leaking sunroof.

[ace_the_bass]

has anyone experienced much of this? after a week of bad weather up here i started the car on tuesday afternoon and as the suspension lifted up at the back water just poured into the cabin from behind the slider, it only come in from the one side but now the inside of my car smells like wet dogs and i dont like it!
picked it up from its MOT this morning and the mechanic recommends i just seal it up but i dont really want to do that. it perhaps may be a case of the glass dropping down one one side or something?
any suggestions?

[themildbunch]

oh - this is a common one - I've seen mushrooms growing in the carpet before!

The sunroof is designed to leak but has 4 drain tubes from each corner of the tray above the headlining.. The rear tubes both exit behind the rear lights.

If you remove the rear light clusters and gently pull the tubes out a little you should be able to prod something flexible but stiff - I used curtain wire IIRC to remove any blockage..

You do need to be careful with the tubes though as if you're too rough they may pop off the sunroof tray and you'd need to remove the headlining to fix them back

[Defender110]

or gentle blow them out with compressed air if you have access to a compressor and blow gun. I would be wary of a mechanic that says seal the sun roof up!

p.s. The front tubes exit behind the plastic inner wheel arch spat at the front of the sill.

[citronut]

IMO the only way is compresed air, but always place a dust sheet over the seats,


once all 4 tubes have had a blow job gently pour water into the gully under the sun roof glass, then watch each corner to see if water is flowing,


regards malcolm

[ace_the_bass]

i will try this but looking at the glass it seems as if it has almost dropped slightly on the passenger side ( at the back) im wondering if this is what has caused it.
it just happened all of a sudden, no hint at all of any water ingress then all of a sudden on tuesday woooooof in it came!

[ace_the_bass]

could a spring or something have gone soft and caused the glass to have dropped slightly?

[Mothman]

For what its worth, i regularly remove the glass on the one some twat fitted to my Estate and clean all the rubbers, holes, crooks and crannies and then wipe the rubber with a thin coat of vaseline. I do this 2 or 3 times a year and so far no leaks. Dont ever open the bugger either.
Saw a programme on the telly [Wheeler Dealers] which showed you could bend the tangs that hold the glass to the rubber and get a snugger fit, maybe this will help seal the thing.

Andy

[Gibbo2286]

Too high a pressure from your compressed air can blow the pipes off their connections so take care, I find that curtain wire flex does the job well, open the roof and feed it down through the tubes in the back and front corners of the trough,

[citronut]

what ever you use you should do it from the bottom end going upwards, as 99% of the time the dirt has built up at the top of the drain tubes,

it cant get dirt into the bottom ends as the fronts are inside the bottom of the A posts, and the rear's in behind the rear lamps,


also the seal around the glass is a draft felt more than a water tight seal, as the system is made to allow water in, which is ment to drain straight out of the drain tubes,

i have always used my workshop compresor to blow these out with no trouble at all,


regards malcolm

[kiwi]

Due to age and exposed to the elements the sunroofs no matter how ell you maintain them will end up leaking.

When I got the 19TRS it was silcooned shut and I spent weeks scrapping sealant off to get it to open again, Then I realised why it was sealed

So a ritual has developed of looking at the weather forecast as to if the TRS will come out of the garage and if it will be taped up with black insulation tape. Somehow I got a feeling that if I can not keep the TXD under cover while at work and limit parked exposure to the sky ocean that may also be sealed by black tape.

Leaks seem to be worse after being parked up, not so evident when your moving, due to the way the seals get water passed.

Advantage black tape is if you can remove it often you dont get any permanant damage to the paintwork

[mat_fenwick]

Due to age and exposed to the elements the sunroofs no matter how ell you maintain them will end up leaking.

But the purpose of the drain tubes is to allow any water that does get past to drain away without soaking the interior. So I wouldn't worry about the seal at this stage, unless something is obviously very wrong.

[kiwi]

Due to age and exposed to the elements the sunroofs no matter how ell you maintain them will end up leaking.

But the purpose of the drain tubes is to allow any water that does get past to drain away without soaking the interior. So I wouldn't worry about the seal at this stage, unless something is obviously very wrong.

Probably a valid point as well.

Then again I was forgetting that when it rains here it dumps.

[citronut]

Due to age and exposed to the elements the sunroofs no matter how ell you maintain them will end up leaking.

But the purpose of the drain tubes is to allow any water that does get past to drain away without soaking the interior. So I wouldn't worry about the seal at this stage, unless something is obviously very wrong.

Probably a valid point as well.

Then again I was forgetting that when it rains here it dumps.

fit bigger drain tubes/gulleys

when is a seal not a seal, when its only a draft felt silly


regards malcolm

[Mike E (uk)]

To clear my drain hole, I had to remove the entire head lining and sun roof assembly.

One of the drain holes was blocked with that sealant mastic that is used at the factory, so it had probably always leaked in heavy rain.

Had no problems since.

Pooring a cup of water in to the tray is a good test to find which corner the blockage is in.

Mike