Vellfire twin sunroofs drain holes blocked..

[Vellfire1]

Hi, piece of information if your front sunroof ( the one that only lifts up 3/4".) Leaks slightly...

Had this happen this morning, it was closed during a heavy down pour overnight and the roof lining was slightly damp towards the front part of the sunroof aperture.

It took a couple of hours to find the best way to remove the glass sunroof and check the seals and ensure the drain holes were clear.

I discovered that these vellfires/Alphard designers are literally at the top of their game.

It would be easy to remove most of the front edge of the roof lining to find a way to remove the glass roof, remove the sunscreens, remove the interior lights and grab rails, it's not necessary !

The front edge of the roof lining that meets with the front edge of the sunroof has a velcro attachment ! Pull it gently and it will come away and reveal the 2 X 10mm nuts that holds the front edge of the glass sunroof in place.

Remove these and you can lift the glass front edge up to reveal the 2 front drain holes.

Mine had mister spider hiding in the left one, causing it to block and fill up, clear him out with a length of wire and put it all back.

Job done, took me 3 hrs, but with the above, its a 30 minute job.....

 

 

 

[Rojie]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

Thanks for giving us all this tip.

 

What year is your Vellfire ?

[Vellfire1]

3 minutes ago, Rojie said:

Welcome to the Forum.

 

Thanks for giving us all this tip.

 

What year is your Vellfire ?

2009, will post a picture soon, have also added a remote heater if any ones interested..

[Rojie]

45 minutes ago, Vellfire1 said:

2009, will post a picture soon, have also added a remote heater if any ones interested..

 

A remote heater, sounds very interesting.

[Chris.ac]

a single photo showing where to pull the lining down, would be great, I have  2010.

[Rojie]

8 hours ago, Chris.ac said:

a single photo showing where to pull the lining down, would be great, I have  2010.

Hi Chris,

 

Did you forget to attach the photo ?

[Chris.ac]

13 hours ago, Rojie said:

Hi Chris,

 

Did you forget to attach the photo ?

no, i was asking for one, heh

[Chris.ac]

finally unblocked my sunroof drain, had to remove the drivers visor, the grab handles on roof, A pillar and B pillar, the A pillar trim, the B pillar trim, and was then able to disconnect the hose via the spring clip.

 

Nice sun heated water poured out, no amount of feeding in a cable could unblock it.

 

In the end, I attached a car tyre inflater, and carefully applied several bursts of pressure until Voila, a pool of water started to appear under the car and the drain holes in the sill were cleared.

 

What a pain in the arse.

 

 

[Teekay]

On 10/20/2021 at 7:13 PM, Rojie said:

 

A remote heater, sounds very interesting.

+1

 @Vellfire1please share the heater details and picture for sunroof drain unblock. Appreciate your post 👍🎌

[Teekay]

On 10/20/2021 at 6:27 PM, Vellfire1 said:

2009, will post a picture soon, have also added a remote heater if any ones interested..

Can you please share the details of remote heater? Thanks

[Peter Remington]

Thanks for the tip. 

Having pulled the headlining back  and before I undid the nuts I used a nylon filament  to check the drain that connects front and rear sunroofs and found the blockage was there. I will still put filament down front drains to be sure. 

[Zathras]

As @Chris.ac mentioned, a photo would have been handy when I had a go at getting access to my blocked drains.

 

So, here you go and my story...

 

 

It was hell trying to get the left nut undone on my 2008 Alphard, it had locking glue on the thread and I suspect never removed before.  I had already got the nut off here before I thought to take some photos.

 

 

However, the right nut was much easier - just a single turn was required.. and POP!

 

 

So, instead of this...

 

 

The right hand side is now like this..

 

 

And discovered it was unhelpfully not an easy replacement...

 

 

Frustrated, I retreated inside with the sunroof to investigate fixes to my screw-up...

 

As everybody knows, a story like this is always improved by adding the phrase "and then it rained..."

So it did exactly that. /sigh

 

Well, at least the drains are now unblocked.

 

EDIT: Any tips you may have on where to buy a replacement part would be greatly appreciated!

Edited July 5, 2023 by Zathras

[Chris.ac]

23 hours ago, Zathras said:

As @Chris.ac

 

I took longer route, removed a and b pillar trim, removed roof grab handles, removed visors. 

 

Then dropped roof lining enough to disconnect the hose clips, I did mine in the baking sun, so as I tipped the hose, nice warm water poured out, I could see my wire I used to try and clear blockage via the exposed clear tube, all the way to the floor, but no amount of prodding cleared it, until I blew it through with a pump, then a nice instant puddle formed under car. 

[Cavegod]

On 7/5/2023 at 10:19 PM, Zathras said:

As @Chris.ac mentioned, a photo would have been handy when I had a go at getting access to my blocked drains.

 

So, here you go and my story...

 

 

It was hell trying to get the left nut undone on my 2008 Alphard, it had locking glue on the thread and I suspect never removed before.  I had already got the nut off here before I thought to take some photos.

 

 

However, the right nut was much easier - just a single turn was required.. and POP!

 

 

So, instead of this...

 

 

The right hand side is now like this..

 

 

And discovered it was unhelpfully not an easy replacement...

 

 

Frustrated, I retreated inside with the sunroof to investigate fixes to my screw-up...

 

As everybody knows, a story like this is always improved by adding the phrase "and then it rained..."

So it did exactly that. /sigh

 

Well, at least the drains are now unblocked.

 

EDIT: Any tips you may have on where to buy a replacement part would be greatly appreciated!

Drill it out, tap and counter sink, then screw a countersink cap head in.

[dave murrell]

Ihave discovered the same problem on the wifes vellfire (it started raining last night) and my first thought was could I fit my vacuum pump to end of the pipes behind the wheel arch covers (I assume thats where they are).

Will take a peek at the weekend when she not using it, unless someone knows different...

[dave murrell]

Just found this.

 

[CraigA]

Thanks for the posts, really useful info.

I'm also experiencing leaks after a heavy downpour. I've inspected the front sunroof and notice the seal around the sunroof is damaged. Does anybody know where I could pick up a replacement?

I've a 2010 Vellfire 3.5z, 8 seater.

 

Thanks in advance.

[dave murrell]

2 hours ago, CraigA said:

Thanks for the posts, really useful info.

I'm also experiencing leaks after a heavy downpour. I've inspected the front sunroof and notice the seal around the sunroof is damaged. Does anybody know where I could pick up a replacement?

I've a 2010 Vellfire 3.5z, 8 seater.

 

Thanks in advance.

https://yoshiparts.com/

[CraigA]

Thanks Dave.

[obb]

@CraigA did you find seal component number? I've noticed my seal is dipping down on the passenger side causing leak

[CraigA]

28 minutes ago, obb said:

@CraigA did you find seal component number? I've noticed my seal is dipping down on the passenger side causing leak

For the tilt sunroof roof it's 63251

[Gamith]

12 hours ago, CraigA said:

Thanks for the posts, really useful info.

I'm also experiencing leaks after a heavy downpour. I've inspected the front sunroof and notice the seal around the sunroof is damaged. Does anybody know where I could pick up a replacement?

I've a 2010 Vellfire 3.5z, 8 seater.

 

Thanks in advance.

Or you could try amayama.com, either order the part direct or use the part number elsewhere. For mine the tube looks to be 6324958020 and under 20 UKP delivered, though it would probably take a couple of weeks.

[CraigA]

58 minutes ago, Gamith said:

Or you could try amayama.com, either order the part direct or use the part number elsewhere. For mine the tube looks to be 6324958020 and under 20 UKP delivered, though it would probably take a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the tip. I'm actually after the weatherstrip seal for the tilt sunroof, which I believe is 6325158020 on the amayama.com site.