Progress so far in my attempt to develop a more permanent maintenance solution:

For the past few years I've just been clearing the front to sunroof drains with compressed air at the roof openings. This time around, the passenger side was plugged to the point where it wouldn't open up even with 40 psi (my limit to keep the tubes from popping off of the suroof drain pan). As a last ditch effort, I filled the clogged drain with water and a squirt of dishwashing detergent and let is sit. After an hour, the drain then cleared with only 25 psi applied.

In the mean time, I pulled out the wheel well liner and for the life of me I couldn't find the outflow end of the drain anywhere. When I had the drain cleared and was flushing it out with clean water, I could then see at least generally where the front sunroof drain should be located. It looks like it drains out in the same place as the cowl intake vents up inside that closed off area of the fender.

So it seems that to get to the front drain ends one must pull the dash to get at them from the inside or remove the "air intake" trim pieces and maybe the cowl cover grill to get at them from the outside.

Anyone know how to remove the air intake trim pieces?

 

They are held on with 3 clips. Just pull up and they will come off.

 

NJTEX.....keep us posted as to your findings......I'm sure the majority of the owners on this forum would appreciate it!!

 

Okay, I popped off the air intake and it was "close but no cigar". There's a layer of sheet metal forming the top of the inner fender still in the way. The front drain outlets are located in a triangular boxed section right below the A-pillar, firewall, and inner fender sheetmetal. The only way to get access to the box section would be to remove the fenders and then one still might not be able to work on the drain ends because the space is so small.

I'm 99% positive now that the best access to the drain outlets is from under the dash or to remove the dash if needed. That's my project for this coming weekend.

(BTW, I found a handfull of mud/muck under the air intake and two handfulls of the same packed down by the front rocker panel behind the fender liner. Constant wet muck sitting on sheet metal isn't a good thing so I cleaned it all out with a garden hose. If you want to keep your truck forever, clean out these areas each spring!)

 

I tried this a couple months back. We got a ton of rain and it soaked my floor! On one of the dry days i completely removed all of that... inner fender well, fake air intake covers, cowl where the wipers are... all of it. You cant get to the location from the outside. The actual drain location is concealed by a bunch of metal like NJ said. Once I had all of that removed I poured water down the drain near the sunroof (drivers side) and it just leaked down through all that metal like a little maze! couldnt see where it actually came from. I wish i would have taken some pics but i didnt think about it.
If you look up under the dash you can see where the drain tube connects to the firewall. I pushed on it a few times (towards the front of the vehicle) to make sure it was completely seated. (i will try to take a pic of it and post it later if anyone cant find it.)
as it has been said MANY times before, i like the sunroof but it is a big pain when it (or the drain tubes) leaks!

 

I finally could not take the wet carpets anymore and decided to attempt the modifications. I can tell you they definitely seemed to work. My front and rear passenger side sunroof drains were clogged. My hands are alittle scratched up, but aother than that not too difficult. I removed the plugs from the firewall and drilled out the plugs. Thanks for this good forum of information.

 

Hey everyone, I want to thank all of you guys on here that have taken the time to write about your situation with this annoying water leak. Just want to throw in my own experience on my fix, after a week of rain and a lake inside my passenger side i decided to blew out the drains with compressed air. Unfortunately they were to clogged that they ended up disconnecting from the top and firewall side. I started to take the cowl, fender well , and part of the dash off. My main problem was the passenger side other sides were OK. Once i started to take part of the dash off i decided to try and find the connecting end on the firewall side had a hard time finding its location. if you take the plastic off the side and expose the inside of the dash there is a metal bar that helps holds the dash together. Its a tight squeeze but if you put your hand behind that and feel around you'll find the placement on the firewall where the end of the drain hose connects too. took a hose with a 90'' angle plastic end and blew it completely out with compress air until i heard it blow out without a problem. Put the drain hose back into the firewall, poured water through the top and flowed out like magic by the fender. Put everything back together and cant wait for it to rain now!! Thanks you guys for your post and hope mine comes in handy.

 

Its all Greek to me. I attempted my own fix as well. Called the dealer, they wanted 8-10 hrs of labor at $100 an hour to do it. Im not mechanically inclined so me and my buddy tried it. The dealer said the drains were under the cowel...so we removed the cowel, wipers, hood, and couldnt find it. Should have read this thread and pulled the dash instead. After reading this thread, I still have no clue how to fix it. If someone wants to take pictures and do a step-by-step instructions "for dummies", I would appreciate it. mkhicks@coventryct.org is my email. Otherwise, Ill try it myself. lol.

Also, I have State Farm for insurance and since the carpets got soaked and water was also leaking out of my Onstar microphone, they are going to give me money for repairs. Hopefully it will be $1000, then I will just have the dealer do it. lol.

Mike

 

I used a piece of trimmer line, worked it in and our of each hole, while pouring soapy water into the hole, took some time but I gotem cleared out. My "grass gator zip line pro" trimmer line is only.105, I will get some thicker line for next time. The front drains run through the firewall under the dash, drivers side is up behind the tach, passenger side is behind the right side dash cover that pops out.

 

One question...

I understand the drains getting clogged and all...but where the hell is the water coming in? I have like a gallon everytime it rains...pours all over my lap...weather stripping looks good...where does the water get in usually????