Series 3 Leaky roof

I know this has probably been done to death.

And I have tried replacing the windscreen seals and all the other along the roof and I still have water dripping down onto the dash. So bad iv had to install and relocate a new alarm as when I took the old one out that was screwed to the firewall behind the dash. I turned it around and it poured out lots of water.

I was just going to buy a new roof till I realised it seems to be the panel that nobody sells.

So id like some advice for sealing it up. Iv already attempted using silicone in the past along any seams I could see. Is there a better way to do it as it already looks terrible with blobs of sil icon all over it

The proper way is obviously new seals. I take it the leak is coming from between the windscreen and roof. The problem with standard high modulus silicone sealant is it needs a silicone based substrate to work as a surface sealant. Thats why it sticks to bathroom tiles like mad but wont stick to a plastic bath.
Ideally you need to allow a bead to begin curing and then compress it to create a pressurized gasket rather than rely on its mechanical adherence to a painted surface. Incidentally aluminum has enough silicone in it to attain the chemical bond but not paint or galvanizing.
I have noticed some of the available roof seals are a bit naff and the ones that I picked up didnt look so hot so I used an alternative.
I measured the required gaps in all the required roof to bodywork joints and got hold of some closed cell, sticky backed foam strips. They come in just about every size possible and I made sure I added a third to each ones thickness so they compressed when fitted, negating the need for the adhesive apart from an aid to holding it in place whilst the bolts were tightened. I aint had so much as a drip since.

I think I picked it up off ebay................... something like this;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEOPRENE-...hash=item19ef1f845f:m:mW_2xK-DKFiHeHoZ-98b68g

I may still give this a go. But no its not leaking from between the windscreen and the roof. I took the hose to it yesterday and wherever it's leaking from, it's filling up that inner lip first, enough that the inner lip actually fills with water and not just getting damp.

Stormintrooper said:

I may still give this a go. But no its not leaking from between the windscreen and the roof. I took the hose to it yesterday and wherever it's leaking from, it's filling up that inner lip first, enough that the inner lip actually fills with water and not just getting damp.

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Sounds ominous. Must be a seam then. I dont fancy the chances of opening one of them up and resealing it successfully.
The only chance of a bodge for me would be to take any headlining out, strip and clean the seams about an inch either side of each run and make a small template so that if you run a thick bead of silicone onto the bare seam then draw the template down it so it leaves a tidy strip of silicone 2 inch by an eighth of an inch thick along each seam. The silicone will chemically bond to clean aluminium and stay put indefinitely. Has to be very clean and dry though.
Other than that a couple of thick brush applied coats of limestone enamel on the outside might just hold it back but paint tends to crack very easily on joints, it just aint got the elastisti, elastikits, elatricit, streachyness.

I had the same problem, and nearly drove me nuts! What I finally figured out was the rivets on the rain gutter were not tight enough.. Reset the rivetson the rain gutter down both sides and over the windscreen and solved the proble

In other words drill them all out and re do them?

used a hammer, punch and dolly with the help of a friend

trsheph said:

I had the same problem, and nearly drove me nuts! What I finally figured out was the rivets on the rain gutter were not tight enough.. Reset the rivetson the rain gutter down both sides and over the windscreen and solved the proble

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X1 that was my problem. Mine had popped in places. Redid the failed rivets and that solved it.

trsheph said:

used a hammer, punch and dolly with the help of a friend

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For the very un-enlightened of us. Dolly and punch is what sorry?

you might call a punch a drift and a dolly is a heavy piece of steel used in auto body repair,,

Get someone to hold a snap punch on the outside of the rivet (preferably with a lump hammer snugged up behind it) while you get inside and belt holy hell out of the other end with a flat punch and yammer. Bout a tenner plus any rivets required. I hope it does the trick.

ere.................

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Snap-punc...541374?hash=item41bed5903e:g:oFUAAOSwX~dWiAD6

Problems can arise when resetting an existing rivet with bulges in the middle of the rivet shaft rather than at each end. They do say you should replace them but if you can hit the blunt end round its edges rather than belting it in the centre you can control the compression better.

I'm not afraid to replace rivets if that's the better option?

Had the same leak problem, Roof & windscreen. Went to local caravan dealership & bought a length of rubber seal that goes round the door frame. Job done with no sealant used.

It's not coming from.between the roof and other panels. It's leaking through the roof

My mistake, thought it was the windscreen leak.

I posted a thread last week which didn't attract any response. However, it might be worth a look. Essentially, I was considering two potential fix's. One was to use platicoat, synthetic rubberised paint and the second was to "wrap" the whole roof with a Vynil Wrap product. My thoughts are that both would create a non porous seal across the whole surface. They both appeal to me because they are both inexpensive, DIY and, if it works, quick and easy.

Vinyl wrap crossed my mind but I need to clean the roof anyway as it's become a habitat from green moss

Had 3 landies each one leaked via the roof onto the dash / floor , usually via corner holes / bolts ,ultimately each one leaked via the gutter , which had just dried up , flexed & cracked .Never considered removing the rivets , just scraped out all the old hard sealant , replaced with a nice neat layer of siloflex , nice and tidy , doesn't need to be too thick , make sure the gutter holes are kept open & all leaks gone . worked for me each time .
steve

I made my first attempt to stop the leak with a very similar approach and it didn't help at all