I have a situation with my F-250 SD. My panoramic sun roof has decided to leak. I noticed water dripping from the hand holds on the pillars, as well as a puddle on the floor mats after a heavy rain.

I took it and had all of the seals worked on. Well, a month or so later, it's happening again. I have not opened or used the sun roof in that time.

I will be taking it back to the dealer for warranty service, but I wanted to know if anyone on this list has had a similar experience?

 

Have you checked the drains, to be sure they are clear?
It seems that all sunroofs leak, so there is a gutter and drain assembly in the roof, so you don't see the leak.
Sometimes those drains get clogged, and then you get a leak inside the vehicle.
I can tell you from experience that if you park under trees it will happen more often, but I cannot tell you why.

 

Thanks for that. I will make sure to check them.

 

happens on my Tauras occasionally. In each corner of the fronts there is a drain. those are the ones that will have the issue.

they are either slow or clogged. Take a cup of water and open the sunroof and pour the water in the drain area and watch it. Use a flashlight.

there are drains in the rear too but those don't clog.

 

This is 100% spot-on. FWIW I've found that using the heavy line for a weed-eater as an unclogging tool works well.

 

On my brother's truck we found that the drain line was clogged in the very bottom 4 inches, which happened to be behind the driver side kick panel. Once we cleared that clog water gushed out and his leaks stopped. I guess over time leaves and debris can crumble and fall down in there and make a mess.

 

This is a fairly common issue. My 2015 F150 leaked when the gutter would freeze, then start to thaw or during very heavy rains while parked. My dad’s 2018 F150 leaked due to a clogged gutter drain line and he found a crack in the joint between the roof and pillar.

I ordered my new F350 without the moonroof as I was worried it was an ongoing issue.

 

This is exactly what I needed! Aside from the fact that I paid a small fortune to have the seals replaced, I want to be able to service it myself. Now I know how!

Thanks to the crew here for schooling me!

 

I’d pull the corner of the headliner and make sure the tubes are still attached to the drain on the frame. One of mine had fallen completely off and created the exact issue you’re having. I cinched it (lightly) with a zip tie and it’s been fine since. Worth checking especially if the assembly has been worked on recently. If you run the trimmer line as suggested and it doesn’t come out behind your front wheel well then you have a problem. Dropping the corner of the headliner is easy to do.

 

I’ve had to do this too. Not on a SD, but it was a Ford. Both sides had pulled loose. Once fixed, I never had another problem. I discovered it by trying the weed-whacker line trick, and when 10-ft of line never made its way out of the end of the tube, I figured something was wrong. I added the “clear sunroof drains” to my annual Fall maintenance list for that rig. It sat outside all year.

 

Thanks I will do this for sure!

 

Some many years ago I had to replace the sunroof drive mechanism on my 2008 F350. Pulling down the headliner I found the rear drivers side drain tube had been bent back and stuffed along side the sunroof drain. Had truck many years and had never seen water inside the back end of the cab. We do live in a rather dry section of the state.

 

I had a recent issue with 18 350. The rails that operate the sunroof broke and needed replacement . This was the second time they needed replacement but on this occasion they decided to replace the entire sunroof frame a 3k repair vs 500 bucks. No big deal warranty covered the repair.

the truck was in the shop 4 times for this second incident when I fist picked it up they must not have tightened all the screws and the and the sunroof rattled. So second trip they fix the rattle. I noticed a small gap between the two sunroof panes (daylight between the seals) they told me the drains would take care of that. I further examined the panes again and noticed where the gap was the windows were not even close to being flush on the top outside. So on the final visit after their and my research we found those panes have some adjustments available.

they need to adjust the panes to be flushed and seal. The drains are for the recess not to prevent leaking from an improper fitting sunroof panes.

insist they adjust. Ask them to compare the flush look and sealing of any f series truck and they will see there is no gap, no daylight properly flushed and seals.

I use mine everyday and they don’t all leak. Don’t settle for poor quality technicians and unacceptable answers because they think owners don’t know any better.

my 2 cents.

 

Well said. My 2015 and now my current truck have been fine. When I first got this truck it leaked on the passenger side. I dropped the headliner, pulled the drain tube loose and ran the weed eater line down it. When it got to the last foot or so I had to ram it back and forth until it dislodged the blockage. Stupid design, IMHO. I'm also curious why the rear drain tubes never seem to clog up? I kind of wonder if it has to do with airflow, over the end of the tubes, causing a vacuum that constantly clears the tubes when driving? I've never looked at how the rear are routed as opposed to how the fronts drop down behind the wheel wells.