Convertible roof drains

shatnersbassoon

shatnersbassoon

New member
Hi all,

I've been searching around for some more info on checking and unblocking the roof drains on a MY13, but I've not been able to find much information on where the drains are located and where they go.

My searches have turned up a few stories about roof motors being destroyed, so would like to make sure my drains aren't blocked.

My car lives outside unfortunately, and debris does tend to collect in the channel between the roof and the body.
I see that there are some drains at the back of the boot, but there also look to be some drains in the rubber where the roof meets rubber seal just behind the door/window.

Does anyone know if these are the ones that are likely to get blocked and overflow into wherever the roof motor is, and what's the procedure for checking/unblocking them?

Cheers, Matt
 
Just been out this morning to pour some clean water around the hood on each side, and noticed that the drivers side drains out the bottom of the car near in front of the rear wheel, but the passenger side does not.

I guess this means one of them is blocked! I tried passing some thin filament up the where the water should exit, but feels like it just end up in a void in the arch.

Surely there must be a way to unblock these drains. Am I likely to see anything if I take the arch liner off?
 
I think this has been covered in this forum before but I’m afraid I can’t find the thread now.

Can you see anything with the roof half open?
 
No, it looks like wherever the entry point to the drain is, is buried in the depths a bit.
And there feels like a void between the bottom of the car and wherever the drain ends, so it doesn't feel like I can shove something up it to unblock.
 
May be worth getting it up on a lift for a good look, my local independent jag specialist put mine up to inspect the underneath with me, no charge.
 
It's booked in at an independent specialist tomorrow to have the diff oil changed. I'll have a word with them and see what they know.
I've also ordered a cheap endoscopic camera with a light on it, so I'll see what I can see when the roof is half open. Hopefully I don't just see a load of water sloshing about! :)
 
Good luck, if you get any good info or pictures please post them. :)
 
Been following this thread and got me thinking about my old car which I recently sold. I always washed it with the roof up and on the driveway which is sloped front up. I never saw the water drain away near the rear wheel on the old car. However, just washed my new one same slope and then pull into the garage on the flat, water poured out at the rear wheels when level.
This got me wondering if this is the reason my roof motors stopped working on my old car which seemed to happen if I had given the roof a good clean and rinse down, maybe the drains were blocked.
Might be worth making sure we wash our cars on level ground or maybe front end downslope. Just a thought?
 
Going to have a good look around under mine, much prefer preventative maintenance to costly repairs!
 
Sat in there waiting room at a jag independent specialist at the moment. Getting the diff oil changed.

I did ask the guy about roof drains, is it a common problem, easy to fix etc.
He said he he’d not seen that problem before. They’re going to have a quick look, but sounds like they know about as much as we all do!
 
For anyone still following along, the news is good!
Both the drivers and passengers side drains are now clear. The specialist just ended up blowing compressed air down it.

He explained where the drains are, so now that I'm back I've had a good look myself to see if these are easy to get to for routine maintenance.

You have to put the hood down to just over half way to see them. Although only one of mine were blocked, there was quite a lot of sediment and dirt around the drain entrances, so I can see how these could easily get blocked.
It's a bit of a squeeze to get your hand in there, and probably best to make sure no-one is inside playing with the buttons, but not too difficult to scrape out some of the crap.

I've (hopefully) attached a couple of pictures showing where the drain holes are. The white thing is a bit of 3d printer filament shoved in the hole so it can be seen more clearly.

If you have a convertible with these drains, I think it should probably something you have a look at from time to time before they do get blocked and possibly cause more serious issues.

I'll certainly be keeping an eye on mine from now on!
 

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Thanks for the update, very useful.

I’ve been underneath mine and couldn’t see anything!

Just put some water down from the top to see where it comes out, just behind the front of the wheel arch liner, no wonder I couldn’t see anything from below!

B2E9545B-418B-4FBC-A947-00E215AE44E6.jpeg
 
Your's looks a little different to mine below, but as long as you get some water coming out on each side you should be free from blockages!
 
At last I have managed to locate some of the drain points on my hood. Having washed it a few days ago and left the car in the garage to dry off, I retracted the hood to the position almost upright with the plastic flaps still up right and saw as detail in the write ups a lot of water flowing down the plastic gully below the main hood frame work. This exited on the drivers side in front of the rear wheel, as already described but nothing on the passenger side, maybe it has already drained away I will check it next time I take the car out. I couldn't find the drains mentioned in the rubbers located at the top of the boot lid can anyone enlighten me with the the exact loation please.
 
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