Sunroof drain cleaning: prevent leaks and costly fixes
How to clean sunroof drains and stop water in the cabin
Sunroof drain cleaning: prevent leaks and costly fixes
Learn how to clean sunroof drains, prevent leaks, and avoid expensive electrical damage. Simple yearly maintenance tips to keep water flowing and your cabin dry.
2025-09-01T14:48:53+03:00
2025-09-01T14:48:53+03:00
2025-09-01T14:48:53+03:00
A sunroof lends a sense of comfort and brings more light into the cabin, but it does ask for attention. Its drain channels gradually clog with dirt and leaves. Once water stops exiting beneath the car, it seeps inside, leaving a damp headliner, ruined trim, and sometimes even electrical hiccups. A mechanic told Tarantas News that regular drain cleaning helps avoid expensive repairs.By design, a sunroof isn’t fully sealed, so water is guided into four channels—two at the front and two at the rear. If they’re blocked, it finds detours and ends up in the cabin. Preventing that is simple: once a year, clear out debris with a brush or vacuum, wipe the channels with a microfiber cloth, and treat the seals with a silicone lubricant. Checking the result is easy: pour a little water into the gutter—if it runs out under the car, everything is in order.For stubborn clogs, a length of trimmer line can carefully clear the tubes inside the pillars. The process takes only a few minutes but heads off serious trouble.Sunroof care is one of those tasks where a bit of prevention costs far less than the fallout. A clogged drain often floods the control unit under the seat, and owners end up spending more than 100,000 rubles on repairs. Spending a couple of minutes in spring and autumn is far wiser than drying out the cabin and replacing electronics later.
sunroof drain cleaning, sunroof maintenance, prevent leaks, clogged sunroof drains, water in cabin, silicone lubricant, trimmer line, car sunroof care, drain channels, electrical damage
2025
Michael Powers
news
How to clean sunroof drains and stop water in the cabin
Learn how to clean sunroof drains, prevent leaks, and avoid expensive electrical damage. Simple yearly maintenance tips to keep water flowing and your cabin dry.
Michael Powers, Editor
A sunroof lends a sense of comfort and brings more light into the cabin, but it does ask for attention. Its drain channels gradually clog with dirt and leaves. Once water stops exiting beneath the car, it seeps inside, leaving a damp headliner, ruined trim, and sometimes even electrical hiccups. A mechanic told Tarantas News that regular drain cleaning helps avoid expensive repairs.
By design, a sunroof isn’t fully sealed, so water is guided into four channels—two at the front and two at the rear. If they’re blocked, it finds detours and ends up in the cabin. Preventing that is simple: once a year, clear out debris with a brush or vacuum, wipe the channels with a microfiber cloth, and treat the seals with a silicone lubricant. Checking the result is easy: pour a little water into the gutter—if it runs out under the car, everything is in order.
For stubborn clogs, a length of trimmer line can carefully clear the tubes inside the pillars. The process takes only a few minutes but heads off serious trouble.
Sunroof care is one of those tasks where a bit of prevention costs far less than the fallout. A clogged drain often floods the control unit under the seat, and owners end up spending more than 100,000 rubles on repairs. Spending a couple of minutes in spring and autumn is far wiser than drying out the cabin and replacing electronics later.
