This is really wierd.

We have had a reasonable amount of rain the last two days, nothing special but an inch or two. For reasons I don't want to waste time on here, I have had to park my wife's 05 Navigator outside in the rain overnight.

Yesterday and today, when I started the vehicle up and started to back it down the slight slope out of our driveway, about a gallon of water poured out of the two A/C outlets located just behind the drivers/passengers seats in the headliner all over the backs of the front seats and the floor.

I have checked the sunroof and it was both times sealed at least as far as I could see, on the top side. There does seem to be an air leak which I checked by pushing the slider thingie back to let the sun shine through the closed sunroof. I drove it for at least a half an hour in fairly heavy rain this afternoon and although I heard air, no water came into the interior.

As far as I can figure, there are only three options. There is some sort of leak in the sunroof. There may be a leak in the rubber seals for the roof rack attachment points. There may be something wrong with the AC system drains for the rear seat system that is not letting the accumulated condensation drain properly out of that part of the system. I mention this last as we all know we get large puddles under out vehicles from the draining of the system whether you have a front/rear system or just a single system.

I have now cleared out the garage stall for that vehicle and parked it there tonight so that may be some sort of test as to whether it is weather related or system related but I thought to post it here in case anyone else has encountered this problem. Just now, I cannot leave it at the dealership for 2/3 days so am hoping for an answer on this board. I can shut off the AC for a few days if that is the problem and it will be out of the rain at night now but I would really like to know what is going on.
Thanks
Bill

 

I would say its the sunroof since I had a lot more rain down here in florida 3" and I keep the expedition parked outside all the time. It has the rear AC also and no leak so far for the last 2 years and I dont have a sunroof.

 

My guess is also the sun roof. Condensate would have no way to get up to the vents, as the evaporator is low, under the dash for the front, and low on the left side for the rear, at least it is on my Expedition.

 

I would agree that it's the sunroof. There would not be that much condesation to produce one gallon or more from the A/C alone with out noticing a problem before. I would run the rear a/c though to be sure and park it where you can see the drip out the right rear.

When you do take it in make sure they don't leave you with a water stained headliner. Good luck.

 

The leak is probably not the roof itself, but the drains from the rim around the roof. They are small plastic tubes that go down the A pillars and depending on the types of airborne stuff in your area can become clogged very easily. Dealerships usually snake them out but you need to be very careful as they are delicate.

 

Thanks for your responses guys.

And, alwaysfords, I believe you may have hit it on the head. I park under two trees, whose names I forget now, that just rain down all sorts of junk and it gets everywhere on the car and the SUV. Even just opening the doors will get me a huge load of the fluffy stuff in the interior. When I had the TC parked there in one spot for a year, it took me half a day to get it out of all the door crevasses, from under the hood and it even got into the trunk.

So, I will bet you are correct. Do you happen to know if this can be routed out without dropping the headliner or do you have any other tips??
Thanks all.
Bill

 

I think it can be done from the top side with the roof open without removing the headliner. I had it done on a 99 Expedition and it solved the problem. I am a fanatic about fit and finish and if they had the headliner out they did it without touching it because it was pristine when I got it back.

 

There is a service message floating around regarding sunroof sealing concerns in '03+ Navigators and Expeditions. Bare with me for a second, lemme see if I can dig it up.

Edit: Your dealer should reference TSB 05-9-21; a copy is on it's way to you via E-mail. 04-15-9 might apply too, but that's mostly for '03-'04 models and involves checking to make sure the moonroof drain tubes are hooked up and doing what they need to do.