After a couple years of getting wet I have finally fixed my sun roof leaks and have roofs that open!
How did I do it?
After removing the headlining in this excellent article http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f38/discovery-how-repair-leaking-sunroof-guide-99543.html
I undid the tray from the inside of the car and supported it, I did not want to disconnect the tubes in case they broke. I also checked they were not blocked at the same time.
You are then left with the glass and surround which needs to be pushed out from inside the car. This is where I found the source of the leak, there was no seal between the roof and the sunroof surround and I could easily push the roof out!
This gave me a chance to dismantle everything, get it clean and dry. The glass is only held by 4 screws.
With everything clean and dry I applied a continuous bead of marine sealant called Sikaflex to the surround and one to the roof of the car you can then put the sunroof back in the car. One trick learnt here is if one corner won't fit in, it's quite a tight fit, open the sunroof before you fit it, pull the non fitting corner down while pushing the middle of the plastic surround up and it should pop in.
Then simply refit the metal tray, put all the screws in but not tight yet. Tighten all the screws gradually doing opposite ones to spread the load, then a final tighten all round.
Outside you should then have a bead of sealant all the way round the surround which can be wiped off using Acetone and a rag.
Once the roof lining is removed repairing two roofs took me about one and a half hours each. But the car is not leaking. Just need to get the interior cleaned and the De-humidifier on.
How did I do it?
After removing the headlining in this excellent article http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f38/discovery-how-repair-leaking-sunroof-guide-99543.html
I undid the tray from the inside of the car and supported it, I did not want to disconnect the tubes in case they broke. I also checked they were not blocked at the same time.
You are then left with the glass and surround which needs to be pushed out from inside the car. This is where I found the source of the leak, there was no seal between the roof and the sunroof surround and I could easily push the roof out!
This gave me a chance to dismantle everything, get it clean and dry. The glass is only held by 4 screws.
With everything clean and dry I applied a continuous bead of marine sealant called Sikaflex to the surround and one to the roof of the car you can then put the sunroof back in the car. One trick learnt here is if one corner won't fit in, it's quite a tight fit, open the sunroof before you fit it, pull the non fitting corner down while pushing the middle of the plastic surround up and it should pop in.
Then simply refit the metal tray, put all the screws in but not tight yet. Tighten all the screws gradually doing opposite ones to spread the load, then a final tighten all round.
Outside you should then have a bead of sealant all the way round the surround which can be wiped off using Acetone and a rag.
Once the roof lining is removed repairing two roofs took me about one and a half hours each. But the car is not leaking. Just need to get the interior cleaned and the De-humidifier on.
