Water leaks...

Ok, so after a couple of hours of fiddling, I've got the headlining down and out. It's a complete mess with 90% of the fabric being detached and the foam rotted to a sticky muck. The only repair I can see working is to clean it up and give a couple of coats of satin paint.

The next job will be to find the source of the leaks. It's not the alpines.

Should the rear sunroof have two drains or one, I only have one drain pipe but there are two fittings?

Are the sunroofs held in with the screws around the drip tray or are there more hidden?

any suggestions much appreciated

Yes, the rear sun roof should have two drains, one either side at the front of the sunroof, same as the front sunroof.
There are no hidden screws holding the sunroof in, just the ones you can see

Richard Martin said:

Yes, the rear sun roof should have two drains, one either side at the front of the sunroof, same as the front sunroof.
There are no hidden screws holding the sunroof in, just the ones you can see

Click to expand...

Oh bum, someones pulled a pipe out then.

If it's fully sealed up as in not working, it won't need a drain though will it???

After a good 30 minutes of full-bore hosepipe play, I was expecting to see a telltale torrent of drips to point the way for a session with the mastic gun, but what do I get? Bugger all! The damn thing so water tight you'd think it was a boat!

There was one small drip from the lower edge of the nearside alpine light and some dampness around one of the front sunroof drains, the other side is snapped off but still no leaks!

The rear floor is drenched and there is no way that it all came from that small drip, I'll get the carpet removed this week to dry out.

I guess I'll just have to wait for some sustained rainfall. If not then it'll be a case of removing both sunroofs and the roof bars and sealing everything up that I can see.

Any other suggestions?

After a whole ninght of ****isstant rain, there is a good flow of drips in the far rear corner at the roof line, i knew this was there but its got worse. But no water from above that could have caused the soaked headlining??

A couple of screws on the rear sunroof are damp and so are two on the front one but not enough to do anything.

Could the flood have been caused by a build up of condensation on the roof skin caused by the rear floor being so wet?? It was very wet up there when i pulled the lining away.

I need to remove all the floor coverings next and get the water content down a bit because the windows are steaming up now This could all be caused by the fast drip in the rear corner which i think is the gutter seal leaking??

Dave

While at work, i put a tray under the drip in the rear corner, its coming in at a measured 1/2 pint every two hours!

That explains the pool in the rear area at least.

i've pulled all the rear mats and dried her out with rags, got the mats drying in the warehouse

Im hoping to bring her indoors and dry out the gutters to seal them up properly.

Update

I pulled the dicky seats and lower trim panels today, i had this feeling that the floor was going to be ****e under the wet mats etc. BUT i was extremely happy to find its in mint condition apart from some light scabbing in a few places

Im thinking of coating it all in liquid rubber (isoflex)

The trim panels are a bit soggy but should survive.

None of its going back in until i'm satisfied i've fixed all the leaks.

Got her indoors, so much nicer to work when it's warm and dry

Stripped all the gutter trim off and found the source of the leak. It's the seam over the rear door, hidden under the plastic trim strip is a spot welded joint supposedly covered in mastic and paint, this is the joint for the top roof panel and the inner door arch. The mastic was cracked out and the joint open to the run-off from the roof, aided by the plastic strip, a brilliant bit of design

I raked it out, treated the rust and gave the whole gutter a coat of isoflex primer and then liquid rubber. When the trim goes back, I'll fill the slot with mastic just to be sure.

Both sunroofs were removed, the leaks were caused by the seals being badly knackered, the rear one is now fully sealed and disconnected so no need to worry about the missing drain pipe. The front one will get a new seal tomorrow, I have repaired both drain tubes and left the glass out for now.

The rear floor edges have been given a good dose of hammerite smooth to match the rest of the floor, and I replaced the rubber bungs the the numpty who wired up the trailer sockets pulled out and left gaping holes in the floor.

I also ran a line of sealant along the top of the windscreen seal, it's a bonded screen anyway but it can't do any harm to stop water getting in there I guess.

hopefully get her all done tomorrow if I'm lucky.

Got all the trim back on.

Rang for a price on the front sunroof seal, £40 odd !, stuff that, i'll stick it back and seal it up, its just not worth the money really.

The model before mine would have been £19, but mine just happens to be a changeover year and the old seal dont fit the new roofs.

BTW a new roof panel is £300 plus vat if anyones interested !

Right so we had gentle rain for most of last night, took the torch out this morning on way to work and what have i got? A mobile fish bowl still

I am officially ****ed off with this now.

The sunroofs - all nice and dry
The roof bars - dry
Alpine windows - dry all round
Rear side windows - not a drop
Rear quarter by gutter line - niagara falls

I am satisfied that the gutter is waterproof now as it holds water! The rear door arch is fully sealed and i even sealed the plastic trim all along as well for double-measure.

So i've got the whole interior including headlining in the living room, the mrs is getting mildly vexed to say the least, i must admit it does make the place look like a breakers yard It's not worth putting any of it back until this is fixed or i'll be back at square one.

The worst part is that i am now totally baffled as to where the water is getting in, i have no idea at all. Its not the front screen seal as i sealed that. Its not the door seals.

I was that ****ed off this morning that i let her have a mouth full of the best words i could think of Even with all the mechanical probs i've had, shes not got that before, i think she's sulking now.

Its here...



Anyone got any suggestions at all,

Dave

Where is here the pic is a bit too close to the leak for me to see properly.
Maybe its just me .
Is that under the rear glass or above it?

Sorry, here's a wider view...


Its the O/S rear quarter.

Have you tried the big stick Basil Fawlty treatment yet ? .You might try getting some drain dye from plumbers merchant.It comes in bright red or green. Put some around the gutters and if it shows inside you will know where its coming from.Best if one person inside while the other pours slowly working round the gutter. Just a thought...good luck.

rollin danny said:

Have you tried the big stick Basil Fawlty treatment yet ?

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I can tell you that after spending a whole weekend in the warehouse at work, sticking three tubes of mastic and god knows what other sealants onto the old girl and then to find it has made no difference, i nearly torched the bitch this morning i was that ****ed off

We made up again on the way to work though

The trouble with dye etc is that it seems to take ages to come in then wont stop, i have tried the hose and didnt leak, it rained all night and it was flooded.

Just a thought...

Is the roof around the alpines a double or single skin???

My thinking is that maybe that although the roof inside is dry, the water is getting in through the alpine seal and seeping down between the roof skins?

But i dont want to rip the window out to find its not that because its only single skin.

Ok, had it back in the shop this morning, i've applied more sealant along the door arch and filled the rear gutter corner. I also ran another bead along under the gutter on the leaky side.

If it still leaks, i give up.

Hi Dave, I cannot offer any help at the moment but have the same problem on my 96 300 TDi, I will be attacking mine next week as I was driving along and the headlining decided to detach itself from its backing which blocked my view out the wind screen, since then the back end has let go aswell so the whole lot is coming out.

gixxerjacko said:

Hi Dave, I cannot offer any help at the moment but have the same problem on my 96 300 TDi, I will be attacking mine next week as I was driving along and the headlining decided to detach itself from its backing which blocked my view out the wind screen, since then the back end has let go aswell so the whole lot is coming out.

Click to expand...

I've had great results by painting mine, if you want to know, i can post details, it was not my idea but it sure worksed and looks a treat. Now if i can only stop the damn leaks i can get the headlining off the dining table and put it back

Found another source of water ingress...

Rear air vents, below O/S rear window, window seal leaks, water drips onto vent moulding and vent channels the water straight into the rear floor corner!

Easy to fix, either do rear window seals or (in my case) remove vent, make up a little deflector from thin pvc (bag or pallet wrap etc) fold it round the vent, push vent into hole then trim off excess pvc around inside - drips are now guided away from vent moulding. Do the windows in the summer.

The poxy roof joint is STILL leaking, i cant, for the life of me, see how water is getting in there now. I even had a poke around with a bore-scope today, couldnt see a thing. So much for getting her back together this weekend.

Stripped the gutter trim off, blocked the gutter at c-post and filled with water, 45 minutes later, gutter is still full and inside is dry.

Diagnosis is that, despite two layers of mastic, the water is getting in UNDER the gutter at the gutter/side wall joint area.

The stupid gutter trim acts as a funnel and capilliary action sucks the water from the gutter and directs it straight into this area.

I'm leaving the trim off for a while while a plan is formulated.