Ty man I watched alot of vids especially the one about pouring draino in and then ran across your vid. It actually worked just to make sure I ran water from hose and it all drains 😊
WORKED!! A round punch spread the seams. Appears to me there are 3 layers of steel spot-welded there, and I widened the inner 2. Soon a rapid drip of water started, and it ran downhill on my driveway. Now I feel I wasted 11 minutes of my time watching the video of that Drano guy with his endoscope. Thanks Mr. Jacobsen.
2008 Highlander Sport here, and the driver's floor carpet has been wet after rain for years. This was originally my wife's first SUV, and It's been my kid's college car 3 states away for 4 years now, so there just hasn't been the time to tackle this. Until now, as he's graduated and living back home. The 'Lander has 252,000 miles now, and I'm doing a bunch of work on it to catch up on a back log of needs. Regarding this sunroof drain leak, I've seen all the other videos - Draino, pulling out the drain tube and re-routing it etc. So today I pulled off the sill & lower A-pillar trim and pulled back the carpet. I was shocked at the amount of rust flaking off in the pool of water at the lowest spot on the floor below the driver's thighs. Pulled that drain plug and watched what seemed like half a gallon of water drain out. I had to keep squeezing the sound deadening bonded to the bottom of the carpet and more water kept coming out. I knew there had to be someone on UA-cam talking about the stupid weep holes (thanks Toyota) and here you are! I initially used my air compressor to blast air down the drain hose from the sunroof gutter, and I could tell the drain was clear of obstructions. I then poured some Draino and hot water down the drain hose, and let that sit for a while as I went inside to eat something, That was when I discovered this video. I went back out, blasted air down the drain again and bubbles oozed out of the openings in the A-pillar framing around the wire harnesses there. I then crawled under the rocker panel and started to hammer away at the pinch welded seam where you suggested, and water had already started to seep out there. I actually broke the tip off my punch after I lodged it too deeply in the welded area. I think it hasn't helped that over the years my use of the factory jack to work on the car, as well as garages using those jack points as a place to set the hydraulic lift arms, has done some damage to the fragile folded and welded sheet metal that makes up the rocker panels. On several occasions I've used vice grip pliers to straighten those bent rocker panel flanges, and it's possible I crushed one or two of the factory drip holes and caused constriction, exacerbating an already poor design.
@@markjacobsen2621 Exactly! I'm shocked (but not really, after all the ridiculous crap I've run into with the design and engineering of this vehicle over the past 16 years from seemingly "flawless" Toyota. I could write a book...) that this design/technique by Toyota was used year after year... yet history has proven this is a crap method of draining the sunroof. I'm certain it has to do with aerodynamic suction, siphoning any caught rainwater through those rocker panel pinch weld weeps while the car is moving. I've figured they don't just simply hang the hose out of a firewall grommet as it might cause air to push into the drain hose and cause noise issues while on the highway. Even that theory doesn't "hold water" (snicker) as the HVAC condensate drain does exactly that - hangs out of the firewall. But my 2nd car in my youth (*sigh*), a 1986 Mazda 626 GT Turbo "Touring Sedan" (5 door hatchback) had this same issue, and it came down to me using a pipe cleaner to clear the weep drains. I had water filling the entire rocker panel on the passenger side, sloshing around as I drove. I discovered the problem after trying to decipher why there was water pooling in my rear seat footwell. Pulled apart the sill and pillar trim panels, and discovered that there was a little tab of the carpeting that was pushed into the cavity of the B-pillar below the seatbelt retractor. This was an upper chamber of the rocker panel where the sunroof drain emptied into near the front tire. The weeps had clogged and that entire rocker panel chamber filled with water, and when it reached that tab of carpet it wicked into the floor under the passenger seat, filling the footwell for the rear seat passenger. What a pain in the balls that was. I was a college student who didn't need that level of crap in my life. I'll never forget working on my car on the sidewalk in front of my apartment in East Boston, MA, always having to lock my tools in my car just to take a pee or snack break. 😜 OK I've said more than enough.
@@markjacobsen2621 One more thing, no doubt this hammering and pick activity will wake up a new opportunity for rust, but I can't care about that. There's already plenty of rust on the rear underside of the rocker panels and now the floor below the driver's feet from all this, and I'll be selling this thing soon anyway. I can't be losing sleep over that.
Mark - this was great advice. It took me about 5 minutes total to crack the two seams, then pull up the carpet on both sides and remove the two drain plugs. TONS of water drained out. Thank you very much for a simple solution!!
I was looking under my 2012 Highlander trying to find the drain point . Why Toyota designed it this way is stupidity. At least bring the tube out the floor board . Thanks for the video I will be prying the pinch welds apart !
Thanks Mark. I think this is the best solution without opening paneling inside the car. Toyota dealerships are useless all they do is clean the hoses. But when I tried telling them the drainage compartment needed to be cleaned and drained it was like deer in headlights.
Ty man I watched alot of vids especially the one about pouring draino in and then ran across your vid. It actually worked just to make sure I ran water from hose and it all drains 😊
WORKED!! A round punch spread the seams. Appears to me there are 3 layers of steel spot-welded there, and I widened the inner 2. Soon a rapid drip of water started, and it ran downhill on my driveway. Now I feel I wasted 11 minutes of my time watching the video of that Drano guy with his endoscope. Thanks Mr. Jacobsen.
2008 Highlander Sport here, and the driver's floor carpet has been wet after rain for years. This was originally my wife's first SUV, and It's been my kid's college car 3 states away for 4 years now, so there just hasn't been the time to tackle this. Until now, as he's graduated and living back home. The 'Lander has 252,000 miles now, and I'm doing a bunch of work on it to catch up on a back log of needs. Regarding this sunroof drain leak, I've seen all the other videos - Draino, pulling out the drain tube and re-routing it etc. So today I pulled off the sill & lower A-pillar trim and pulled back the carpet. I was shocked at the amount of rust flaking off in the pool of water at the lowest spot on the floor below the driver's thighs. Pulled that drain plug and watched what seemed like half a gallon of water drain out. I had to keep squeezing the sound deadening bonded to the bottom of the carpet and more water kept coming out. I knew there had to be someone on UA-cam talking about the stupid weep holes (thanks Toyota) and here you are! I initially used my air compressor to blast air down the drain hose from the sunroof gutter, and I could tell the drain was clear of obstructions. I then poured some Draino and hot water down the drain hose, and let that sit for a while as I went inside to eat something, That was when I discovered this video. I went back out, blasted air down the drain again and bubbles oozed out of the openings in the A-pillar framing around the wire harnesses there. I then crawled under the rocker panel and started to hammer away at the pinch welded seam where you suggested, and water had already started to seep out there. I actually broke the tip off my punch after I lodged it too deeply in the welded area. I think it hasn't helped that over the years my use of the factory jack to work on the car, as well as garages using those jack points as a place to set the hydraulic lift arms, has done some damage to the fragile folded and welded sheet metal that makes up the rocker panels. On several occasions I've used vice grip pliers to straighten those bent rocker panel flanges, and it's possible I crushed one or two of the factory drip holes and caused constriction, exacerbating an already poor design.
I agree that its use as a lift point probably closes up the drainage. Opening it back up reestablishes the rather unimpressive drain capability.
@@markjacobsen2621 Exactly! I'm shocked (but not really, after all the ridiculous crap I've run into with the design and engineering of this vehicle over the past 16 years from seemingly "flawless" Toyota. I could write a book...) that this design/technique by Toyota was used year after year... yet history has proven this is a crap method of draining the sunroof. I'm certain it has to do with aerodynamic suction, siphoning any caught rainwater through those rocker panel pinch weld weeps while the car is moving. I've figured they don't just simply hang the hose out of a firewall grommet as it might cause air to push into the drain hose and cause noise issues while on the highway. Even that theory doesn't "hold water" (snicker) as the HVAC condensate drain does exactly that - hangs out of the firewall. But my 2nd car in my youth (*sigh*), a 1986 Mazda 626 GT Turbo "Touring Sedan" (5 door hatchback) had this same issue, and it came down to me using a pipe cleaner to clear the weep drains. I had water filling the entire rocker panel on the passenger side, sloshing around as I drove. I discovered the problem after trying to decipher why there was water pooling in my rear seat footwell. Pulled apart the sill and pillar trim panels, and discovered that there was a little tab of the carpeting that was pushed into the cavity of the B-pillar below the seatbelt retractor. This was an upper chamber of the rocker panel where the sunroof drain emptied into near the front tire. The weeps had clogged and that entire rocker panel chamber filled with water, and when it reached that tab of carpet it wicked into the floor under the passenger seat, filling the footwell for the rear seat passenger. What a pain in the balls that was. I was a college student who didn't need that level of crap in my life. I'll never forget working on my car on the sidewalk in front of my apartment in East Boston, MA, always having to lock my tools in my car just to take a pee or snack break. 😜 OK I've said more than enough.
@@markjacobsen2621 One more thing, no doubt this hammering and pick activity will wake up a new opportunity for rust, but I can't care about that. There's already plenty of rust on the rear underside of the rocker panels and now the floor below the driver's feet from all this, and I'll be selling this thing soon anyway. I can't be losing sleep over that.
Mark - this was great advice. It took me about 5 minutes total to crack the two seams, then pull up the carpet on both sides and remove the two drain plugs. TONS of water drained out. Thank you very much for a simple solution!!
I was looking under my 2012 Highlander trying to find the drain point . Why Toyota designed it this way is stupidity. At least bring the tube out the floor board . Thanks for the video I will be prying the pinch welds apart !
Thanks Mark. I think this is the best solution without opening paneling inside the car. Toyota dealerships are useless all they do is clean the hoses. But when I tried telling them the drainage compartment needed to be cleaned and drained it was like deer in headlights.
Glad it helped. Thanks for all the kind comments.
You are the effing man for this one!! Thanks
I think this worked on my ‘08 highlander. A lot of water emptied. Thanks!
Thank you !
You're welcome!