Heavy rain + after market sunroofs = *update- things finally got better*

[inconsistant]

I've got one of these, a Webasto* retro fit tilt/slide glass sunroof...

 

 

 

...and it's causing this:

 

 

I've worked out a temporary solution for when it's on the drive:

 

 

...but it's not really gonna work as a permanent solution.

 

What should I do?

There's a plethora of info about leaking factory fit sunroofs on the 924 forum, because "they all do that Sir" but I'm kind of on my own with this one as I've no idea even how to take the glass panel out to look under it.

 

Should I get in touch with a local friendly Webasto* dealer to see about a repair, or is there something cheaper/quicker/easier that I could sort out myself? Any help appreciated. 

Cheers,

Richard

 

 

*Webastard more like.

[fordperv]

i dont know where you are in the country a quick google brings up these folks are in hertfordshire

http://www.executiveautocare.co.uk/sunroofs.htm

they are webasto dealers and do repairs so presumably get spare parts and give advice,

 

or these in chelmsford

http://www.ccswindscreens.co.uk/sunroofs.php 

 

remember google is your friend to find someone locally

[inconsistant]

Cheers f-perv. I'm Surrey and found these chaps:

 

http://www.surreysunroofs.co.uk/Common/Repairs

 

in Dorking who look like they might come to me, but check the prices!

 

Is there a cheaper option that will solve the problem long term rather than...

 

 

or

 

 

or

 

[spike60]

Clean and dry the seal and glass where it seats and smear seal with silicone grease, usually works well with convertible roof seals.

[Spiny Norman]

Vinyl roof FTW.

[Station]

I've said this a few times - it really works.

If it is leaking around the glass - smear silicon around both edges where it meetsm cover the car side with cling film, and then close it and wait til it drys. Then remove cling film and the seal will keep the water out.

 

Do a search for MR2 and CLING FILM. It worked on mine.

[trigger]

I fixed mine yesterday with the tried and tested silicone sealant method although mine was just letting the other drip in during heaving rain, not pissing it in like your Porker.

[MrDuke]

Get a rectangle of sheet steel slightly larger than the s/r aperture, spray it up in the right colour then rivet it on. Not only will it be waterproof, you'll look like an actual hillclimb and trackday god, and ladies will swoon moistly at your approach.

[Micrashed]

Hey - Ive got the same one on the MicraShed (though mine is manual) and no longer tilts or slides after a heart stopping moment last summer where one of the wires seized causing one side to slide and the other not leaving me with a big hole in my roof and impending rain clouds....

 

I too get weepy water, but a generous finger full of silicone grease all the way round on the rubber seal has helped all but stop that now. I get an occasional drip on a hard left hander.

[oldford]

Are any fitted drain tubes clear/in one piece?

[mat_the_cat]

a generous finger full of silicone grease

 

Always comes in handy

[garethj]

Christ on a bike, that didn't used to happen!  After a heavy rain storm it wouldn't leak when parked, but when you drive off a little dribble would sometimes come through and fall into the passenger's lap on right hand bends.  Maybe because it's not driven as much, the water is getting past the glass/roof seal and can't drain away.

 

You could try opening the sunroof and putting some talcum powder around the perimeter (just a bit on a paintbrush, not a whole bottle like Inspector Clouseau would do) then sprinkle some water over and it should show the path and source of the water leak

[UmBongo]

Having had issues with my own shitty aftermarket 80s sunroof, the only thing I would suggest would be new seals or a completely new sunroof.

 

That's what I had to do as nothing else worked.

 

Why every man and his dog had to get holes cut in their expensive motors and have cheapo sunroofs installed in the 80s is beyond me.

[beko1987]

I tigersealed the sunroof up in the XM and I havent missed it at all! Never really used it, would have the blind back for more light into the cabin, and then forgot about it and left it open all night which would make the car fucking cold!

 

Now it's sealed, motor is removed to avoid accidental presses and the blind is across I cant say I've given it a second thought!

 

Tigerseal can be unpicked too should I be bothered to split the glass/frame and fix the frame/re-seal the glass, which will not happen!

[Bren]

Looking at the amount of water in the cabin I'd say a submarine hatch would be your best bet.

[Rusty Pelican]

Bilge pump would also help 

[richardmorris]

I'll never buy another citroen cx with a standard sunroof. It would let water in to the tray and then when you started the car up the suspension rose at the back before the front and deposited two litres of cold water down the back of your neck. Several owners have sealed up with silicone and at least one I've seen was painted over the top too. The only real solution to the problem is a new non-sunroof roof.

[inconsistant]

Thanks for the replies chaps, very helpful.  For the time being I'm going to pop a johnny on it:

 

 

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_564329_langId_-1_categoryId_165611

 

Which looks to be standard Halfords shit quality so hopefully will get a few weeks use from it before it breaks and I take it back for a refund.

 

Which should give me time to sort the problem... we've had exceptional rain over the last couple of weeks and the car hasn't been used in that time so the footwell pond is hopefully an extreme weather ingress event.

Funnily enough I've been meaning to post a thread for ages about heavy condensation, because that's as bad as it's been for ages... obviously some wet getting into the car, with a wet back of the boot carpet but the cabin & seats have been dry up to now. I pretty much pinned the leak down to the rear hatch seal, a known issue with the 924, and £45 to replace from my friendly Porsche parts people. But I was wrong.

 

I had a reverse 'Eureka!' moment on sunday (into the bath not out of it) when I went out for a hoof, as the contents of the sunroof internal trim emptied itself down my neck as I pulled left out of our road. At the next right it poured onto the passenger seat, so I knew it was the sunroof. 

 

When I get a chance I'm going to try the talc/silicone grease to help seal the glass panel.

 

I found a Webasto sunroof service/maintenance sheet pdf last night on da interwebz, I'll post that here later in case it's useful to anyone else. Gives location of drainage holes and how to pop the glass panel out, etc. So I'll do all of that too and see if I can get the old boat a bit more watertight.  It's been a bit of an eye opener, realising that owning an older car has a lot to do with the life expectancy of rubber components.

[inconsistant]

So, the incessant rain has stopped, and therefore there must be a happy ending to all of this...

 

Happy ending my arse, it's gone from bad to worse. 

 

After the previous posts and advice I decided to clean up the glass and seals, and while I was at it I thought I'd see if I could adjust the glass to fit it tighter against the rubber seal. As I started dismantling the internal bits of the sunroof to get at the glass fixing screws I noticed the sunroof wouldn't shut properly. I carried on dismantling thinking it would sort itself out, but it didn't.

 

To cut a long story short, the sunroof is now stuck open.

 

 

It's a tilt & slide, and it slides back and forwards ok but jams just before the point it should close onto the roof, so It's stuck in the tilted position.

 

I've bought a cheap "heavy duty" car cover which is shit as i put my thumb through it just trying to pull it over the car, it comes off after the slightest breeze, and has started to tear along a seam.

 

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003T6FKCA/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Also the Sunroof repair specialist has so far taken at least 3 weeks to not turn up at all. Has anyone else here used him? Is he worth the wait or should I give up?

 

http://www.surreysunroofs.co.uk/

 

So on the plus side, I now understand exactly what was happening to cause the sunroof to leak, water seeping under the glass as it had nowhere to go once it had run into the dip around the sunroof.

 

 

and that it doesn't have drainage holes at all, and that the interior trim panel was acting like a circular internal guttering.

 

I also am an expert at taking the glass on and off, having done it about 6 times while trying to solve the jamming:

 

 

I also realise that if it was just leaking as before the addition of a simple C shaped rubber seal around the edge of the glass would stop it leaking:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL-CAR-RUBBER-U-EDGE-TRIM-SEAL-VAN-TRUCK-BOAT-DOOR-BONNET-BOOT-/151252581555?ViewItem=&item=151252581555&nma=true&si=jQkGSoYBaxEauyvWxnZ70xbGjWw%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

The downside is that I've got a permanently open sunroof.

So, fellow shitists, does anyone know of a reliable sunroof repairsman? Or possible cause for a jammed manual sunroof that I can sort myself?

 

The whole thing is really starting to piss me off. Any help appreciated.

[tooSavvy]

... I had a BRAND NEW Skoda Estelle 136GL... with an importer 'dockside buzzsaw' glass popper fitted (not sliding). It had the aerial incorporated into it, too.

 

magic... never leaked.

 

car was totalled, up the arse, before 1st MOT... sun roof glass didn't break  .

 

therefore not in a position to advise how Skoda 'pop-ups' resist water ingress @ 27yr+

 

 

I'd h8 to have this going on...,. seriously 

 

 

TS

[lisbon_road]

When I lived in China about 23 years ago, when travelling on local buses, if it started raining, all the passengers would get their umbrellas out inside the bus as if it were the most natural thing imaginable.

 

I guess things are probably different there now.  I'm sorry, this is the most singularly unhelpful response imaginable but I thought I'd throw it in.

[Asimo]

IF it was mine, ( and I am a bodger who dislikes sunroofs ) I would remove enough of the mechanism to allow the glass to sit on the seal properly. Then I would clean glass and seal very carefully with meths and then glue the glass in place with builders silicone adhesive.

 

Then I would think about getting a steel panel welded in. But never get around to it.

[inconsistant]

A funny thing happened this week... I dropped the sunroof bloke a text on sunday just after updating here asking if it was likely that he was going to be able to help out with this at all. He got back to me on monday lunchtime to tell me the sunroof was fixed, and that it was a screw jammed in the mechanism.

 

This was excellent news, and a bit of a surprise because although I'd told him the keys were with the neighbours, I don't ever remember telling him where we lived. He must be able to sniff out shite with buggered sunroofs at 100 paces.

 

Other good news is that he reckons he's got a replacement Webasto seal kicking around that he'll fit next time he's coming past. And even if next time is weeks away I've got enough top tips here that I'm confident I can hold back any rain.

 

Other other good news is that the car cover is so shit that I'm returning it for a refund. Now all I've got to sort out on the car is everything else and the car will be perfect!