Water leaks above headliners?

[andrewd]

Hi there,

When I bought my Discovery II in July it was hot and dry so I didn't even consider water leaks as being a problem. Then, a few months ago it started to rain and the water started coming in. At first, it was just the rear cargo door. I have alleviated the rear cargo door sag by moving my spare wheel to a swing away carrier and have purchased new hinges (not yet installed) for the rear door. The rear door does now seal properly even with the old hinges.

That should have taken care of it right? Not so fast newbie! When I went off-road with some of the island contingent of the club on October 10th it was a monsoon and I had water pouring in through the switches on the roof liner, through the pillars where the seat belts attach, etc. From what I could figure out the water was getting in and then running on top of the headliner until it could find a way out - dependant on what way the vehicle leaned.

I believe one if not both of the sun roofs are leaking. Either that, or the rear sky light windows are leaking. I can run some sealant around the sky light windows, but short of sealing the sunroofs with duct tape, does anyone have any ideas that might save me a huge bill at the local automotive glass place? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[punkinracer]

On the RRCs, there are two little drain tubes on either side of the sunroof that can get clogged with dirt and stuff. I'm assuming the discos are similar. The tubes run from the sunroof then to the door pillars. Probably have to take the headliner out to access them. A couple of mine were clogged solid and were leaking water into he cabin area, blew the tubes out and no more water issues. Worth a look into before breaking out the duck tape!
Pat

[Rob]

Ditto to what Pat says for sure.... after a couple of years of leak-free driving the sunroof on my P38 finally died (plastic drive components broke :( ) and it wouldn't seal properly anymore. I disconnected the switches and "glued" the roof in place with marine adhesive/sealant... no more leaks. If the drain clearing doesn't work I'd suggest sealing the roof with something like 3M 5200.... are you sure it is the sunroof? What about the rook racks? On the Discos there are holes in the roof for the mounting brackets so that might be a possible route as well.

Welcome to the leaky rover club, oil on the ground, water inside... and # 2,000,000 still sells for $600,000... :mrgreen:

Cheers, Rob

[andrewd]

Thanks very much Rob and Pat. I have cleaned around the sunroof openings and removed quite a bit of dirt, but didn't check the drain tubes any further.

I will see about removing the headliner in the spring when the weather is better because my new suspension lift and tires prevent me from getting her into the garage.

In the meantime, I'll just keep asking myself; what's a little water?

Cheers,
Andrew

[Crs]

Drain holes are a great place to start. However, I've been told that, on the older ones, the sunroof mechanism can separate from the roof. So, while the sunroof main still be sealing in its housing, the whole housing may be letting in water. Getting the whole assembly done isn't cheap because you can't get any 2nd hand parts (any D2 in a wreckers is unlikely to have a better sunroof than yours). I found getting a good tarp was the way to go with mine.

[punkinracer]

Well there is your problem right there, when you install a lift it puts the vehicle closer to the clouds allowing more water to get in!!