pulled out the sunroof drain hose and stuck the wire/brush down the same way (see video starting around 3:45 mark). You may have some difficulty snaking it past the electronics components box that is stuck in the fender from the inside but you should be able to make it work if you jiggle the wire around enough. Or you can try pulling the box out a bit like I show near the end of my video. Good luck - let me know how it goes!
Khalid Ali okay we will try it, and I’ll let you know. Thanks!
How do you get the wire/brush in there to clean it? Do u run it down from sunroof or can you go from under the car? Idk why u wouldn’t show how to actually do it
At the 3:54 mark you’ll see a photo of the drain hose. Pull that hose out and then use that entry point to insert the wire brush.
Do you have to unclog the drain pan on both sides driver and passenger?
I didn’t have this problem on the passenger side but I’d assume the process would be pretty much the same to clear it out.
What brand was the camera you used?
Right now am stuck with it now
Crist
Drain-O .... has anyone tried that? Or some kind of drain cleaner?
There are at least 2 other videos of people using drano successfully - one poured directly into the reservoir in the fender from the driver's compartment, the other just poured directly into the drain holes in the sunroof. I saw other people recommending Green Gobbler, which is supposed to be safer on plastics. I might go pick some of that up so I can just pour directly into the sunroof and not have to mess with anything else.
Life saver. Took it by an auto body. They blew air into the sun roof hoes.. Then I took a dryer cleaner that's can snake. Seems it all worked and saved me time going to a Toyota dealer. What dookie. To air out the hoes and make it impossible to get to the rocker. 😂
what's the gage of the wire?
Try this: www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-8-in-x-1-ft-Stainless-Steel-Vinyl-Coated-Wire-Rope-809916/204765305
im nashwas and umairs cousin
Good to hear from you, bud!
Why can't you just drill a hole
It's such a shity car my wife likes it so she wants me to keep it but it is such a piece of s*** car just saying