So I took my car through a car wash the other day and noticed the moonroof was leaking. It was a relatively short lived car wash too. I've had two other cars with moonroofs, a 1988 and 2001 Volvo, and neither of them leaked a drop ever - even in this same car wash. I could even understand a few drips, but the entire back edge had water droplets. Please don't tell me this is normal.
I don't know the construction of the Prius moonroof. But when my other car suffered leaks, it was traced to the drain tubes. It had a drain pan all the way around to catch leaks, directing seeped water to the corners, then down drain tubes through the pillars and out the bottom of the car. Those plastic tubes could (a) clog, or (b) shrink with age and heat and pull off the drain pan nipples. Mine had done the later. The fix involved stretching the tubes and adding tiny hose clamps. But your picture shows a lot of water, more like a seal is missing, damaged, displaced, or not fully closed.
Under normal circumstances, leaking is not normal on a new car. But depending on what kind of car wash--auto vs. hand wash, some leaking is possible. My experience with leaking moon roofs, in both new and older cars, has usually been due to the high pressure sprayers and the high powered blowers used to "dry" the car as it rolls out of the automatic car washer. Almost every situation where I have experienced leaking through the moon roof and the window seals, have been due to high pressure devices. For this reason and the fact that hard bristled scrubbers are not the best for a cars paint, I only used 100% hand wash car washes or I wash it myself. So, if you're leaking under normal circumstance, I would pay the dealer a visit.
I would think it a reasonable expectation to believe a moonroof will not leak to that level even after going through a car wash. I would do a cursory visual inspection to see if I could see anything that looks wrong, drain plugs and seals included, but if not I'd take it to the dealership. Warranty Issue. My fear would be if it's leaking that much now..being basically brand new, it's only going to get worse in time. I'd try to test it myself, maybe using a high pressure hose, from the outside, just to see if I could figure out how and where the water is getting in.
Any chance it was not closed all the way? Run a hose over it and see if it leaks, the blowers at the car wash can flex the sheet metal on the roof, washing your car by hand is always best.
Thanks for the replies. I'm positive it was closed 100%. And this wash didn't have any blowers. It was just your basic touchless automatic car wash. I will be checking again though. Just irks me though to have had a 20 year old 200,000 mile + car that never leaked to having a new car that does.
Yeah, I agree with the above. My VW new beetle would occasionally leak if the drain tubes were clogged with leaves or other outdoor gunk. The drains in the beetle ran from both sides on the back of the sunroof (accessible when fully open) to a release nipple in the upper back part of the hatch, so maybe it's similar on the C? It was pretty easy to just wipe the leaves out or run something flexible (not a coat hanger) to clear them now and then. I seem to remember this kind of leak being down the side of the b-pillar or along the roof sloping towards the back, though, not across the back end like yours shows. Check the rubber sealant. It's too new for cracking, but maybe it somehow got damaged if you opened the sunroof at speed or something. Please report back what you learn; I'm curious!
Well I took it into the same car wash today and before I went in I just took a paper towel and ran across the seal. It was dusty, but nothing bad. Had far less drips that the first run maybe only 3 or 4. But nevertheless, it still drips... Oh well I guess.
