Leaking hardtop on 3 door Freelander 1 fixed.

Old diver · Oct 19, 2020

Got fed up of the boot topping up, so decided to hunt down the leaks. Took off the roof rail, in true Landrover fashion the last screw was a total tw** and had to be drilled out, impact driver wouldn’t shift it. Removed the hard top to find the seal was in very good condition. On inspection of the hard top I found two channels that run front to back on each side of the top, one of the channels is just pattern, the other is where the sides of the hardtop are joined to the top and are fitted with a seal. There was water marks on the inside of the side windows, so these seals were leaking. You can get to these inside the hardtop but it looks a mega job to remove all the lining etc. I decided to seal them from the outside using black Stixall sealant (£6.17 delivered by Amazon) started at the front and filled the channels and run it down the back to where the hardtop sits on the car. Noticed a leak at the back window so I filled the gap on the plastic cover that the rear window tucks under. Checked the boot this morning and totally dry after a night of rain. I was attempting to buy a hardtop seal prior to this repair and luckily enough, no one had one, saving £100 plus. If your leaking, give it a go, only costs £6.

rob_bell · Oct 19, 2020

Can you post pictures of where you applied the sealant? Silicone spray also worked on mine for a while - but has since worn off: there is a small tear in the seal which needs fixing I think, but there are some tell-tail drip marks on the inside of the window - but I am unsure whether this is historical or not...

Old diver · Oct 21, 2020

Sorry for delay, here is where I sealed. I recommend a flexible seal as I’m sure the hardtop flexes. I am going to use the sealant on all the hard top seals, it’s black and not really noticeable when tidied up.

Jayridium · Oct 21, 2020

What were you using as a camera?

Nodge68 · Oct 21, 2020

Jayridium said:
What were you using as a camera?

A tablet looking at the reflection of it in the window.

Jayridium · Oct 22, 2020

It just struck me as overly large for a tablet?

Old diver · Oct 22, 2020

Jayridium said:
What were you using as a camera?

Just my ipad

Old diver · Oct 22, 2020

Nodge68 said:
A tablet looking at the reflection of it in the window.

Correct, my iPad.

Old diver · Oct 22, 2020

Jayridium said:
It just struck me as overly large for a tablet?

Because it’s cover was open.

Alibro · Oct 24, 2020

Cool braces. Haven't seen them for a while.

Old diver · Oct 24, 2020

Alibro said:
Cool braces. Haven't seen them for a while.

All I ever use and has to be the button type, not clips. Some excellent hammer on buttons on the net. Only drawback is the grandkids love to twang them.

Old diver · Nov 2, 2020

Well folks, Mr happy because I sorted the wet box in the boot. Went out this morning and there is an inch and a half of water in the front passenger well. No indication of where it come from? Time to part company with the bitch. May scrap it on the drive. Going Japanese, never buy British again.

Jayridium · Nov 2, 2020

Old diver said:
Well folks, Mr happy because I sorted the wet box in the boot. Went out this morning and there is an inch and a half of water in the front passenger well. No indication of where it come from? Time to part company with the bitch. May scrap it on the drive. Going Japanese, never buy British again.

That is frustrating, but maybe a tad melodramatic?

For water in the footwells I'm going to guess that the covers where the roofbars would go just behind the sun roof panels are letting water in. Looking at the pic you posted, it looks like the vehicle has previously had roofbars on it but they've been removed leaving the exposed bolts, however there doesn't seem to be any signs of the proper blanks & rubber seals there, which I'm guessing is letting water in. On my own one, same colour as yours but four years older, I've just this weekend masticked up the front edge of my roof bars as I didn't have any rubber seals on them and I had some water ingress issues. I also removed the sunroof panels and gave the rubber seals a scrub and a spray with silicone spray. The silicone spray is an old MR2 t-bar (targa roof) owners trick, that should work well on the three door hippo.

Old diver · Nov 3, 2020

Jayridium said:
That is frustrating, but maybe a tad melodramatic?

For water in the footwells I'm going to guess that the covers where the roofbars would go just behind the sun roof panels are letting water in. Looking at the pic you posted, it looks like the vehicle has previously had roofbars on it but they've been removed leaving the exposed bolts, however there doesn't seem to be any signs of the proper blanks & rubber seals there, which I'm guessing is letting water in. On my own one, same colour as yours but four years older, I've just this weekend masticked up the front edge of my roof bars as I didn't have any rubber seals on them and I had some water ingress issues. I also removed the sunroof panels and gave the rubber seals a scrub and a spray with silicone spray. The silicone spray is an old MR2 t-bar (targa roof) owners trick, that should work well on the three door hippo.

The roof bars were removed to take off the removable top. They were taped up all the time the bars were off and were re fitted 10 minutes after the pic was taken, so no ingress there. Sunroof panels had been off and seal cleaned. The water appeared over a week after the roof bars were replaced

Old diver · Nov 9, 2020

Sealed all the top joints and around the glass roof panels, around windscreen and various smaller joints with waterproof tape. Went out this morning after a night of rain and there was an inch and a half of water in passenger footwell. Where the f+++ is it coming from? Not coolant as I’m not losing any.

Nodge68 · Nov 9, 2020

Either the windscreen isn't original and not sealed correctly. Or it's coming through the heater plenum, due to blocked drainage channels.

terrier989 · Jul 20, 2021

Old diver said:
Sealed all the top joints and around the glass roof panels, around windscreen and various smaller joints with waterproof tape. Went out this morning after a night of rain and there was an inch and a half of water in passenger footwell. Where the f+++ is it coming from? Not coolant as I’m not losing any.

Going back to your roof sealing abt to follow your method, can you remember if you removed the vertical bits to the right of the channel and before the glass they feel as if they should come of but don't want to tug and break one,

Old diver said:
Sorry for delay, here is where I sealed. I recommend a flexible seal as I’m sure the hardtop flexes. I am going to use the sealant on all the hard top seals, it’s black and not really noticeable when tidied up.View attachment 221687

Going back to your roof sealing about to follow your method, can you remember if you removed the vertical bits to the right of the channel and before the glass they feel as if they should come of but don't want to tug and break one, on your image the left jhand side one has the tape on it for the middle section of it.

cheers
terrier

Old diver · Jul 20, 2021

terrier989 said:
Going back to your roof sealing abt to follow your method, can you remember if you removed the vertical bits to the right of the channel and before the glass they feel as if they should come of but don't want to tug and break one,

Going back to your roof sealing about to follow your method, can you remember if you removed the vertical bits to the right of the channel and before the glass they feel as if they should come of but don't want to tug and break one, on your image the left jhand side one has the tape on it for the middle section of it.

cheers
terrier

My Freelander is now totally dry. I still had a leak at the back door, but was lucky to get a very good seal off a scrapped TD4. I didn’t remove any plastic bits and all the tape is off the car. It is going to make such a difference in winter, not having thick ice on all the insides of the windows, especially the drips off the roof glass.

Dippypud · Jul 20, 2021

Old diver said:
My Freelander is now totally dry. I still had a leak at the back door, but was lucky to get a very good seal off a scrapped TD4. I didn’t remove any plastic bits and all the tape is off the car. It is going to make such a difference in winter, not having thick ice on all the insides of the windows, especially the drips off the roof glass.

As winter draws nearer, put a wipe of petroleum jelly around the seals to stop them sticking and tearing when it freezes ...

terrier989 · Jul 21, 2021

Old diver said:
My Freelander is now totally dry. I still had a leak at the back door, but was lucky to get a very good seal off a scrapped TD4. I didn’t remove any plastic bits and all the tape is off the car. It is going to make such a difference in winter, not having thick ice on all the insides of the windows, especially the drips off the roof glass.

Thank you

terrier

Leaking hardtop on 3 door Freelander 1 fixed.

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