Mr Bean Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 Well over the past few weeks i have been getting very wet everytime i have been out in the rain. By very wet i mean i soaked! The good lady has taken it twice to a local garage who said they cant find anything wrong! Thankfully they never charged anything. So yesterday i finally got round to dropping the roof lining at the front to see if i could see anything. Well low and behold the drain pipe above the drivers seat had snapped off! So i have found some plastic tube the right size kicking around in the shed and have glued it in and connected the drain pipe back together. During last night there was a proper storm and it has stayed totally dry!!! But the question that i am asking is how does it snap off in the first place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcc1979ian Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 the plastic deterates through time and becomes brittle and just snaps, i had exactly the same problem a few weeks back and fixed it the same way, but now i have a new leak somewhere that i cant find and its just the carpet in the drivers footwell thats soaking wet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teabag Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 The sunroof is leaking because of a faulty seal, not because of a detached drain tube that'sonly there just to take any run-off if the sunroof is raised with water laying on top, that's why they are at the front only and you have a plastic strip on the leading edge of the glass to divert any water to the sides . Sort the seals and you have sorted the leaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiscoHere Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Hi all Does anyone have any advice as to how to sort the seals. Is it just a case of cleaning them and the sunroof itself or should I oil them as well. What about wd40 or vaseline? Hugh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcc1979ian Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 The sunroof is leaking because of a faulty seal, not because of a detached drain tube that'sonly there just to take any run-off if the sunroof is raised with water laying on top, that's why they are at the front only and you have a plastic strip on the leading edge of the glass to divert any water to the sides . Sort the seals and you have sorted the leaks. fixed the drain tube on mine and no more leak, and its not as if we havent had enough rain to test it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bean Posted July 20, 2012 Author Share Posted July 20, 2012 The sunroof is leaking because of a faulty seal, not because of a detached drain tube that'sonly there just to take any run-off if the sunroof is raised with water laying on top, that's why they are at the front only and you have a plastic strip on the leading edge of the glass to divert any water to the sides . Sort the seals and you have sorted the leaks. I did consider the option that should water be getting in there in the first place? But the seal between the glass and the frame is not leaking so which seal are you referring to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooroy Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 In my experience the seal that often causes the problem is the one between the sunroof frame and the vehicle roof . The seal thins out over time and allows water in . Having read many posts when I first had problems many posters said that the problem was rarely blocked/broken pipes or a faulty seal between glass and sunroof . The seal between frame and vehicle was the most common problem . To sort it properly you need to remove the frame and re-seal between frame and vehicle roof using Tiger Seal or similar . As teabag explained the drain pipes only come into play if water has gotten past one of the seals . The reason fixing your broken pipe resulted in an apparent cure is because , while the leak may still be there , the water is now draining away rather than down on top of you . You may find water comes in if the vehicle is parked facing up hill as the drain pipes are on the front of each sunroof . I only sorted 3 Discos with leaky sunroofs but in all 3 the pipes were clear and unbroken . Rather than removing the sunroof frame you could try a temporary test to see if the problem is between sunroof frame and vehicle roof : (a) run a bead of silicone etc all around the joint where frame and roof meet or (b) seal this joint with wide tape and see if it helps . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bean Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 That's good to hear as when i repaired the drain tubes i took the initiative to re-seal the sunroof frame and the actual roof. Hopefully the combination of the two repairs will sort it for a few years to come. I just wish the sun-roof was never fitted seeing as though as i have climate control it is never used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooroy Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 When I was 'researching' I read reports of some Disco's leaking in the gutters - due to faulyt/failing sealing there where the roof is attached to the sides .. Some had success by cleaning the gutters and re-sealing with silicone etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrolhead63 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 my experience is it is usually the frame seal into the roof, the sunroof frame tendes to go a bit out of shape with age too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooroy Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 When I took the sunroofs out of my 2001 Td5 the gasket between roof and frame was just a thin sheet of paper . May have been more substantial when first fitted but over the years had thinned out to nothing - would offer no sealing effect at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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