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X-Trail 2012 Sunroof Drains

OK so this isn't a car forum as such but I know there is at least one person on here who may be able to advise (xtrailman) 😉

A couple of times now I've had water leaks involving the controller board for my tow bar getting soaked. After some rain over night, opened the car Monday morning and was greeted by the familiar continuous beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep of the controller board soaked in water. Duely removed and dried out. I do not intend on reinstalling it until I have solved the leak. After some testing which of course did not involve a hosepipe, I found the leak was coming from the sunroof, running down the left runner, across the roof lining and slosh, down the side trim and straight onto my tow bar board. After some research online, I was bemused to discover that sunroofs seals are not designed to be 100% waterproof and therefore, drains are necessary. After some careful testing with a small watering can, it is clear that the left hand drain on my sunroof is blocked. Clearly this overflows and runs down the rail like a gutter to the rear of the car, straight down onto the towbar electrics.

There are a few posts on the Aussie X-Trail forums about clearing the drains and even a Youtube video. However, as I've discovered with other things, there are videos / posts about jobs on the same generation of car as mine which are totally different. It seems that most of the X-Trail T31s dump the water either behind the front wheel or into the windscreen scuttle. I've read about some silly filter thing which gets blocked and can be removed. If only it was that simple. My drains dump out behind the rear wheels. The pipes run down the A pillars to god knows where. I've looked and looked for the other end of these pipes with no success. Tried cleaning out with some bike brake cable. I get it about half a metre down but hear it bottoming out on something. No idea if it is a join onto a metal pipe or if it empies out into a gulley of some sort. Don't know why Nissan have decided it needs to run to the back of the car.

Even Nissan don't seem to have any diagram as to the run of this pipe. Hoping to pop to the local garage in the next few days to give it a blast with an airline. Any advice I can glean from the folks here would be appreciated, thanks.
 
Interesting that it affects your tow controller board. Kia/Hyundai aree recalling some 280000 cars (Sorento/Sportage/SantaFe or equivalent s)in North America because of water ingress affecting towing electrics . Owners are being advised to park away from buildings due to fire risk. Obviously your Xtrail is a completely different issue so hope you get it resolved.
 
My son, many years ago, had a Rover. This suffered with water in the boot. After research and resting, we discovered it only happened if it was parked nose up and it rained. We found that the sun roof had a soft flexible pipe at each corner for drainage. One had been trapped by the headlining during new assembly.

It may be a similar problem.

John
 
Interesting that it affects your tow controller board. Kia/Hyundai aree recalling some 280000 cars (Sorento/Sportage/SantaFe or equivalent s)in North America because of water ingress affecting towing electrics . Owners are being advised to park away from buildings due to fire risk. Obviously your Xtrail is a completely different issue so hope you get it resolved.

Water is directed directly above towbar board via sunroof rail.
 
Went to see my friendly mechanic and he gave the drains a blast with the airline. All the various crap is coming back up the pipe which suggests it’s blocked solid at the bottom. He says pipes will come out somewhere behind wheel arch liner . So looks like my Saturday is sorted! Wheels off front of car and wheel arch liners out. Fun fun fun.
 
Sorry can't help as I never had an issue with the sunroof drains, or anything else for that matter.

My last car a Tiguan had a reputation for blocked drains, but again I had no issues totally reliable again.

Tiguan has for drains two front and two to the rear. Some owners removed the fly traps which are just a plastic flap at the end of the pipes.

I usually put my car in the garage being one of those odd people that use them.
 
My car at present 2018 Tiguan it got a panoramic sunroof and so far touch wood not leaked once so it must be fully waterproof and it left out in all weathers would not fit in my garage . in your case someone will answer your question i hope you can fixed it good luck
 
Sorry can't help as I never had an issue with the sunroof drains, or anything else for that matter.

My last car a Tiguan had a reputation for blocked drains, but again I had no issues totally reliable again.

Tiguan has for drains two front and two to the rear. Some owners removed the fly traps which are just a plastic flap at the end of the pipes.

I usually put my car in the garage being one of those odd people that use them.
Never mind, thanks for reading and replying. Had the wheel archliner out today. Absolutely no sign of of any pipes. Back to searching the windscreen scuttle area. Just cannot work out where these pipes run. Maybe I'll try the Nissan forums. Only, last time I posted a perfectly sensible question on there about something, didn't get a single reply.
 
Hooray! Gave up trying to find the ends of the pipes. Instead, i pulled some roof lijer away, disconnected pipes from sunroof, hung them outside the open windows, attached hosepipe using gaffer tape as I had nothing else suitable. Short blast of moderate water pressure and it’s clear! Rinsed and repeated on the other side. Job’s a good’un. Gave it a good spray with the sunroof shut. Water all draining out where it should, nothing coming out where it was before. . Got wet weather coming so I’ll monitor it for a few days before reinstalling tow bar controller and plastics.
 
Hooray! Gave up trying to find the ends of the pipes. Instead, i pulled some roof lijer away, disconnected pipes from sunroof, hung them outside the open windows, attached hosepipe using gaffer tape as I had nothing else suitable. Short blast of moderate water pressure and it’s clear! Rinsed and repeated on the other side. Job’s a good’un. Gave it a good spray with the sunroof shut. Water all draining out where it should, nothing coming out where it was before. . Got wet weather coming so I’ll monitor it for a few days before reinstalling tow bar controller and plastics.
Nothing better than getting into the nitty gritty bits and. Sorting it. Out. 🙌🙌🙌
 
Never mind, thanks for reading and replying. Had the wheel archliner out today. Absolutely no sign of of any pipes. Back to searching the windscreen scuttle area. Just cannot work out where these pipes run. Maybe I'll try the Nissan forums. Only, last time I posted a perfectly sensible question on there about something, didn't get a single reply.
On later Tiguan cars the front drains finished near the front wipers area.
 

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