Where do the sunroof drainage tubes exit the vehicle?

[yvr2yyz]

Good morning - it's been a miserable November here with days of rain. The SportTrac (first generation model) was parked pointed downhill and water pooled into the front passenger foot well (and a bit on the driver's side as well). Following the advise of other posts, I put weed wacker line down both of the front sunroof drainage tubes to clear any blocks. I also pulled back the headliner to check that both of the tubes are attached (they are). Water still isn't draining out. Instead, it' pooling in a cavity just in front of the door opening and then running into the cab (see picture 1). Where do the tubes exit the A-pillars to drain? Another post suggested that its through holes in the door well (see picture 2). Is this correct? If so, how to I get to it to check that the tube is attached at this end? If not, then where does the tube exit the vehicle and how do I get to it? I was thinking of taking the wheel well out to see if I can get to the section under the A-pillar - will this work?
Thanks for any directions you can provide!

 

[Todd Z]

They exit where you have the arrow..... Could be too much rain for the drains, clogged, leaking roof rack, or leaking windshield...
I open the roof and pour a little water at the drain and see how fast it runs...

 

[yvr2yyz]

Thanks for the quick reply Todd and for confirming that this is where the water is supposed to drain. I've poured water down the pipe from the sunroof and nothing comes out this hole. Instead, it drains into the cavity that I show in picture 1. If the tube is blocked, then I'm not sure how it can drain elsewhere unless the tube is not attached to the exit hole or if it's cracked.
Do you know if there's a way to get to the back of the exit hole from inside the cab, the engine bay or wheel well so that I can check the tube's connection? I'm going to try blowing air up and down the tube today to see if that clears up any blockage, but I'd still like to do a visual inspection if I can.
Thanks again for your help!

 

[Todd Z]

I beleive You should be able to remove the rubber hose end from outside the truck and fish around in there to remove connect the hose or find out if it broke or what.

 

[yvr2yyz]

Update: you access the drain from the inside, after disconnecting and removing a bunch of electrical connections. I discovered that the tube from the sunroof wasn't attached to the drainage channel. The weird thing is that the tube isn't actually long enough to connect to the sunroof and the drain! So now I'm wondering if there's supposed to be another piece that attaches between the drain and the hose that has fallen away? (see the picture below for the tube inserted directly into the drain). I'm also wondering if it's always been detached?
Here's the options I'm considering:
1) crazy glue the tube just inside the drain so that it won't pop out, and then clamp the tube to whatever length of sunroof spout it will cover.
2) if there's still not enough tube to attach to the sunroof, then purchase a length of similar tube and use a plumbing connection to bring them together. My concern with this approach is the the plumbing connector reduces the diameter of the tubes where they join, which might increase the likelihood that it will become blocked in the future.
3) purchase a length of tubing that I can snake through the A-pillar using the existing tube as the guide. My concern with this approach is that the new tubing will catch on something or become disconnected to the guide tube. It's the best long-term solution however.

Any suggestions for an option to choose or another option? I'm trying to avoid taking it into Ford because I suspect a repair of this type will be expensive. Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Todd Z]

Sadly I don’t think Ford will fix it.
you can pop that rubber grommet out into the door jam and didn’t have to dig through the inside of the truck. But you may have to do that as you did to repair it.
if you had a windshield put in the truck or something like that may have cut or shrunk the tube causing it to pull out.
I think going with an inside connector for now would be your better choice.
The reduction in diameter may hurt it a little bit but I don’t think to the point where it’s gonna be a problem unless you get a rock or some kind of debris down the hole from up top.