Sealing up sunroofs

Ok, I've searched and read ad nauseam all the threads I could find about sunroof leaks. Lots of good info and how-tos, etc...

My question is - has anybody ever just sealed the damn things shut, with any degree of success? It seems to me that the easiest / quickest way would be to just lift the outer seal edge and Sikaflex under that all the way round, then Sikaflex the gap between the glass and the black outer seal - bingo, no need to go removing headlinings or buggering around with drains, etc etc. This, of course, assumes that you are happy to never open the damn things (which I am, since they only open a crack and then jam anyhow).

Thoughts?

glass sealing tape round mine, otherwise known as clear gaffa tape with super sticky glue on it, its been on 6 months through a bad winter here in poland -30 at times and lots of wet stuff before and after, not a drop inside the disco.

Its only the rear one that was leaking on mine, front is still water tight (at the mo) it leaves me the option of fixing the rear one day, but that isnt gonna happen. my thinking is mine is a tall rascal so the only folk who see the tape are truckers and tbh i dont give a feck what those prozzy murdering barstewards think anyway

Did the first part, liftng the plastic frame edge and injecting Silkaflex into the gap, the glass seal is easy to replace what we did is in this thread. http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/can-disco-sunroof-leaks-cured-185407.html

discool said:

Did the first part, liftng the plastic frame edge and injecting Silkaflex into the gap, the glass seal is easy to replace what we did is in this thread. http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/can-disco-sunroof-leaks-cured-185407.html

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Yes, that was one of the ones I read through.

In terms of the 'drains' - what are they actually draining away? Water that gets into the unsealed area around the edge of the glass? If so, and given that I can't be bothered dismantling anything to poke bits of wire through pipes, would the only sure-fire way to cure this be to permanently seal up the gap between the glass and the outer seal, as I described?

Or do I have it wrong, and the drains drain the areas INSIDE the inner seal should water get past it?

Sunroofs aren't designed to be a perfect seal, they have a gutter all the way around and a drain on each corner so whatever angle you park the water should drain out! You can pour water into the gutter to check em? Sealing up works, if it's buggered any way it's the easy option just can look scruffy! Up to you

Diesel Do said:

Sunroofs aren't designed to be a perfect seal, they have a gutter all the way around and a drain on each corner so whatever angle you park the water should drain out! You can pour water into the gutter to check em? Sealing up works, if it's buggered any way it's the easy option just can look scruffy! Up to you

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Not on a D1 or 2 the drains are at the front corners and the "gutter" is just on each side, and what is the reason are they "not designed" to be a perfect seal ? LR had a recall to make the sunroofs water tight following customer complaints on new vehicles.

Clarky130 said:

Yes, that was one of the ones I read through.

In terms of the 'drains' - what are they actually draining away? Water that gets into the unsealed area around the edge of the glass? If so, and given that I can't be bothered dismantling anything to poke bits of wire through pipes, would the only sure-fire way to cure this be to permanently seal up the gap between the glass and the outer seal, as I described?

Or do I have it wrong, and the drains drain the areas INSIDE the inner seal should water get past it?

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Water under the body to frame seal can go anywhere, the drains at the front are there to take any run off of water shoud any be laying on the glass when the glass is tilted, thats why there's a plastic trim on the front of the glass will part the water so it runs into the channel either side

If the glass seal is faulty water can just run over the top and onto the head lining the nothing to direct the water to the front drains if it goes towards the drain then that is just luck as we all know water takes the shortest route.

Sunroofs that retracted back into the roof lining do have drains on all four corners as they dont lift before opening like the disco sunroof does.

discool said:

Not on a D1 or 2 the drains are at the front corners and the "gutter" is just on each side, and what is the reason are they "not designed" to be a perfect seal ? LR had a recall to make the sunroofs water tight following customer complaints on new vehicles.

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What's the reason they put a gutter and drains there? I said not perfect, I didn't say they're designed to leak like a sieve! The gutter should be more than up to anything that gets past the seal. So if it's ****ing in there's a fault cos the gutter and drain can't cope, sounds like the mechanism may be knackered, is it square in the hole? If land rover made them 100%water tight why do so many suffer with leaks?? I've worked on many makes and models over a twenty year period, fair comment not a land rover dealer, never has a manufacture I've worked for made a claim like that and they've had significantly better build quality. Never come across a car making a strange sloshing noise? Only to discover the sill is full of water but the interior is bone dry! The sunroof drains dump the water into the sill, the sill drains block and there's a gallon of water in the sill, if the sunroof was 100% water tight it would never happen! They're pretty generic manufacturer to manufacturer they aren't made by land rover or ford or BMW or whoever. They're made by specialist firms that make them for many manufacturers often sharing components!

If you are talking about the glass tilt roofs - I have reluctantly siliconed my front one shut ( still drips occasionally ) as i was fed up with getting free showers
The rear one my kids love standing up with theyre heads out of so if i sealed that one up i wouldnt be popular - However i come up with an idea the other day which has cured the rear leak - I just fitted a two mm packer with two holes drilled in it under the twisty opener where it screws to the surround and hey presto it now pulls down 2mm more when closed - this seems to have cured it as it now squeezes the gasket better
Worth a try as its worked for me !!

i had the same thing with the rear leakin i used black gutter sealant and its worked great

I gaffataped both of Mine shut with success untill some twa* decided to pull it of for me saying "what's this for" now it leaks again.... On the front anyways