Leaky sunroof on the ‘21 venture

HOUSTON, we have a problem....

While rolling through the car wash a few months back, my brother noticed that the sunroof leaks when the blow dryers hit the glass. No later than a month later, my husband noticed the same exact thing. Now, the dealer ship says they can’t re-create the issue but we were able to record the incident so that we could show the dealer today. They told us that “it’s normal because the water needs to drain off.”
I’m posting a video here to see what you guys think. I’m gonna go toe to toe with the dealer ship and do what I can to get them to fix it. Please feel free to share your opinions and advice.

 

Pretty sure its not recommended to go through the car wash.

Good luck getting the dealer to do much of anything.

 

Like, not recommended for the sunroof? The dealership has a run through car wash also though. But with that being said, I can’t hand wash it. I only stand 5’5”. I mean, I could but then it would be half assed.

 

I haven't taken my 4Runner through the carwash, but my wife has had a few Camrys, a Venza, and a RAV4 all with sunroofs, and I've taken numerous cars from work with sunroofs and no leaks with the blowers at the carwash. I don't think what you're seeing is normal. I'd have another dealership look at it

 

This happens sometimes
not a huge deal less you planning on driving into a tornado or hurricane that'll produce the same type of galeforce winds
But seriously probably a few things going on here could be the wash has the blowers turned up high
could be That the blower hits the area just right
Or my favorite... clean the gasket on the sunroof, all too often overlooked, gaskets (door, trunk,hood and yes sunroof)
Anyhoo
Join us in Georgetown on Sat...we're taking a cruise to a new shop and the to a BOIL!!!

 

2015 sr5, many car wash’s...never a drop inside...

 

“it’s normal because the water needs to drain off.”

Ask them to show you the path the water is supposed to take as it is "running off" inside your vehicle.

Then, tell him/her you're dead serious

 

The dealer has a car wash or record it on your phone.

 

Yet another reason I don't care for sunroofs.

Brand new 21', I wouldn't think it would be leaking.

Wife uses drive through car wash to clean her 12' Sequoia. We never noticed water leaks from the sunroof.

 

Mine has never leaked. Ever. After 8 years of hell.

I would suggest they reset the sunroof position.

It may not be recognizing it’s in the all the way closed position.

 

My 2018 sun roof gets some water leaking in at the car wash. That’s what the drain lines and drip trays are for up there. No leaking in the rain, though. Only leaks when high pressure blasted or dried.

 

Most arguments you'll get from any dealership (most makes) is you cannot stand outside the car blasting the windows and seals with a high pressure hose or in your case the dryer. That just isn't a "natural" event and quite honestly you can probably make anything leak if you try hard enough. Leaks do suck I had a Camaro years ago that would get soaked inside when ever it rained, I mean soaked, and even that was a battle trying to resolve. During a good couple day rain event I'm talking water literally puddling up on the floor. That was thirty years ago and that car's long gone...

 

Whats crazy is, the car wash that I go through, is literally right next door to the dealership and I offered to take my advisor over there with me and he refused... said he couldn't leave the shop... well then he went and got his manager and he said the same exact thing... he couldn't leave the shop...

 

Slide it open and check the track for any kind of debris - leaves, a small limb, acorn cap - you get the idea . You mentioned you're short so just stand on the seats. If all checks okay it's likely out of adjustment and not closing all the way, but that's a function for the dealer to check. Keep us posted.

 

Good luck.

Not sure if normal or not. I wouldn't like that, but I also can understand that you are puddling water there then literally trying to force it in with a lot of pressure.

Personally, I haven't taken a car through a car wash since I became an adult and realized how horrible that probably is for my vehicle. But I care for my vehicles in a special way that most do not, lol.. so I get it - time is money and cars are just tools to most. I'll admit, it ain't easy washing the 4Runner at my age.. and I'm not old ha!

 

I think you're right...I had to leave it at the dealership over night and hopefully they will call today and let me know something. If they don't, I'll make your recommendation.

 

1. stop the vehicle
2. press and hold the slide switch in the closed position,
the moonroof will close, reopen, and pause for approximately 10 seconds, then it will close again, tilt up and pause for approx 1 second. finally it will tilt down, open and close
3. check that the moonroof is completely closed, and then release the switch

 

Best wishes on resolving the problem that shouldn't have happened at all. Please us know what happens.

 

I will put some perspective on the issue.

The seal systems on modern sunroofs are designed so they should be almost completely impervious to failure.

Most of them have also been lubricated with some type of thick sealant to act as a secondary water barrier.

It is conceivable that with time, and I’m talking like a decade here, that sealants could potentially degrade or become filed with dirt.

These are not luxury vehicles, and putting them through a rather nasty car wash is typical par for the course.

When I lived in Colorado, I would put mine through a car wash at least twice, if not three times a month if they were going heavy on the salt to try to keep the rust demons at bay.

I usually have my sunroof shade open, or leave it cracked if it was a nice winter day in the 50s. I have never seen water enter the sunroof, even with some of those hurricane blowers at some car washes, and just for laughs, when I went through one yesterday I checked and nothing got in when I was washing the California pollen off my truck.

The way the sunroof is buffeting in the picture I would think that it is not detecting that it’s completely closed. Or thinks that it is closed when it should go forward a bit further.

The rubber seals on these things would definitely keep the rain out under normal circumstances, but not when you blast air at it at over 150 miles an hour.

Either way, try to perform the reset on its electronic brain, run it through another car wash, and then go to the dealer if that doesn’t fix it.

Once again, anything is possible in this weird world, but it would seem extremely unlikely that the car wash damaged your sunroof in any way or that something about this car wash is particularly unique to the point that it is forcing water inside your sunroof.

 

Easy fix, re-seat the sunroof, change the weather strip, done. Probably 1 hr job tops.

 

Go stand on the driver side door frame with the sunroof closed.

The rubber seal should go all the way around and shouldn’t be kinked, bunched up, or look disrupted with the sunroof in the closed position.

Look from the inside, there are sets of baffles on either side of the sunroof. These are to prevent buffeting when it is tilted, but potentially may not be correctly installed and keep the sunroof from properly closing. It will be easy to see if they are out of place because they will bulge into the interior of the car.

Finally push up and down on the sunroof. It should not have considerable play when it is in the closed position.

 

I'll try this when I get it back. Thank you!!

 

What does this do?

 

This is a hard reset for the position of the sunroof.

It is conceivable that the sunroof may have forgotten how far it needs to go to be in the fully closed or fully open position.

 

A leaking sunroof on a new car that is under warranty is not normal. The leak will just continue to get worse over time.

Take it to another dealer since this one is obviously too lazy or inept to fix the problem.

If you can't find a dealer that will fix it, take it up with Toyota Corporate. Don't take no for an answer.

 

Maybe its the way I am watching the video, but I stopped it at the 2 second mark after the water came in. Is there a gap in the areas I circled perhaps? Or is this a reflection? Just trying to help. It almost look like the rubber seal is not lined up here? Best of luck figuring this out and please keep us posted

 

Nah. Thats no reflection... I think you might be on to something. I dont have it back from the dealership but as soon as I get back to it, I'll investigate this and see what I can see. Thank you for spotting this.

 

Good deal Jessica- hope it all goes well for you. Please keep us posted. I have an ORP coming so hoping they find out the issue and hopefully and isolated incident.

 

I can’t get the reset to work on mine. Truck engine turned on or off?

 

This is from a 2013.