Leaking Sunroof

[dmorriso]

My sun roof leaked in to my headliner during a particularly bad FL storm.  I think a few things lead to this:

• I park my truck backward on my sloped driveway, with the front downhill
• After almost 50K miles, the sunroof seal had a lot of dirt on it
• The sunroof is designed to leak some amount (that is why there is a drain in each corner), BUT the center front of the drain channel is very shallow.

As best as I can tell, the water overwhelmed the center of the channel, drained down toward the center control panel, and then ran across the headliner and finally exited where it meets the A-Pillar grab handle.

 

I cleaned the sunroof seal with Extang Tonneau Tonic, and the body surface with Adams Detail Spray.  I'm hoping cleaning all the surfaces will allow for a better seal, but long term the solution might be not to park facing downhill (or to modify the front channel to have higher sides in the middle.

 

I was unable to find any good information on drain locations (I initially assume the drain was clogged), so I posted some pictures and descriptions here: 

 

 

[BIGF46]

I have owned my 20' Sierra SLT for 2 yrs and have always noticed some small amounts of water on my driver side rubber mat, I initially thought it was from windy rain making its way through the door seal, but we have had some heavy rains this year that I noticed the water stain on headliner above the driver A-pillar, and noticed the water dripping down behind the dash, near the obd2 port...originally thought the source could be the shark fin antenna, so I partially lowered the headliner and ran a hose over the truck, only to realize the source is the sunroof drain...HAS NO DRAIN TUBE ATTACHED, looked to see if it had disconnected but it is not installed at all, anyone else have this happen?

[BIGF46]

[diyer2]

Are you enjoying that sunroof now? Sorry, couldn't resist. 

[BIGF46]

Sad thing is its only a $7-$8 part…and drips down into a location of the truck that can cause thousands in repair…I have trust issues with dealerships and would attempt to add drain hose myself but can’t seem to find an schematic or diagram showing where the hose routes down to… if anyone has any idea, I would appreciate it.

 

im out of dealer warranty and my extended warranty is iffy about water issues even though I’m pretty sure this is a “manufacture error” I mean its completely missing.

[Silverado4x4]

32 minutes ago, BIGF46 said:

Sad thing is its only a $7-$8 part…and drips down into a location of the truck that can cause thousands in repair…I have trust issues with dealerships and would attempt to add drain hose myself but can’t seem to find an schematic or diagram showing where the hose routes down to… if anyone has any idea, I would appreciate it.

 

im out of dealer warranty and my extended warranty is iffy about water issues even though I’m pretty sure this is a “manufacture error” I mean its completely missing.

@newdude may be able to help you he works at a Chevrolet dealership. 

[UNHAPPY CLIENT]

2021 Chevy Silverado Trail Boss pick up with leaking sunroof. Brought into Banks Chevy dealership in Concord,NH for repair. They had my truck for two full days to say the drains were draining slowly so they unclogged them. They said the rear window was leaking also but after being without the truck for two days we needed it back so held off on doing anything with rear window plus wanted to see if it was really leaking for myself.  Well next rain storm a couple days later my sunroof was leaking worse than ever and water was really dripping from above controls and head liner.  Got the truck back into Banks and kept being told it was being fixed but days were going by and still didnt have truck back. We asked if the sunroof was connected to the rear window drain wise and wanted the rear window fixed whether it was connected or not. John said he would find out and let us know.  A couple more days go by and we call again to find out status.  John tells us the sunroof frame is bent so they are putting in another one so once its in and pressure tested we will have it back in probably a day.  That was on a Friday so may not have time to get it done on Sat because they only work 1/2 day.  On Monday afternoon I call to find out status and am told Frame has not been replaced yet. At this point im loosing my patience after missing work because i dont have a vehicle and tell them we need a car if my truck is still not ready. I had a in depth discussion with Jon why things were taking so long and wanted to know exactly what they were doing with my truck as i was pretty frustrated and this was ridiculous. I asked if all this work this time was guaranteed to fix the leaking both in the sun roof and back window and he said the tech said the frame was the issue and it would be fixed. Picked up loaner car  from Banks on Monday night and then never heard all week anything  more about my truck. FINALLY 8  more days later I get a call apologizing for the delay but my truck is finally ready.  Picked up my truck tonight and reading the receipt which states they replaced frame and a fender that was broke while installing the frame and it was pressure tested after and the sun roof isnt leaking but the rear window still is!!!!  WHAT THE H_LL!!!  Are you kidding me???  They Had my truck for two WEEKS!!  Banks Chevy service dept in Concord,NH is the worst to deal with!  Wondering now what I can do to address the rear window leaking? Are there separate drains that have nothing to do with the sunroof issue?  Looks like we will be getting rain in a few days and i have zero faith that my sunroof if fixed even at this point.  So frustrated. 

[BIGF46]

@Unhappy client check your sunroof drains are actually installed, my 2020 seems to have never had the driver side drain installed at all, when I bought my truck I only had noticed the rear window leak and after some searching decided to do the fix myself to avoid damage to the headliner. 
also read that the fix from the dealer was temporary for many that ended up with leaks again… my fix is rounding 18 months.

[CSilver]

Same issue on my 2021 Silverado.  Leaked not long after purchase and took it in, but just happened again during a recent rainstorm when sitting in the driveway.  We never use the sunroof in TX.  Looks like the rear of the sunroof doesn’t sit flush with the roof and has some give when pressed gently.  Have a stained headliner now and had water in the console after the rain.  In the shop tomorrow so we’ll see what the dealer says.

[Guet]

Have experienced this a lot welcome aboard

[Gm52]

I have the same problem on my 2020 GMC 3500HD . It just started leaking last week. The rear part of headliner was saturated. Haven’t had time to investigate yet , but did order a new seal for glass as it looked worn and partially detatched from the glass. It never has seated right. Always sat up a good 1/4  inch in the front and low un the back. I installed sunroofs in the dodge durangos in newark de plant for a good while and I know that job was overloaded. Is this maybe the culprit . Improper installation? Time study people ruin vehicles . Ill be trading this one in soon . Next one wont have a sunroof and possibly not a gm product as this was only one of many issues. Expensive issues. Steering box , exhaust manifold . Cameras not working properly.and now at all

[GTI631]

Any updates Tech2?

[davester]

...just fyi, Tech2 signed up, made that one post, then never returned to the site, 2 years ago  you aren't going to get a response from that user.