22 Tahoe with Water Leak

[WalleyeMikeIII]

Came to post about our CPO 2021 Yukon. We just discovered a water leak issue back in November. Thought it was from a small cooler we used on a road trip, but in late December found more water again in the passenger front footwell. I pulled some trim and carpet back and found evidence of water streaks down the firewall and the source of my bad smell in the truck. Thought someone had spilled milk, it was mildew. Dried and vacuumed it all up, took it to the dealer and they had a leak specialist look into it. They told me they resealed the windshield and it's on my invoice, but I didn't see any evidence of that. They probably didn't pull the glass and pulled trim and caulked? All I found some black rtv on the passenger door weatherstrip at the bottom though which was a half assed attempt. So I was already skeptical of the "repair."

A few weeks later, truck is just sitting in driveway out in the rain on a slight incline facing uphill (very slight) and I had wet carpet and water running down the firewall. Wife had to go use the truck so I put some towels under the carpet. They were soaked when she came home. This time I got pictures a short video. Took it back, and they had it for a week and couldn't recreate my leak somehow. We had a day of heavy rain and flooding, and it didn't leak for them. I'll be collecting more data on if it's worse while driving, how we park it etc. I'm sure this will take a few more trips to the dealer before its resolved. I'm going to pop my overhead console down this weekend to look at those spot welds for evidence of dried up water. I'll make sure to reply back after some time with what happened and if its indeed leak free. They may have shot some rtv around the windshield over those questionable spot welds, who knows.

THere is a TSB for this related to the Sunroof drains (see post 5 of this thread)... Ask your dealer to confirm it was applied.

Sunroof Drain Clogged

I have a '21 Tahoe Premier and after a heavy rain I had water coming out of the seat belt opening and where the mirror is attached to the roof. Does anyone know if clogged sunroof drains are under warranty? Thanks

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

 

[wheelmanrob]

We had some decent rain last night. Parked truck like normal on the driveway with a slight incline (truck facing uphill). I had a hunch it would leak and sure enough there was some water under the carpet again on the passenger footwell. I was able to locate the white sunroof drain hose and followed it to its grommet. There I found evidence of water leaking from beneath the grommet, going behind the insulation and down the firewall to the floor.

I had read on one of these forums that an owner had a leak in this location where the hose met the grommet. That appears to be my issue. Much rather have this problem than the pin holes in the spot welds above the windshield.

I'm hoping now that with the pictures and video they can fix it. Without parking it in on the same incline as my driveway, the leak would not appear for them. Hard to find the leak when it won't leak.

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

Recommend also showing them the link to the article I posted above…between those two, they should be able to get you squared away

 

[wheelmanrob]

Recommend also showing them the link to the article I posted above…between those two, they should be able to get you squared away

Yes thank you for posting that. I printed it out for reference and hope to have that TSB completed. I just poked up inside the cowl with the borescope and don't see the drain hose extensions.

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

It’s odd that it only happens on an incline…

 

[Cryptocap]

We had some decent rain last night. Parked truck like normal on the driveway with a slight incline (truck facing uphill). I had a hunch it would leak and sure enough there was some water under the carpet again on the passenger footwell. I was able to locate the white sunroof drain hose and followed it to its grommet. There I found evidence of water leaking from beneath the grommet, going behind the insulation and down the firewall to the floor.

I had read on one of these forums that an owner had a leak in this location where the hose met the grommet. That appears to be my issue. Much rather have this problem than the pin holes in the spot welds above the windshield.

I'm hoping now that with the pictures and video they can fix it. Without parking it in on the same incline as my driveway, the leak would not appear for them. Hard to find the leak when it won't leak.




View attachment 418745


View attachment 418746

Hopefully that will be the fix. My service department appreciated the photos and videos when I brought those. They had it done in no time at all.

 

[wheelmanrob]

Hopefully that will be the fix. My service department appreciated the photos and videos when I brought those. They had it done in no time at all.

Well, my leak is "fixed." No more water coming down the firewall. I used the same inspection camera to see how the grommet was repaired, expecting to see gobs of rtv silicone around the grommet which I would have been ok with. To my surprise, the sunroof drain grommet (pictured in above post) was completely gone with the hole wide open and the white drain hose was extended with some clear tubing that ran into the right kick panel cavity. It's raining again today so it would be impossible to tell where the water is now coming out (if at all). I will test it in the dry and watch for where it exits the truck. I'm guessing someplace behind the front wheel, coming out from a pinch weld or something.

I was able to locate the end of the hose by using my fingertip as a reference. I popped a grommet near the door hinges and saw my finger on camera. I would have felt better if that hose had actually gone out that grommet and drained to the exterior of the truck (which is outside of the door weatherstripping area). Instead, water is just dumping into the inner body metal which I'm sure will rot things out over time right?

I am pretty sure this is not a GM approved repair. It was completed by a third party water leak specialist. Seems all the dealers in the area use guys like this, albeit different companies.

Someone please advise me here. Willing to escalate this or will take to another dealer. This is my third time in for the repair and they only found it because of my detective work.

 

[wheelmanrob]

I had thought the front sunroof drain hoses drained into the cowling beneath the windshield. This is a picture of the front sunroof drain hose PN 20973104. Unless there is another hose that extends past the grommet (bottom of picture) than it may be dumping into the same place as before, just lower down. I would be ok with that. I'm going to go poking around more with the camera today and confirm 100% if where the original drained to is the same as where it drains now.

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10209958-0001.pdf

That TSB explains the GM proscribed repair process for the 21’s; but given the issues, they must have moved the drain outlet for 2022 and beyond to the spot you found. Almost feels like you just had a bad gromet…

 

[wheelmanrob]

Yes, bad grommet indeed. Just got back inside from probing some more with the inspection camera. I was able to get the camera through the hole of the original grommet location which was very telling. It was clearly the cowling area like I thought.

The new location doesn't seem to have any drain of any sort. The water will just fester there and drain between sections of sheet metal. Not a very good idea IMO.

So, I was able to confirm that the original drain is in a completely different area compared to the current situation. At this point I would be happy with the new clear tube being redirected out of the original hole and goobered up with RTV. If I could more easily get to the clear tube and the original grommet location, I would fix this myself and save myself the hassle.


Camera looking out original grommet hole towards hood hinge bolts inside the cowling area.



Cowling side drain, this is where the TSB 20-NA-219 extension hoses go to.



This is where the sunroof drains now, into a cavity on the backside of the door hinges. This angle is looking up towards the top to see if that's where the original grommet went. There are some holes, but none are round. Two completely different sections. One meant for water draining and the other is not.





Looking to the bottom you can see water collecting.



Water all the way out the bottom with no aparent exit.