electric sunroof convertion

does any one know if the sunroof's and the headlining trims where the switches fit etc, would fit ok in a disco 2 1999 pre facelift? are they basically the same?

sparky steve said:

does any one know if the sunroof's and the headlining trims where the switches fit etc, would fit ok in a disco 2 1999 pre facelift? are they basically the same?

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From what?

biggeeeee said:

From what?

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for taking out my manual sunroofs and fitting the electric ones..
found someone who's breaking a 300 and wondered if the stuff would directly fit my TD5..

got to take out the headlining soon any way to seal the roofs so was going to kill two birds and fit the electric system whilst i was doing the work.
so i know the motors just replace the manual handle system, but its the switch panels, do they fit

thats a great way of making them leak if they dont already

landrover couldnt stop em leaking from the factory so u got no chance

I wouldnt bother, the motors will definately get wet & sieze, Im amazed when people say their sunroofs dont leak, because if you look how deep the drip channel is & only 2 drain tubes, then if you park on certain slopes in heavy rain, you'll notise that the motor is a good drain point. Stick with what you have & save youself the hassle

sparky steve said:

for taking out my manual sunroofs and fitting the electric ones..
found someone who's breaking a 300 and wondered if the stuff would directly fit my TD5..

got to take out the headlining soon any way to seal the roofs so was going to kill two birds and fit the electric system whilst i was doing the work.
so i know the motors just replace the manual handle system, but its the switch panels, do they fit

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I'm fairly sure the switch panel will fit as the tray thingy that the visors fit into are the same on the 300 and the Disco II.

The headlining will be different as the Disco II is about 6 inches longer

Planny said:

I wouldnt bother, the motors will definately get wet & sieze, Im amazed when people say their sunroofs dont leak, because if you look how deep the drip channel is & only 2 drain tubes, then if you park on certain slopes in heavy rain, you'll notise that the motor is a good drain point. Stick with what you have & save youself the hassle

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Be amazed again, my sunroofs don't leak perhaps because I only open the once a year to clean the seal and channel and then shut up for another year. I don't need them but you didn't have an option not to have them when you buy an ES

wiltshire landyman said:

thats a great way of making them leak if they dont already

landrover couldnt stop em leaking from the factory so u got no chance

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cool i love a challenge

Planny said:

I wouldnt bother, the motors will definately get wet & sieze, Im amazed when people say their sunroofs dont leak, because if you look how deep the drip channel is & only 2 drain tubes, then if you park on certain slopes in heavy rain, you'll notise that the motor is a good drain point. Stick with what you have & save youself the hassle

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ooo good idea add more drain tubes

biggeeeee said:

I'm fairly sure the switch panel will fit as the tray thingy that the visors fit into are the same on the 300 and the Disco II.

The headlining will be different as the Disco II is about 6 inches longer

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thanks biggeeeee, yeah it's just the switch/ handle panels i want to swap
so being longer shouldn't make any differance.

Drain tubes are at the front just to take any run off of water that's on the glass when it tilts that's also why you have a plastic trim on the leading edge of the glass, to part water to the sides and into the channels. If the two seals are ok you won't need drain tubes.

Water gets anywhere, your seals may be tiptop but water still gets past, the drain tubes end up bending slightly uphill above headlining before going down A posts, so you can end up with a puddle in your sunroof channel. If not your lucky, but many sunroofs that leak don't soak the headlining, the water runs down behind the A post trims & gives a soaking under the front carpet which most people never notice. Believe me the sunroofs were a nasty design, thank f... we don't fit em in the later Disco

just an update.

sunroofs fitted sealed wired and working perfectly
300tdi front panel doesn't quite fit. but what the heck it goes on just

had a strange experiance coming back from Wellingbough.picking the electric roof system up
stopped at a service station on M6, this guy ran up to me all excited,
saying he had just got his first disco, then was asking how things worked.
told him what i was up to, he said "i've only got the manual ones but no handles"
well what else could i do? whipped out the old swiss army knife, screwdriver in hand whipped off the handles and gave them to him
lol he was made up

you don't have to be mad to own a disco, but by god it helps

discool said:

Drain tubes are at the front just to take any run off of water that's on the glass when it tilts that's also why you have a plastic trim on the leading edge of the glass, to part water to the sides and into the channels. If the two seals are ok you won't need drain tubes.

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As there is a 6mm gap around the whole of the glass in the roof and the inner seal sits below the roof level, without the drain tubes the gutter tray that fit on the underside would fill up with water, with no drain tubes there wouldn't be any place for it to go.
Now as the inner seal is below the roof level and if the glass moves all that water (down to the seal level) would enter the vehicle. Which has nothing really to do with the water thats sitting on top of the glass as it tips, but fair to say this would make the situation worse.

so I don't think there being no tubes would work too well, unfortunately the gutter/drip tray has to have holes for the motor drive to go through, as they are lower than the seal, the water would drain via this into the motor, also the stubs that the drain tube fit onto are right above the map pockets, anything jammed into them can cause them to break, now the sunroof will drain into the headlining. this appears to be one of the most common causes, the other being metal tray to plastic collector/sump are poor and tend to separate over time. I have never come across a sunroof leaking because of just bad seals, windy maybe, but lots of water not really.

Getting to be good at fixing the leaks, once the cause is identified, all the leaks since have been down to my shoddy repairs and redoing them properly has cured them for now.

The manual winder gearbox and fitting seem to have a better seal and don't seem to give as many problems, but the drain tube thing is just as common.

The water ingress can soon damage the motor, there is a good tread on here about doing a repair, which works if they haven't gone too far.
I got my last motor from the states as it was cheaper than buying one off e-bay in the UK. even with the postage...so I guess there is a healthy demand for replacement water damaged motors

Well stated WALPOLEER they wouldnt listen to me

If both of the sunroof seals work ok you dont need drain tubes. True or false ???????????

Doesnt matterhow good the seals are, a bit of frost makes them harden slightly, then water gets past,then as they warm up they soften again.

discool said:

If both of the sunroof seals work ok you dont need drain tubes. True or false ???????????

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False :bounce:
Just think about it, its not rocket science, Please read my previous post, its just common sense, If the glass is to be mounted at the roof line then the seals will be below and hence allow water to enter.
Without those tube you would never dare to open the roof, and with the water sitting in the gap between the metal and glass would soon get green and mouldy. If those tubes were not needed I am pretty sure the company would have got rid as a cost saving. Its not just Land Rover ALL vehicles fitted with a flush sunroof will have drain tubes off some type fitted.

The seals are there to prevent wind blown water and drafts entering the vehicle, the drain tubes are for water control.

Older style Webasto sunroofs were always mounted above the roof line and used a raised lip with an overlapping cover that directed the water externally into the existing roof gutters.

I have just converted my manual sunroof to electric, just bolted the elec motors in + the wiring loom and it all works Had to use the front and rear trim (roof lining) out of another disco for the switches to fit in. Everything works + no leaks

walpoleer said:

False :bounce:
Just think about it, its not rocket science, Please read my previous post, its just common sense, If the glass is to be mounted at the roof line then the seals will be below and hence allow water to enter.
Without those tube you would never dare to open the roof, and with the water sitting in the gap between the metal and glass would soon get green and mouldy. If those tubes were not needed I am pretty sure the company would have got rid as a cost saving. Its not just Land Rover ALL vehicles fitted with a flush sunroof will have drain tubes off some type fitted.

The seals are there to prevent wind blown water and drafts entering the vehicle, the drain tubes are for water control.

Older style Webasto sunroofs were always mounted above the roof line and used a raised lip with an overlapping cover that directed the water externally into the existing roof gutters.

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It does, but no that "soon" thats why I open my sunroof once or twice a year to clean the groove around the glass. If you don't have water laying in the groove surrounding the glass it must be going somewhere and that will be past your glass seal, so it's faulty and not working.

I've told you what the tubes are for in my previous post so please read it. If you don't want to believe it OK DON'T .... there's no need to keep up your posts explaining on the basics of water in relation to disco sunroofs I think that after 14 years of my disco ownership my knowledge it's perhaps a lot more than yours.

Why the large red characters do you have a problem.?

END.

Disco+sunroof+H20 = damp eventually. Don't open mine...trying to delay the inevitable. Still, a few weeks back we had terrible weather, high winds and sideways rain, bloody little damp patch found its way in

Silverlandy said:

Disco+sunroof+H20 = damp eventually. Don't open mine...trying to delay the inevitable. Still, a few weeks back we had terrible weather, high winds and sideways rain, bloody little damp patch found its way in

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I don't open mine, I don't use them and don't need them as I have a/c fitted but then I had to have them it wasn't an option.

My firms Accord has a sunroof I have never opened that either