Sold my 2003 STR today and I got a call from the buyer this evening saying he has water in the front passenger area after a big rain. He had the car parked on a incline with the nose down.

I never had any problem with water intrusion since I've owned it and I lived in So. FL until the past year. I obviously had it out in the rain since moving to N. FL. No problems ever.

I told the new owner to wet/vac it and trying spraying the A Pillar area, the cowl, etc. to see if he can see any intrusion. I asked him if he was sure if the windows were all the way up and the door tightly closed. He thought they were.

Any suggestions or are there any known problem areas?

Thanks

 

Possibly the front drain tube from the sunroof assembly is loose, crushed or off completely. Otherwise, have you ever changed the windshield?

 

No, I have never changed the windshield, but thanks for the input on the front drain tube. I will pass this on to the new owner and also have told him to get his butt on the Jag Forum because it is absolutely the best.

Thanks for your quick help,

 

The moonroof drain tubes are a known problem on the Lincoln LS but NOT on the S Type. I don't know why as the moonroof appears to be identical.

He can look at the drain tubes pretty easy but with some work.

Peel back the rubber door weather stripping first and then remove the A-pillar cover on the side you want to check. Now there is a problem here because the cover is tethered to the car so the air bag going off does not blow the A-pillar cover into your face. It's easy to damage the A-pillar attachment clip. It's the same on the Lincoln LS so getting the clip is not the problem just be aware that you might tear it up and require a replacement. I did the first time I took them off but now know how to do it.

Then remove the sun visor on the side that's leaking. Let it hang gently by the wires. A plastic cover on the pivot of the sun visor has to be carefully pried off to access the screws which are Torx.

Now carefully pull down the headliner and use your hand to find the corner of the moonroof. The drains are on all 4 corners of the moonroof pan. If the hose is off stretch it back on the nipple and add a small hose clamp so it does not pull back off again. It will come off over and over if you don't put a clamp on.

Finally a bit about the moonroof. The moonroof does NOT seal in a conventional manner. What happens is the moonroof will allow water to leak around all the edges but underneath the moonroof is a metal drain/drip pan. So the moonroof is supposed to leak by design. This metal pan has enough capacity for most amounts of rain but can be overcome in flood situations.

So this might be a one off water leak if he does not find the hose has come off. Be aware that the drains can become plugged or obstructed by debris. Especially if the car is parked under trees so he might have all the tubes connected but needs to run something thru the tubes to clear them out. I would open the moonroof all the way and look into the corners, you can barely see the drains. Then run a stiff wire in them or even compressed air. Just don’t use too much pressure with the air gun!

When he does the water test you recommend, if he is careful, he should see all 4 drains putting water out. The two back drains come out behind the rear tires and the two front drains come out behind the front tires. It's hard to see this when you have water spraying all around!!

Please post back with the answer if you get one.
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tbird6,

Thanks for all your information....that was fantastic. Copied your post and emailed to the new owner. I'm sure the amount of info you provided will help many others too.

He said it rained again today and he didn't have any issues. Go figure. He called me tonight to tell me because he could tell I was worried about it and he was right. I would never sell a car if I was aware of any issues like that without fixing them.

He said he would continue to investigate using your detailed information and will be signing up on the Jag Forum soon.

Thanks again for all your help....you guys are unbelievable !!!