Glue/Sealant - rubber strips on car roof?

[Allen]

Hello, I have an old car with a 'leak' in my car roof under a rubber 'strip' from rear to front and, around the sun-roof. The leak is in an area approx: 5 or 6" from the front/passenger side, and, from under the front left corner of the sun roof.

The water has leaked inside & down the front passenger side, it smells foul and is taking ages to properly dry out. I would like to know if there is something recomended to glue down these strips i.e rubber strip to metal roof. Is there any 'workable sealant' or other method to prevent this, and, any further/future incidents?

Any help/advice would be really appreciated. Thank you, Allen

[Harry Bloomfield]

Allen submitted this idea :

Any OEM sun-roof, will usually have a drain in each corner to take care of slight leakage through the seal. Are you sure yours are not blocked?

[Lee]

"Seek and Seal" is usually mentioned for this sort of thing.

Better to check the drain channels are clear first though, before trying to gunk things up with sealant.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If it's anything like mine, the seal on the sunroof itself is merely the first line of defence. Under the roof is a sealed steel tray with drains at each corner. If any of those drains gets blocked, the water can rise over the top of the tray and into the car.

When I replaced the actual rubber seal on mine, I used normal contact adhesive (Evostick type stuff) to glue the rear on - the rest was held in place by steel strips and self tappers.

[Paul D Smith]

And manufacturers too. I recently found that if I poured a small amount of water into the drain in my sunroof, it "drained" - hurrah. But keep pouring and the water backed up and then found a way into the passenger foot well via the roof trim and door trim - boo! I literally had a bucket full of water in the foam under the carpets.

I got some flexible cable (actually 3A two core "lamp" cable) and carefully threaded it down the drain. Carefully "push a little, pull back, push some more..." and suddenly water appeared near the front wheel arch. Removed cable and poured water to flush through. If I'd had something suitable I'd have "hosed" the drain a little but had to settle for lots of poured water to ensure it was clean.

Did the other wise for good measure and, touch wood, all fine now.

Afterwards, one of those "moisture absorbing blocks in a plastic box" can be useful. Leave in the car to help dry it out but if there is lots of water, get the carpets out first. Sadly on a Zafira, that means cutting the carpets but I managed to get the seat, "underdashboard" etc out and cut the carpets where, now replaced, it doesn't show.

Good luck. Took me bloody ages to find the source of this leak! Paul DS.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Paul D Smith explained :

The plastic covered spring wire they (used to?) sell to hang net curtains from is best for that.

[The Natural Philosopher]

evostik contact - solvent based - works a treat.

I have used DECORATORS CAULK (interiors use only it says) to seal small frame leaks on the camper cos its white. Acrylic sealers (frame sealant) works very well. Steer clear of silicone as its to frigging messy.

[The Natural Philosopher]

it has a fair OD tho.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's best to do this from the drain outlet upwards - if you can. As the blockage will likely have come in from the top. On my car the hoses are just thin rubber and pushed onto the steel drain pipes - easy to puncture or dislodge. Then you'd need to remove the headlining to sort things.

[Harry Bloomfield]

From memory, about 5mm OD.

[Andy Dingley]

Is it meant to seal or not? Sunroof problems are 50/50 caused by either t= oo much water, or not enough. As it's so difficult to get a perfect seal, m= any of them assume some leakage and have a drain hose to deal with it. Espe= cially if your problem is mostly a damp smell, keeping that drain clean can= be what's needed, rather than sealing. It's probably a rubber hose up a w= indscreen pillar, might be accessible for poking a wire up it or a blast of= compressed air / water, but on many cars it's just a "sealed for life" uni= t and _very_ hard to repair or clean.

If it's a split that's simply leaking, then apply goop. Boat chandlers sel= l the best stuff, and the best of all are the polyurethane mastics, much be= tter than silicones. Also "Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure" is truly = excellent (never caravan without it), but it won't fill a huge gap.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd say just one drain most unlikely. The tray to catch the water will be shallow, and if the car is at an angle the water would overlap into the car before reaching the drain. Most have four drains - one at each corner.

[Andy Dingley]

Yes, I've never seen one, but I've never seen four either. They seem to use two, usually at the front, and down the A pillars. I have seen a people carrier with mid-mounted drains down the B pillars, teed from the two sunroofs.

[SteveW]

From looking at the piece on the window next to me - 3.5 to 4 mm.

SteveW

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd say that useless if parked on a hill? The 'tray' on my car is only about a couple of inches deep. Wouldn't need much of a slope for water to slosh out of the end.