Dreaded clogged sunroof drain, need help with cleaning...

[NTX_Mazda]

1st let me say this site has been a gold mine of information and pushed be to get back into turning wrenches. So thanks for all of the info.


Update: woke up this AM and poured water on the sunroof lip. The right side was draining but I fished some trimmer line down the drain and the flow went up dramatically. Given all the rain we've had i'd say this was the problem. Just odd it doesn't leave water marks on the roof liner.


So New questions:
Best way to get the smell out?
with the carpet out would it be best just to buy a new one?
in the 1st picture that insulation is soaked but to remove it I'd have to pull the dash. What's the best way to clean that? Clorox spray, vinegar and water other ideas?

Original Post:

Recently purchased a cx5 and it smelled a bit musty had it detailed but that didn't help.

The car needs suspension work so while I was waiting for the parts from Rockauto, it's been parked in the drive way. My daughter noticed today it had condensation on the inside on the windshield and I noticed the read passenger carpet was absolutely soaked. The car has been parked on an incline so I can's say for sure if the wet carpet in the read is due to infiltration in the rear or it migrated back there because the car was parked at an angle. I hadn't noticed any water or wet carpets when I bought it and I had it inspected at a local mechanic shop. The AC is draining well and was draining when it was inspected.

There are no water marks on the head liner so it doesn't appear to the be the sunroof.

The water smells awful but not like coolant. I may have the wife hose the car down while I sit inside of it. But before I do that I'd thought I'd ask for some ideas on where the water could be coming from.

The water started several inched from the bottom of the white insulation in the 1st pic, which was saturated, I could wring water out of it. The water went all the way to the back seat foot well and deep enough that water dripped off the carpet when I pulled it from the car.

 

[yrwei52]

Yeh sunroof drain leak is annoying and sometimes it’s hard to locate the problem area and fix it. Luckily my 2016 Mazda CX-5 and my 2000 BMW 528i both with sunroof haven’t showed any sign of leaks from sunroof drains. But I’d been dealing with the same problem like you on my previous 2001.5 VW Passat GLX. It’s a very common problem on Passat and the problem on the sunroof drains aren’t just clogged, but the drain tubes get disconnected from the rubber drain valves going to the outside. There wasn’t any wet spots on the roof liner which we usually see when the sunroof drain clogged, but there was a 2 ~ 3” deep of water found on the cabin floor (from front drains) and trunk (from rear drains). At the time I didn’t pull the cabin carpet out (too much work) but only left the doors open and let the sun burn the moisture out after I sucked as much water as I could. With the help of all kind of air fresheners the smell eventually went down to minimum. Of course I got rid of the Passat pretty fast due to the oil burning issue and the problem is no longer mine.

In your case you need to verify if the leak is caused by clogged sunroof drains (you should see some wet spots somewhere on the roof liner as the water overflowed from the sunroof channels on the roof top), or it’s caused by ant disconnections on the drain tubes. You can use 75Ω coaxial cable or something similar or use compressed air to unclog the drain. But the rear drains are difficult to reach. You may also want to trace the drain tubes down to the drain valves going to the outside making sure there’s no disconnections along the way. Good luck.

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

I'd be careful what you do on the top because you might just end up popping the drain hoses of at the top. I'd use small weed-eater line myself. I won't use compressed air on mine as I seen that can blow off the lines on my Infiniti and Lexus.

I've dealt with clogged drain in my G35 but worked around the design deficiencies in the Nissan design and tied it into the large drain for the HVAC as it exits the car.

Also the drain line from age finally came off one side so ordered new hoses from Japan as some parts for my nearly 18 year old V36 G35x are starting to get harder to obtain stateside

 

[NTX_Mazda]

I went back to double check my theory while the carpet dries out. The front drain works fine. I pulled the headliner back a bit and checked the rear drain it is still attached but I also dumped some water towards the back of the sun roof.


Water pours out of the drain under the rear bumper if I dump water on the blue X. However if I dump water on the red arrow water runs out the back of the sunroof frame down the headliner and gets to the floorboard via the B and C pillars. I'm not sure that is the best place to dump water or if I'm pouring water someplace it should never get too, but before I put it all back together I wanted to give it a shot.

Here is the right rear sunroof drain it's attached and not clogged, however as i said above if I pour water into the red arrow water will drain to the other side of the plastic the drain is attached to. It's possible the sunroof is leaking but I had the wife hose down the car Friday night with me in it and zero water came in. It's supposed to rain tomorrow night so we'll see if I have water in the car Tuesday morning.

Lastly this white piece in the picture below stinks , it dried out and I hosed it down with bleach and it still smells rotten. I'm considering cutting it about 6-8" from the bottom and using interior tape to replace but I can't seem to find this material online. Does anyone know where it can be found or what exactly to search for? Ive tried firewall noise absorption or interior firewall insulation but I haven't come up with anything close to what this stuff is.

 

[Martyd]

Something to try. Woolite foam carpet cleaer. It has its own scent but after it fades the oder may be gone.

 

[GFrosty]

Lastly this white piece in the picture below stinks , it dried out and I hosed it down with bleach and it still smells rotten ... Does anyone know where it can be found or what exactly to search for? Ive tried firewall noise absorption or interior firewall insulation but I haven't come up with anything close to what this stuff is.

View attachment 328971

Perhaps search for "carpet underlayment" (for homes). Uncertain if it's a similar material, though there is a great range of materials and types for such stuff, including antimicrobial and antifungal types.

 

[NTX_Mazda]

All thanks for the help, I ended up drying everything out. The only items replaced was the white padding glued to the bottom of passenger side. I never could get the musty smell out of the white batting looking material.

A fabric shop cautioned me about using standard padding or batting as auto applications are usually treated to be heat resistant. So I ordered some auto carpet padding and doubled up on it since the OEM was 1/2".

The white material shown above under the dash finally dried out and had no smell after spraying with some diluted 30% vinegar.

 

[CycleChris]

I went back to double check my theory while the carpet dries out. The front drain works fine. I pulled the headliner back a bit and checked the rear drain it is still attached but I also dumped some water towards the back of the sun roof.


Water pours out of the drain under the rear bumper if I dump water on the blue X. However if I dump water on the red arrow water runs out the back of the sunroof frame down the headliner and gets to the floorboard via the B and C pillars. I'm not sure that is the best place to dump water or if I'm pouring water someplace it should never get too, but before I put it all back together I wanted to give it a shot.
View attachment 328969

Here is the right rear sunroof drain it's attached and not clogged, however as i said above if I pour water into the red arrow water will drain to the other side of the plastic the drain is attached to. It's possible the sunroof is leaking but I had the wife hose down the car Friday night with me in it and zero water came in. It's supposed to rain tomorrow night so we'll see if I have water in the car Tuesday morning.

View attachment 328970

Lastly this white piece in the picture below stinks , it dried out and I hosed it down with bleach and it still smells rotten. I'm considering cutting it about 6-8" from the bottom and using interior tape to replace but I can't seem to find this material online. Does anyone know where it can be found or what exactly to search for? Ive tried firewall noise absorption or interior firewall insulation but I haven't come up with anything close to what this stuff is.

View attachment 328971

I just installed sound deading material in the cargo area and doors, the amazon basics sound deading is a rubber-based material and works better than the stock stuff, is lighter and won't absorb water.

 

[NTX_Mazda]

I just installed sound deading material in the cargo area and doors, the amazon basics sound deading is a rubber-based material and works better than the stock stuff, is lighter and won't absorb water.

Since I had the carpet out I went ahead and layered https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned) on the floorboards all the way to the backseats. I'm going to do the cargo area when it cools off as I have a good bit left over.