Sunroof Drain Clogged leading to complete engine harness failure??

It's not my truck, nor my estimate. It's just my guess as to WHY it is going to cost $4000 to repair a water-logged connector. I can't think of any other reason.

It's like trying to remove the stink of a dead rodent in your wall... You just start pulling down drywall until you find it. Only the shadow knows where the dead creature lay.

 

Oh, sorry. I had you confused with OP.
I too can’t understand why it’s over $4k.
I curious what the problem is exactly?

 

This is total suckage!

Only offering a thought on harness replacement. Cars aren't built with marine grade wire which is tinned copper. I've messed with lots of wiring exposed to water in a marine environment where marine grade was not used. I believe it involves capillary action and several feet from the point of water intrusion, you'll find wire will turn black and resistance will go sky high. Just a thought.

I hope you get a good resolution out of this deal OP. I too, am counting my blessings for avoiding the sunroof!

 

Some additional thoughts- if the dealer can’t point to a connector causing the problem and suspect it’s a certain harness that needs to be “replaced”they’re just guessing and it’s an expensive guess that could be wrong. You mentioned that the dealer wants to replace a harness under the carpet. You also mentioned that you had an engine light/atrac off, well the atrac has wiring running in the overhead (and possibly where a sunroof leak could reach). I would take my truck to another dealer with a good electrical technician, this dealer doesn’t seem credible if they can’t point to an exact problem other than harness - ask them exactly what’s wrong with the harness and listen to them with your BS detector on
https://www.ttguide.net/a_trac_indicator_light_remains_on-611.html

 

Unless he moonlights as a plumber, the chances of the average wrench slinging tech at the dealer even knowing what capillary action is would be unlikely.
Definitely a shot in the dark, but nonetheless interesting possibility that not many would have come up with.

 

Great point, thankfully one of my best friends is an attorney so helping me out. Said the same thing, might be better off just eating the $500-$600 for them doing nothing then taking it that route. Won't have fees from him but just the potential process

 

They stated corrosion to the wiring under passenger side floor. I asked why it can't just be repaired in that area, they said it is all one piece so can't just fix that area have to replace whole engine harness. $2300 in labor and $1600 part the quote shows. If insurance doesnt cover it I will def take it elsewhere. The problem is they won't send any pics of the damage yet, super shady

 

Yeah estimate is $1600 for the engine harness, $2300 for labor

 

Exactly, they want to replace the harness simply due to it reading a little high on Ohms reading. The email they sent Friday they stated "where the water leak is coming from is still uncertain". So basically they aren't solving the main issue here of how water is getting in

 

This is what they just sent to insurnace. "Here is a photo of the ohms test. There is no physical damage to the harness. The ohms reading should be under 1ohms. The first time we diagnosed the harness the test was reading 6 ohms. Then it slowly fell to 3ohms and has stayed at 3ohms in all the connectors." the photo shows a reading of a meter with 3.1

 

I swear toyota has no clue how water works... the 3rd brake light, in the back of the truck, is getting water on the engine harness in the dash.... Like its not even possible until you filled the cab with 8 inches of standing water.


Toyota pretty much said the same thing to me when I found a leak in the drivers side floor. They told me water was leaking on the power cable for my amps (on the passenger side) then flowing over the transmission tunnel and pooling on the driver side floor...

 

Ever smell a broken septic tank?

I'm getting a snootfull of that from your dealer.

 

Did you take it elsewhere and find a different result or just have them fix it?

 

I checked it out my self and figured out the issue. Ended up being snow melt from my boots pooling in the floor mats, then when I park (my driveway is a hill) it all flows back to one end of the mat and drains into the carpet.

 

Again, have no background working on cars but curious if this could be related or the issue? When this first started I ran it to autozone and had them give me what the light was saying when the engine light randomly came on. Their report showed a bad ignition coil. When I mentioned this to the dealer they talked up their diagnostic computer etc. how it will give us the right info, there's magically turns into replacing the whole harness. Reading on a bad ignition coil, sounds like some of the symptoms they are stating match (engine misfire, engine light, trac off, high ohms)

 

Chances are it’s just a few important wires that got wet and corroded and are causing the computer to throw a fit. Might be your coil issue, might not, can’t tell without a more detailed look at the truck.

 

I'm a Service Advisor at a Lexus dealership and I can confirm that sunroof drain tubes can and do get clogged regularly. This happens from dust/debris over time but can be accelerated if you part under trees that drop lots of debris, drive in dusty conditions regularly, etc. They can be cleaned easily as noted above. That being said, if this dealership is still unable to determine the root cause of the leak there is no way I would have them repair the truck. It should have gone through a process that ended up with the Shop Foreman assisting in the diagnosis if the first technician was unable to sort it out. They can also contact TAS (Toyota engineers) to ask for assistance with unusual problems. I doubt they have gone that far with the diagnosis process. If not, take it to another dealer who has a good reputation. Second opinions can be a great thing. Good luck!

 

Appreciate all the info! Yeah the diagnosis process is what has lost my trust. That drain tube went from cleared when they checked to clogged a week later when they couldn't figure it out. Do you know anything about a water test the would have run? They claim they did one that first week and couldn't find the leak. Then it rained after that and called me the next day and was back to the sunroof drain was now suddenly clogged.

Also, they mentioned they had corporate involved on the first day and they were walking them through what to do. Surprised it would take corporate a week to suggest checking the drains.

 

They won’t send pics because they’re full of shit and just basing the diagnosis on a reading. Walk into the service dept and ask for the manager to pull your truck in and show you the corrosion, I’m betting they can’t.

 

Right, I'm no electrician so purely saying it has high ohms in all connectors as only diagnosis and needs replaced could it be a number of different things? And they just decided they are going to go with corrosion.