So it was raining the other night when I went to the Rockets game ( Go Rockets ) and I had the sun roof visor opened and noticed that it was leaking slightly in the area where it would tilt up. I have had my headliner replaced before because of leaking causing it to warp. I took it to the dealer the next day and they told me that the plastic molding would not seal 100% of the water out that is why there is a plastic tray to catch the excess drips of water, and that they water tested other GS and it leaked more than mine. I thought it was kinda odd that all the cars I have owned before with sunroofs never drip or leaked water and a 50K Lexus would kinda bad design . So does anyone else have the same problem or is this just me and they are feeding me a bunch of crap?

 

does mine leak when tilted opened? yes. (normal)
does mine leak when closed? never.

 

It should not leak when closed.

 

Are you saying that yours is leaking when completely closed? - Not tilted up, but closed?

If yours is closed and it leaks, then yes they are feeding you a load of crap! - If this is normal for a Lexus? ; it should not even be normal for a Yugo!

 

yes mine leaks when it is closed completly I can see drips from the area it suppose to tilt up and down with the visor open even when I rub my fingers along that seam it will get wet. So you guys are sayin I should bring it back. What would your suggestion be because they told me that that is what that tray is for the one that sits at the back edge.

 

Yup! - Bring it back!

You should not even accept leaks on an American Car! much less a $50K Lexus.

If some Lexus service guy told me that leaks were normal, I would ask to get that in writing. General Motors or Ford would probably jump at the chance to buy it from you!

 

thanks for advice I will update you guys as soon as I can.

 

it SHOULD NOT leak when completely closed. Don't let them give you BS. get it fixed.

 

After the feed back from you guys I think that they could not figure out the problem and am BSing me because my milage is at 26,xxx going on 27,000. They are probably hoping that I won't figure it out till my warranty expires. I will try to bring it back tomorrow and if they tell me its normal I will tell them to put it in writing.

Thanks for all the support.

 

The next time you wash your car can you test the sunroof by taking the hose and spraying it excessively at the area where it tilts up and down and have some one sit inside with the visor open all the way to see if it leaks from the seam?

 

They are built to leak slightly under heavy rain. That is what the tray is for. The tray has a drain pipe that will take water down to the bottom of the car. The leaking and water is supposed to stay up within the roof thickness area and never reach your headliner. Wet headliner is too much leaking or a clogged drain pipe. Your roof may need to be realigned for proper sealing. Look at other GSes and see how high their roof glass sit when closed, if yours sits lower then it needs to be raised to seal all the way. Also check for the glass sitting low on either side, that can cause the water to pool on one side, finding its way inside the roof in amounts the tray cannot take.

 

To be absolutely sure, I am talking about looking on top of the glass from the outside of the vehicle to see how high the glass is resting compared to the sheet metal around it.

 

Yep that's wat I am refering to that it drips into that tray under heavy rain. So that's normal? Man that is a bad design. Why did they design it like that?

 

I don't understand, if its only dripping into the tray under heavy rains, why was your headliner replaced? If any water gets to your headliner, then that is abnormal. The tray is supposed to get wet, and it is a proper design, you will see just about any and all moon roofs out there designed this way. BTW, its a moon roof b/c its made of glass. It cannot be 100% waterproof b/c to do so it would have to seal much harder, like the glass would have to be larger than the opening and raise up under it and seal to the bottom of the opening very hard. This is not done because you have the wonderful ability to tilt the glass up and this would not be possible under this design. Unfortunately the best design, thought of so far at least, is to have a side sealing glass which entails making the opening, glass and seal to very tight tolerances to make the seal as tight as possible while still allowing the back end of the glass to pop up when you tilt. That is why the tray is there, as a system to drain away what gets by the main seal.

 

But under no circumstances (other than I guess the car being submerged into a river) should your headliner get wet because the tray is overflowing or not directing water to underneath the car. Headliner wetness is absolutely abnormal.