2003 accord coupe leak?
- Thread starter matas
- Start date
- Status
Raizinman
Platinum Member
Repairing water leaks is not a perfect science. Best to get a couple friends in the car, go through a car wash and try and identify where the water is coming in. Most likely the sunroof. Once you located the general area try and put some putty behind the molding to raise it a bit.
Open the sunroof.
Look at the the track underneath. There is a channel to catch the water that gets by the seal. See the deflector that pops up when you open the glass? That's the water channel underneath it. The sunroof glass seal isn't supposed to stop all the water...just most of it. What gets by the channel catches.
At the corners, you'll see a hole....that's where the water drains out...there's a tube that goes down each 'A' pillar to the ground. There are also two rear tubes, but they don't get used much unless you park with the nose uphill....the fronts do the majority of the draining.
Anyway, take a bottle of water, and pour it in the channel near the drain hole...enough to cover the hole. See if it drains out, and how fast. Water should come out on the ground behind the front tires.
If the water level barely drops or doesn't drop at all, the tube is clogged up and you need to clear it. You can use compressed air and fix it sometimes.....sometimes you have to take it loose, which would involve dropping the front corner of the headliner to access it. (Not a big deal, but I do this every day)
You didn't say where you actually saw the water coming from, but the sunroof is usually where I start. The windshield or roof seams could also cause this problem.
Very unlikely the door seals could, unless the car is very old.
Get me some specifics on the leak location
Look at the the track underneath. There is a channel to catch the water that gets by the seal. See the deflector that pops up when you open the glass? That's the water channel underneath it. The sunroof glass seal isn't supposed to stop all the water...just most of it. What gets by the channel catches.
At the corners, you'll see a hole....that's where the water drains out...there's a tube that goes down each 'A' pillar to the ground. There are also two rear tubes, but they don't get used much unless you park with the nose uphill....the fronts do the majority of the draining.
Anyway, take a bottle of water, and pour it in the channel near the drain hole...enough to cover the hole. See if it drains out, and how fast. Water should come out on the ground behind the front tires.
If the water level barely drops or doesn't drop at all, the tube is clogged up and you need to clear it. You can use compressed air and fix it sometimes.....sometimes you have to take it loose, which would involve dropping the front corner of the headliner to access it. (Not a big deal, but I do this every day)
You didn't say where you actually saw the water coming from, but the sunroof is usually where I start. The windshield or roof seams could also cause this problem.
Very unlikely the door seals could, unless the car is very old.
Get me some specifics on the leak location
Last edited:
^ PFW knows his stuff, I'd listen to him 
This brings back memories of my old 88 Accord with the abomination sunroof that sucked during rains. Parking on an incline with the engine up = asking for trouble when you reverse...more times than I can remember I'd get absolutely doused with what seemed like a bucket of water. Cold and wet = not fun. Parking on an incline backed in solved the issue. It happened back when the car was on it's last legs, so I didn't worry that much about it, just paid more attn to the weather.
This brings back memories of my old 88 Accord with the abomination sunroof that sucked during rains. Parking on an incline with the engine up = asking for trouble when you reverse...more times than I can remember I'd get absolutely doused with what seemed like a bucket of water. Cold and wet = not fun. Parking on an incline backed in solved the issue. It happened back when the car was on it's last legs, so I didn't worry that much about it, just paid more attn to the weather.
Sounds like the rear sunroof drains were either stopped up or routed improperly.^ PFW knows his stuff, I'd listen to him
This brings back memories of my old 88 Accord with the abomination sunroof that sucked during rains. Parking on an incline with the engine up = asking for trouble when you reverse...more times than I can remember I'd get absolutely doused with what seemed like a bucket of water. Cold and wet = not fun. Parking on an incline backed in solved the issue. It happened back when the car was on it's last legs, so I didn't worry that much about it, just paid more attn to the weather.
Yea the rear drains were stopped up...I did what I could to unclog it for about 10 minutes one weekend...and stopped caring after.
- Aug 8, 2005
- 1,518
- 0
- 0
I'll have to check out the sunroof, when it stops raining. It only leaks when it rains for a long time, hard. When I washed my car before, no water was leaking through. Most of the water is on the driver side, just above the window. But I can see the water marks almost all along the front windshield, on the passengers side too, and the front of the sunroof.
Imported
Lifer
- Sep 2, 2000
- 14,679
- 23
- 81
Not sure why they needed a TSB to find that, but I guess the mechanics at the service departments really aren't that adept at finding/repairing water leaks, since they don't get to do that many.
That TSB is simply saying to check the roof seam, also known some places as the ditch seam for a possible seam skip. Good info for a tech who doesn't do this much.....most of them prefer for the service adviser to call a leak specialist in to do these jobs....which is where I come in.
I'd say that odds are on a car that old this isn't the problem....if that was going to be a problem it'd have already shown up.....typically. It IS, however, one of the things I'd check in my normal course of diagnosing this problem...it most certainly COULD be the problem.
Based on your description earlier, I'd still be leaning towards the sunroof drains....they might not be totally stopped up, but just flowing slow. On an 8 year old car, they have to be at least a little bit restricted with all that's passed through them over the years. Plus, that's a lot easier place to start.
If you wanted to prove it for sure and there was a good rain coming, you could duct tape up the sunroof seal. That's the slow way, but if that's the problem, you'd have the added bonus of the car not getting wet during that storm.
- Aug 8, 2005
- 1,518
- 0
- 0
I poured an entire water bottle by the drains in the sunroof. The water ran down quickly in like 5 seconds. The left drain might be a little clogged because when I tried parking the car on a little slope on one side of the car, it drained a little bit slower, but still I doubt that much water gets there that quickly during rain.
im in the same boat on this subject. my accord has the same problem. when i purchased it used a year ago from dealer i noticed little discoloration on front side curtain air bags near top corner and same on the rear. Never have had any water come in at all and wet anything. the more rain storms it sat in the more discoloration apeared and i noticed it was damp to touch. it is not geting wet under sunroof or the shutter that closes but is starting to get more wet in the corner areas. The top rail seams kinda have a wiper like piece when i looked close at them and not flush to painted metal top of car in all the corners, but i know there is suppose to be sealed on car itself. not sure if its the sunroof clogged or if these railings need to be replaced, or how to remove these peices. Any advice is appreciated.
- Status
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 24K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 21K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter