leaking roof

[Guest]

With the showers of rain we've been getting recently i have discovered a leak from the roof of my car (or more so it has discovered me!) well several but this leak is kinda annoying me alot.
it is located on the drivers side where the arial is at the top corner and has a tendancy to nearly rain indoors when driving. it isnt the window seal. obviously it leaks more when the rain is heavier. i have thought of removing the arial thingy and covering/filling it as im not too bothered about listening to the radio anyway or bunging the gaps up with some kind of window sealant. has anyone had a go at trying any of the above...will it look any better or worse without a arial?

emma.

[SimonR]

Water leaking through the radio aerial fitting is not something I've seen in any of the 5 Maestros I've had experience of in the past few years.

Are you sure that it's not actually either the windscreen seal or sunroof tray drains that are causing this? - blocked sunroof drains are well known for depositing water onto the headlining and driver after and during a heavy shower!

The radio antenna is fairly easy to remove so take the two screws out and look underneath it. My 1989 VP has a rubber seal under the plastic fitting - you may find that this is missing or is damaged. If you do it just after it's been raining it should be bone dry under there.

It'd probably be a lot easier to repair this problem by either sealing the windscreen or aerial, or unblocking the sunroof tray drain holes.

You know it's a british car when you get water in the top and oil out the bottom :laugh:

[Guest]

Also try under the rubber strip in the roof. The channel it fills sometimes corrodes through. If it is the aerial it's probably easier to repair than fill. I've had so many leaking sunfoofs that I never buy a car with one now so try that first.
Best of luck

[Simon]

Non standard replacement aerials can cause leaks, as I found when I tried one, new for £6. Car leaked like a sieve. I went to the MG Rover dealers and bought a proper one, although it was £33! (Part number EEP 9) You also have a further option of sealing the aerial hole with a blanking plate, part number JRC 2109, and blanking plate seal JRC 2110. This just mount with screws where the old aerial was and looks neat, and will be cheaper and less hassle than fitting a new aerial if you don't intend on using the radio.

I agree with the sunroof tube blockage theory too, the sunroof relies on tubes at each corner of the sunroof inner metal tray for drainage of water. There is also a drainage channel at the rear of the glass panel. Any seal on the sunroof is for draught exclusion only. I must look at the tubes on my Maestro, as I get a couple of little drips of water going into the sunroof blind when it has been raining hard all night and I leave my car parked nosing downhill on my sloping drive at home. Other than this extreme condition my car is one of those rare beasts...non-leaky!

[e692wtt]

Dear Simon, I have this problem with my Montego Sunroof, it doesn't leak no matter how heavy it rains... honest!

There are 4 drain hoses from the sunroof 'unit', one for each 'corner'. It's possible that the 'stubs' onto which each hose attaches has rusted away (all 4 of my 'stubs' are rusty as seen through the transparent drain hoses) and one such badly rusted stub would allow water into the car. Of course, you need to remove the headlining to have a "butcher's" at each hose, which is a pain in the bottom.
As Simon says, the seals on our cars' sunroofs are to keep the draughts out, and water leakage is acceptable as the water drains into the 4 hoses mentioned above. I think this is the way to go, it's possible the 'sunroof tray' itself has rusted and formed a hole, but this is unlikely. Favourite has to be a drainage hose problem and not the Aerial.

The other other Rich.

[Guest]

You can sometimes solve this problem with the headlining and sunroof in place. Open the sunroof, unfold a wire coat hanger and shove it down each pipe and give it a waggle. It can sometimes clear the blockage as it is more likely to be a blob of congealed muck than a single object. If it turns out to be the latter, of course, you may compound the problem... but then you were taking the headlining out anyway, weren't you...

[Guest]

thanks for the ideas! well i had the headlining out for some time as i was re-covering it with new material. i put it in but the glue isnt holding the material so it has to come out again. it wont be too much trouble. i'll have a bash at the above ideas this weekend (if the weather stays dry!) i'll let you know how i get on...

[Guest]

It's probably not your glue that's at fault. The foam in between the backing board and lining tends to disintegrate you may need to remove it all and do without or replace it.
Best of luck
John

[Guest]

hello
this weekend i had checked out the aerial (sorry i forgot how to spell it before) and that seems sealed enough. i tried to give the drain pipes from the sunroof a clean out with some wire but they came out clean, alas last nite it rained on the car and it rained on me inside the car again this morning! i didnt have time to take out the roof lining this weekend. i have a feeling the leak will be coming from/or both the windscreen seal or the rubber strip on the roof.
the glue hasnt stuck probably cos the glues naff stuff and it is trying to hold up heavy material. the foam had been previously brushed off so that there was a surface for the fresh material to stick to. i last did the roof lining in stong cotton material 2 yrs ago. this time i opted for red fur just to be different! maybe the car doesnt like it...?:laugh:

emma.

[Jonathan]

I had the same problem and I'm almost convinced you'll find it's the windscreen seal. Water gets underneath the seal, the flange under the glass starts to corrode forcing it outwards slightly and breaking the seal usually in that corner for some reason. It's very common, a bit like floppy headlining syndrome really

The only way around I know of it is to have the windscreen removed, the corrosiom underneath tidied up and the screen replaced again. I had mine done a year ago and no leaks so far...

[Guest]

You can get a kind of silicone sealant in a specially designed applicator that you can apply under the windscreen seal all the way around. Windscreen fitting places can do it for you. It is a short term fix though as it won't stop the rust (what can?!). My dad had it done on an old car a few years ago and the windscreen place didn't even charge him. As soon as the windscreen stopped leaking, though, the head-gasket blew - there really is no accounting for Nissan design! :laugh:

[Guest]

I had the same problem and I'm almost convinced you'll find it's the windscreen seal. Water gets underneath the seal, the flange under the glass starts to corrode forcing it outwards slightly and breaking the seal usually in that corner for some reason. It's very common, a bit like floppy headlining syndrome really

The only way around I know of it is to have the windscreen removed, the corrosiom underneath tidied up and the screen replaced again. I had mine done a year ago and no leaks so far...

Hi everyone, I realise this is a pretty old thread, but does anyone know roughly how much it's gonna cost to have the windscreen removed, the rust at the top of the screen sorted and then the windscreen replaced again?

[G51 NAV]

If you can get the same windscreen put back you're talking mainly just labour costs

[e692wtt]

Welcome to the forums alandigby .

A new windscreen is probably around £80 from RAC Auto Windscreens, and I am sure they would remove your old one and come back a few days later to refit your existing one (if it survives) or the new one after you have treated the rust. If your existing one survives then I'd expect this wouldn't cost much for cash - maybe an hour's work so £20 or £30 at the most? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't treat the rust for you.

It's worth ringing round your local 'windscreen' places, stating what you want (for them to remove the existing one and then refit it or a new one a few days later) and asking them all for a quote... Let us know how you get on.


Back to the early posts... my current Montego saloon has a few minor roof leaks, but I am struggling to sort this as the sunroof won't open (the left hand cable appears to have snapped, and I didn't get around to sorting this this year) - but I fixed the leak from the area of the aerial by judicious use of Blue Hylomar...