I own a 2014 Rav 4 limited and the sunroof has leaked for the second time. Water stain on headliner soaked rear seat and carpet of the passenger side.. SO.. I removed the two rear seats, trim pieces and got the carpet folded forward as much as possible. Then out came the wet vac and fans to dry things out. This all took a couple days to get rid of the musty smell. I should add that I was able to get the water stain out of the headliner using a Dupray steam cleaner with distilled water and microfiber towels. I opened the interior sliding cover for the sunroof and had my wife run some water from the hose. Bad leak visible in the right rear corner.
(I found out later this was due to dirt, pollen, and debris from trees causing the sunroof to not seal adequately, thus causing the leak and a drain tube to become partially plugged. All this came out later...)
At this point I called the dealership and they explained they do not repair leaking sunroofs and wanted to refer me to an outside subcontractor. I told them I wanted Toyota to fix it and they refused. I contacted Toyota USA and registered a complaint. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ANYONE WITH A LEAKING SUNROOF TO DO THIS.. It could make a difference and force a recall someday, you never know. Anyway Toyota USA just wanted to send me to another dealership which I could simply do on my own. So I called several and none of them were very interested in my issue, telling me to call a collision repair shop was a popular comment from them.
At this point I decided to call back the original dealership and demand some real answers. I got a service manger named Brian, apparently they have lots of service managers. I managed to obtain the name of the company that they had sent me to two years ago when it leaked the first time. This proved to be really helpful in the end. I asked Brian why Toyota and the dealership he worked for would not fix the leak? He did not like my question and got rather testy at this point. I pressed on and then he came out with this little gem and I quote. "Sunroofs are designed to leak." I thought WTF did he just say? I realized at this point I was just getting the run around and had wasted enough time and money with this dealership. I had done business with them since 1998. Bye Bye to them!
My next step was to clean the sunroof as much as possible myself which I did. Then I called the company that had repaired it two years ago. He showed up this morning and opened up the sunroof. He used a pump sprayer to force water down the drain tubes, The front tubes were completely clear as was the drivers side tube in the rear. The passenger side was draining very slowly if at all which turned out to be the reason for the flooding into the interior. Using compressed air and water he got it clear and was satisfied it was draining properly. He then went around the entire sunroof gasket to make certain it was clean and then applied dielectric grease and said he was done. Assuring me it would not leak as long as it remained clean and greased occasionally.
The upshot of all this is the dealership could very easily do everything this guy did, it only took him 30 minutes at best.. Hell I can do everything the guy did and plan on doing so annually going forward...
So why did the dealerships not want to touch this issue?? I can only think of one thing... Liability to the possibility of mold growing inside the vehicle after it getting wet.. Hope this helps others going forward, its a PITA getting your car dried out after it gets wet!!!
(I found out later this was due to dirt, pollen, and debris from trees causing the sunroof to not seal adequately, thus causing the leak and a drain tube to become partially plugged. All this came out later...)
At this point I called the dealership and they explained they do not repair leaking sunroofs and wanted to refer me to an outside subcontractor. I told them I wanted Toyota to fix it and they refused. I contacted Toyota USA and registered a complaint. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ANYONE WITH A LEAKING SUNROOF TO DO THIS.. It could make a difference and force a recall someday, you never know. Anyway Toyota USA just wanted to send me to another dealership which I could simply do on my own. So I called several and none of them were very interested in my issue, telling me to call a collision repair shop was a popular comment from them.
At this point I decided to call back the original dealership and demand some real answers. I got a service manger named Brian, apparently they have lots of service managers. I managed to obtain the name of the company that they had sent me to two years ago when it leaked the first time. This proved to be really helpful in the end. I asked Brian why Toyota and the dealership he worked for would not fix the leak? He did not like my question and got rather testy at this point. I pressed on and then he came out with this little gem and I quote. "Sunroofs are designed to leak." I thought WTF did he just say? I realized at this point I was just getting the run around and had wasted enough time and money with this dealership. I had done business with them since 1998. Bye Bye to them!
My next step was to clean the sunroof as much as possible myself which I did. Then I called the company that had repaired it two years ago. He showed up this morning and opened up the sunroof. He used a pump sprayer to force water down the drain tubes, The front tubes were completely clear as was the drivers side tube in the rear. The passenger side was draining very slowly if at all which turned out to be the reason for the flooding into the interior. Using compressed air and water he got it clear and was satisfied it was draining properly. He then went around the entire sunroof gasket to make certain it was clean and then applied dielectric grease and said he was done. Assuring me it would not leak as long as it remained clean and greased occasionally.
The upshot of all this is the dealership could very easily do everything this guy did, it only took him 30 minutes at best.. Hell I can do everything the guy did and plan on doing so annually going forward...
So why did the dealerships not want to touch this issue?? I can only think of one thing... Liability to the possibility of mold growing inside the vehicle after it getting wet.. Hope this helps others going forward, its a PITA getting your car dried out after it gets wet!!!
