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Leaking Sunroof/Moonroof

Discussion in '3rd Gen. Tacomas (2016-2023)' started by Greensummits, Mar 25, 2020.

  1. May 24, 2020 at 3:29 PM
    #61
    Plain Jane Taco

    Plain Jane Taco ALL human beings deserve equal treatment

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    My brother in law's 17 year old Sienna has the identical set up. Guess what happens when it rains....particularly a hard rain? Some water gets by the seal and into the tray....per the design. Spent many a mile in that vehicle, both as a passenger and driver. Never once has water gotten into the cabin.

    Over the years my wife has had 3 RAV4s and a Prius....all with moonroofs. Everyone of them had a certain amount of water that made it passed the seal....particularly her '97 RAV. Not a drop in the cabin from any of them.

    Glad we had moonroofs. They're quite nice. She misses it on her Corolla.
     
    mattleg and shakerhood like this.
  2. May 24, 2020 at 3:47 PM
    #62
    Kevin Jones

    Kevin Jones Well-Known Member

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    I washed my '18 TRD Sport today so I wanted to check this out and found the leaking you describe is definitely NOT Normal as dealer states.
    I shot water from a high-pressure nozzle 12" from my moon roof for 5-6 minutes and there was no water inside.
     
  3. May 24, 2020 at 7:49 PM
    #63
    USMCGRUNT

    USMCGRUNT Active Member

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    As we can all see, some say it is normal and some say it is not. I never had a sunroof/moonroof, and really never wanted one. Unfortunately, that is the only way the Pro comes. If this was disclosed or I read about it on here first, I would have stayed away.

    The "it's normal" advocates may be correct, but I don't want water anywhere near the inside of my $50k vehicle. I don't care about drains, rails, drips, pans, seals, etc. Having water drip inside my vehicle 5cm above a headliner and leather interior is not for the faint of heart. And I guess my heart is faint.

    I would assume there are plenty of car manufacturers out there that make a sunroof/moonroof without leaks. Toyota should be no different.
     
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  4. May 24, 2020 at 8:38 PM
    #64
    Plain Jane Taco

    Plain Jane Taco ALL human beings deserve equal treatment

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    Toyota designed this system to make sure water didn't end up in the cabin. It's a tried and true setup.

    But clearly there are those who believe a design that has worked for decades suddenly is not a good one.

    Later :hattip:
     
    RedWings44, Chew, Dano461 and 4 others like this.
  5. May 24, 2020 at 8:41 PM
    #65
    mattleg

    mattleg Well-Known Member

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    Leakage is absolutely normal for any sliding type sunroof. They have been like that since the beginning, decades ago.

    The ones that seal tight, or supposed to, either don't open at all or tilt up with a compression seal. They sucked, nobody wanted them because of leaks and it was common knowledge to avoid them.

    It's not common knowledge the slide type leak through the slip seal into a drain channel. Why, because it works and rarely ever causes issue.
     
  6. May 25, 2020 at 6:26 AM
    #66
    EdgeCrusher

    EdgeCrusher Well-Known Member

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    Whatever you do, never open the door when it's raining out. Water will get inside!!!!
     
  7. May 25, 2020 at 6:49 AM
    #67
    USMCGRUNT

    USMCGRUNT Active Member

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    Opening your door for .2 seconds to get in and out is slightly different than it raining inside until the rain stops.

    I didn’t come on here to argue or debate. Just looking for some insight. It actually made me feel a lot better that it was supposedly designed this way. I still think it’s a sh...y design, but whatever. Some would rather just play keyboard warriors.
     
    Bushed likes this.
  8. May 25, 2020 at 6:59 AM
    #68
    EdgeCrusher

    EdgeCrusher Well-Known Member

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    No keyboard warrior here, just trying to warn you and possibly save your heart.
     
    Chew likes this.
  9. May 25, 2020 at 7:11 AM
    #69
    MikeyD.25

    MikeyD.25 Well-Known Member

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    Keep those drain holes clean/clear of debris if you truly don't want water entering the vehicle. Ask me how I know! :hattip:
     
    Boghog1 and USMCGRUNT like this.
  10. May 25, 2020 at 7:19 AM
    #70
    sigrooms

    sigrooms Well-Known Member

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    Nah, just a troll being a troll.
     
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  11. May 25, 2020 at 10:23 AM
    #71
    pinem56

    pinem56 Well-Known Member

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    A slip fit rubber gasket between two materials with different thermal coefficients is going to leak under the right conditions. It's an immutable phyisical law of the natural world we live in. As far as I know, all car manufacturers, over the years through trial and error, have settled on this type of seal with a drip tray and drains. I would imagine cold weather exasperbates the issue, though.

    You could try this: retract the moonroof, apply a thin film of silicone grease around the inside metal edge of the opening, close the moonroof and wipe off the extra grease that gets pushed out. However, the grease could collect dust over time, and become problematic at that point. A possible alternative would be to routinely apply a dry to touch silicone protectant like 303 Aerospace to the rubber gasket to keep it as compliant as possible.
     
    MikeyD.25 and USMCGRUNT like this.
  12. May 25, 2020 at 1:18 PM
    #72
    Charlie Marlow

    Charlie Marlow Well-Known Member

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    So, it was raining pretty hard and I wanted to see how much water gets by the seal on mine. I went out, looked on both sides, and realized there's a cover blocking things on the sides, so I went back to this thread thinking maybe those had been removed. That's when I realized that USMCGRUNT was looking at his sunroof at the back. I went back out, looked back there, and saw the same thing on my 2019. I am sure they are all going to leak a bit at the back side of the sunroof due to the rake of the truck causing water to pool there.

    The good news is that it is normal and the water doesn't stay there long as it just flows right out the drain tubes. Unfortunately, a sunroof is always a thing that has to be checked every now and then to make sure the drain tubes are clear. I have had numerous vehicles over the years that had sunroofs and never had a problem, but it's always at the back of my mind.

    My mother in law has a 2006 Ford Explorer and the drain tubes on it just slipped off of the tray after a number of years and had water pouring into the headliner above the visors. All because Ford was too cheap to use clamps on the hoses :(
     
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  13. May 25, 2020 at 3:46 PM
    #73
    Dano461

    Dano461 Well-Known Member

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    Wonder if I could get someone to weld in a panel to eliminate my sunroof.
     
  14. May 25, 2020 at 8:02 PM
    #74
    wall-e

    wall-e Well-Known Member

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    That is part of the reason why I bought my 2017 TRD PRO, it did not have a sunroof. I had a tundra that had a leaky sunroof, the track went bad so it would not retract. The dealer quoted me around 5K to fix it with a whole new assembly and head liner due to water damage. I don't miss having a sunroof. When I had one, I never used it.
     
  15. May 25, 2020 at 9:50 PM
    #75
    iptman

    iptman Well-Known Member

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    I specially bought my used 18 Pro because it didn't have a sunroof. My 97 Land Cruiser does have a sunroof that leaks and it kills me. The front sunroof drains are easily seen but the rear drains are not. You have to drop the head liner to get to them which I did last year to clean them out. Sure as shit a couple weeks ago my passenger side floor boards were soaked. I opened the sunroof and saw both front drains clogged with a plug of soggy pollen. I used a zip tie to clear them out. I'm not pulling the headliner agaiin to check the rears though so hopefully that did it. I guess the point to this whole story is can you see all 4 drain holes in a Tacoma sunroof?

    Also, OP gets 9 more inches of rain per year than Seattle. Everyone thinks Seattle gets a lot of rain but they don't by rainfall calcs. It just mists constantly for like 8 months straight.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2020
  16. May 25, 2020 at 11:21 PM
    #76
    suaveflooder

    suaveflooder Well-Known Member

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    i avoid sunroofs at all cost for this reason. I never use them and they leak after some time. The saleswoman laughed when I told her a sunroof was a dealbreaker for me and I didn’t want one
     
    Chew likes this.
  17. May 26, 2020 at 10:21 AM
    #77
    pinem56

    pinem56 Well-Known Member

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  18. May 26, 2020 at 2:26 PM
    #78
    Edubreuil

    Edubreuil Back in a Jeep

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    Typical response from my experience. It is like the rubber trim on the roof blowing off in the car wash. As designed...
     
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  19. May 30, 2020 at 7:17 AM
    #79
    bill7549

    bill7549 Well-Known Member

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    Interesting thread. I did a search to see if anyone has had any experience adding a sunroof to a Tacoma, and this thread popped up. I have an 18 Pro which was the last year the Pro didn't come with a sunroof. After reading this thread, I am certainly having second thoughts pursuing this.
     
  20. May 30, 2020 at 8:55 AM
    #80
    skidooboy

    skidooboy titanium plate tester

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    if you dont want your roof to leak, dont cut a hole in it. Ski
     
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