Disco II Sunroof

Hi folks,

Taking the disco to Wales for a nice quiet week away in a few weeks time... stuck her in for a service with Challenger 4x4 in Aldershot yesterday, and mechanically she has a clean bill of health

A few things I'd like to get sorted before I go are the tailgate hinges which are shot, and a rather leaky front sunroof... Have read so many sunroof threads it seems there are loads of things it can be :doh:

Firstly, the motor is knackered - not that fussed about it working, but would be nice to have it watertight. Have wound it shut manually, but still get a lot of wind noise from it above 50mph.

Then, if its parked on the flat, and it rains, my centre console gets very wet. Water seems to come in through the interior light and sunroof switch panel.

If its parked on a slight left/right slope, the water comes in, but just gets the headlining wet...

Any suggestions on what to check greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

Jon

I had the same problem with my leaky sunroofs - water came out of the light in the centre console (same thing with tailgate light for the rear sunroof!)

I decided to pull the headlining out (which is a bit of a pain, but not the end of the world to do!)

Once the headlining is out (or dropped, if you are both lazy and a contortionist!) you can check the three things that might have gone wrong:

1) The drain hoses might be blocked, the plastic nipples they attach to might have snapped off, or the plastic boxes might have lost their 'seal' to the metal frame. If hoses blocked, pull em off the nipple gently and blow down them to clear. If the nipples have snapped off you may be able to araldite them back on. If the 'seal' is lost, get some bitumen backed flashing tape and gently heat and apply to both sides of the plastic to metal joints.

2) The sealant between the plastic sunroof frame and the metal roof might have given up. There's no real way I can see to check this without undoing all the screws from the metal tray, and pressing up to lift the frame out. At this point, you'll end up needing to reseal it. I got a tube of Silkoflex caravan sealant, dremelled off the old sealant and cleaned the plastic lip and the car roof with meths, put a generous bead of sealant onto the tray and dropped it into place. Got a nice black bead of sealant coming out of the joint when tightening things up so happy it got where it was needed. Cleaned off with meths/white spirit soaked tissue and jobs a good'un!

3) It *could* be the glass seal. I doubt it though - they are available 20 quid ish from LR but usually aren't the problem.

I decided on mine to take out the headlining, remove both sunroofs and reseal the plastic boxes using flashband and then reseal the sunroofs to the metal roof because I couldn't face the idea of not having fixed it. Since then - lots of rain, no more leaks

I sorted my sunroofs out the same way as others by taking the headlining out and re gluing the corner pieces BUT, i think my main problem was the rear sunroof rubber seal had lifted in the corner so wasn't sealing. More rain water got into the car when it was parked nose downhill slightly at an angle. I assume that it stuck to the glass when the sunroof had been opened, lifted and never went back. Anyway, no more leaks ever since. Good luck m8.

Jon14 said:

Hi folks,

Firstly, the motor is knackered - not that fussed about it working, but would be nice to have it watertight. Have wound it shut manually, but still get a lot of wind noise from it above 50mph.

Any suggestions on what to check greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

Jon

Click to expand...

Hi Jon, that sounds to me as if the sunroof panel is not fully closed or the black rubber seal is not seated correctly.

I would be looking at that BEFORE taking the headling out, or anything else.

Good luck
Dave

If you are getting wind noise I agree that most probably the glass is not seating properly. Try repositioning by undoing the four screws under the glass - and check that the rubber seal is seating properly.

I (I think) have solved the same problem as yours by sealing between the roof and plastic sunroof surround with Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure. I tried this as a last resort before pulling the headlining out and so far it seems to have worked.

If these actions don't solve the problem then I'm afraid it's headlining out and checking the drain holes.

Cheers folks, will have a look at it tonight..... it's not the easiest thing to look at mind, even when you're 6ft5

Jon

Which service you end up having done.. A or B and whats the damage

6000 mile (smaller service)... £142.50 + VAT, plus £30 for a new air filter cone from Edge Performance as my old one was shot

Seemed very thorough, gave me a list of things to look out for over the next 6 months.... she'll definitely be going back there.

Yeh Jon

Yeh I heard they where good.... and there not one of these rip off places... Just down the road from U ... Need any help or stuff needs fixing give us a shout and we can compare notes and Discos

Cheers Swampey

Had a good look at the sunroofs, and I think its the big seal that has gone - the thick plastic edging that runs around the sunroof. There is a load of black sealant (a bit like silicon) around both sunroofs, so someone has obviously tried to seal them up in the past.

Not sure now whether to just seal them up again, or whether to have them all out - seems like a big job