Hello all. I purchased my 2002 X-Type 2 years ago, and have noticed a wet spot on the driver's side post at the top. Every time it rains this area gets wet.
It eventually dries, but my headliner is beginning to discolor. Any thoughts as to what might be causing it? Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,
Mark

 

Do you have a sunroof? I think they have a drain that runs down there.

 

Mark, you have a drain line in each of the corners of the sunroof. If the drain lines become clogged, the sunroof will overflow and it will run into the inside of the car and if you park such that the corner in question is the low point, that is where the water will enter. Keep in mind that the sunroof is not really sealed like one would think. Yes, the glass rests on a rubber seal, but it is not seated against the rubber seal.

What you can try is opening the sunroof and using a 2 quart pitcher, pour a little bit of water into the area where water would drain if it was leaking around the glass of the sunroof (this is not a true seal, but merely something to prevent wind noise, the actual seal is more towards the center of the opening and is visable with the sunroof open). Pour in the water and see if it is draining out. If you find that it is draining slowly, you may have blockages in the drains. I have found that a can of compressed air with some masking tape around the straw to build it up to fit into the drain tube opening works wonders in clearing blockages. You have 4 drain points (one in each corner) with the 2 front drains running down the A-pillars and the rear drains run to the C-pillars. Once you start pouring water into the drains, you will see where the water will drain out by the tires. You should get a nice stream if you pour the water at a decent rate. If you are getting just a little dribble out the drain tube, then it is mostly blocked and that is leading to your problem.

With all this being said, it is possible that if you have had headliner work done, that the tubes got bumped and now they are not making as good of a seal as they should and now you are getting some leakage into the inside of the car. Unfortunately, about the only way that you will determine this is to pull the headliner down. THe compressed air trick for clearing the line may also show the problem as you should hear the air escaping as you are clearing the line. But, this is where a second set of ears may be handy so you can have one person with the can and the other listening for the air leakage.

 

Good advice by Thermo , however be careful using compressed air . A friend had a similar problem and the garage used an airline to clear the drains, the air pressure blew the rubber pipes of the short metal drain tubes.I use a flexible wire to gently push through the drains. In the UK we use a flexible plastic covered wire for hanging net curtains up at windows , it is about 1/8th inch in diameter and flexible , this works a treat .

 

Regarding clearing the vent tubes - I've previously used plastic edge trimmer line. It's rigid enough to push through any obstacles, and will not scratch any paint it comes into contact with.

Rgds

Rob

 

X2 on the edge trimmer line, it works great for cleaning out sunroof drains. I'd try that first. Many times two minutes spent pushing the edge trimmer line into the drain tubes with the sunroof open will fix it.

If that doesn't work it's probably the hose that connects the drain line to the sunroof itself has split or shrunk from the heat and the only way to fix it is to take the headliner down so you can get at it.

 

Davidsw, that is why I talk about using the can compressed air. The pressures that it can generate are fairly small and within the limits of the tubing unless the tubing was already degraded. If you are using the pressure output of a standard air compressor, then yes, you can exceed what the tubing/fittings can handle.