Hi folks,
Just wanted to share this with you as I believe it may help some folks and perhaps save a few of you some money to boot.
We've all read the numerous topics about Patriot water leaks on this website, some of the cases are unique but most, the vast majority, are sunroof-related. What is happening is one (or all) of the four little rubber tubes from the sunroof drain pan are clogging up, forcing water to collect in the pan (particularly during a heavy down-pour or in a pressure car wash) and ultimately overflow onto the inside of the headliner. From there it usually enters the cabin through one of the dome lights, an A-pillar, or all of the above. The simple solution is to unclog or replace the rubber tubes. However examining mine, I found I had only one that was clogged, the front right one. A buddy of mine determined where the kink was by running weedeater line through the tube and it was clear it was stopping somewhere in the A-pillar. We then removed the trim on the inside of the passenger side A-pillar to see if the tube would be visible. Sure enough, it was in plain view, and very clearly kinked. In fact both the larger tube which we assume is for the front drain, and the smaller one, which is probably for the rear drain, were kinked and not properly held in place in my 2008 Patriot. Over time this had led to dirt build-up at the point where it was kinked, clogging the tube and, as of about a month ago, giving me my first sign of a water leak problem in an otherwise trouble-free Patriot.
In the pics below you can see the two tubes, after we put them back in place and removed the kinks. This only required removing the plastic trim on the A-pillar and the sunvisor, so we could move the headliner out of the way a bit for better access. The whole fix took about two minutes, and now everything drains perfectly.
I would advise those who have their first experience with a water leak and have the natural reaction of freaking out/thinking about selling the car/cussing and yelling about how they'll never buy another Chrysler/etc etc to try this remedy before you even bother with the dealership. I'd be willing to bet it's this easy for 75% or more of the cases I've read about up to now. If you choose the dealership route, find one with experienced personnel. I called River Oaks CJD in Houston and one of the service writers explained the entire problem just as it turned out to be, and said it's quite common in Calibers, Patriots, and Compasses. However other dealers I called previously would only say "well you'll have to bring it in and then we can find out". Don't listen to that BS. There is always another dealer. But my argument is this is so simple, so easy to fix, that nobody should spend a dime on it. I would even go so far as to recommend every now and then running a weed eater line down each tube to make sure it's unclogged. I'll be doing that myself periodically from now on.
Pics to follow:
Just wanted to share this with you as I believe it may help some folks and perhaps save a few of you some money to boot.
We've all read the numerous topics about Patriot water leaks on this website, some of the cases are unique but most, the vast majority, are sunroof-related. What is happening is one (or all) of the four little rubber tubes from the sunroof drain pan are clogging up, forcing water to collect in the pan (particularly during a heavy down-pour or in a pressure car wash) and ultimately overflow onto the inside of the headliner. From there it usually enters the cabin through one of the dome lights, an A-pillar, or all of the above. The simple solution is to unclog or replace the rubber tubes. However examining mine, I found I had only one that was clogged, the front right one. A buddy of mine determined where the kink was by running weedeater line through the tube and it was clear it was stopping somewhere in the A-pillar. We then removed the trim on the inside of the passenger side A-pillar to see if the tube would be visible. Sure enough, it was in plain view, and very clearly kinked. In fact both the larger tube which we assume is for the front drain, and the smaller one, which is probably for the rear drain, were kinked and not properly held in place in my 2008 Patriot. Over time this had led to dirt build-up at the point where it was kinked, clogging the tube and, as of about a month ago, giving me my first sign of a water leak problem in an otherwise trouble-free Patriot.
In the pics below you can see the two tubes, after we put them back in place and removed the kinks. This only required removing the plastic trim on the A-pillar and the sunvisor, so we could move the headliner out of the way a bit for better access. The whole fix took about two minutes, and now everything drains perfectly.
I would advise those who have their first experience with a water leak and have the natural reaction of freaking out/thinking about selling the car/cussing and yelling about how they'll never buy another Chrysler/etc etc to try this remedy before you even bother with the dealership. I'd be willing to bet it's this easy for 75% or more of the cases I've read about up to now. If you choose the dealership route, find one with experienced personnel. I called River Oaks CJD in Houston and one of the service writers explained the entire problem just as it turned out to be, and said it's quite common in Calibers, Patriots, and Compasses. However other dealers I called previously would only say "well you'll have to bring it in and then we can find out". Don't listen to that BS. There is always another dealer. But my argument is this is so simple, so easy to fix, that nobody should spend a dime on it. I would even go so far as to recommend every now and then running a weed eater line down each tube to make sure it's unclogged. I'll be doing that myself periodically from now on.
Pics to follow:
