Sunroof expertise

[paul]

Every time it rains heavily I get a wet interior,I belive that the front drain line is blocked or possiblly has got a hole in it!
I have tried to unblock with an old sunroof cable from below and get right up to where the kink is that then connects to the plastic access from inside is difficult and i can only get down about 1 inch.
What is the best 'unblocker ' to use.
Do you have a picture of the pipe at the top so i can understand whats stopping it being rodded.
Is surgery the only option???
cheers Paul

 

[BigG]

Had the exact same problem, trouble is the plastic pipe that goes from the channel to the metal pipe in the body work sits in the metal pipe loosely, this part of the metal pipe has a right angle making it very dificult to clean with a piece of wire, a jet of water or air only blows the muck into the space behind your headlining. The biggest problem is that the hole in this right angle bit is very small trapping muck and water and causing the pipe to corrode, I tried to clean this with a bit of wire coat hanger and it went through the pipe, In the end I ran a plastic hose all the way to the back drains and joined them together so it drains out the back, mine being a crossover has the drains in the middle which i have blocked off until I can do the whole job properly. If you can get behind your headliner, take out the plastic pipes and clean them out then try blowing the metal pipes out carefully or pickin any muck out gently, this may save you making the same mistake I did. Try thesamba.com type in sunroof in the baywindow section there is some good info and pics on there.

 

[paul]

Thanks wibbler
I have the headlining down and have had the plastic pipe off-its exactly how you describe it access to the next part seems impossible Ive tried coathangers and reverse flushing all to no avail-some water goes down the tube but in heavy rain like today it overflows!!
I'll try samba for more ideas
regards Paul

 

[BigG]

Seems to be a common problem, what year is your van? mine has six drain holes and some have four. My middle drain holes dont seem to come out anywhere, I think someone has paneled over the holes and plugged the middle drain holes with silicone. What a lot of owners seem to do in the states where the sunroofs are more common is rig up some kind of seal around the opening to slow down the entry of water.