Sliding Sunroof Airlock And Puddle In Passenger Footwell

[Guest Delboy]

Hi guys,

 

I have done loads of searching and got many answers for the puddle in the passenger footwell, but none that quite answers what I need answering.

 

Apologies if it has been covered before, but I did look hard (Advanced Google Searching etc).

 

Basically, my aerial was letting in a very small amount of water. Just tiny drips when it had been raining, more of an irritation than anything, so yesterday I re-sealed it all with some silicone sealant.

 

As it absolutely hammered down last night I thought I'd go out to the car this morning and check my tinkering had worked. The good news is that there was no signs that the aerial was weeping water anymore, the bad news was the 1 inch or so deep puddle in the passenger footwell!!

 

It's never leaked like that before and the car has been out in several heavy rain showers in the few weeks that I've owned her.

 

Having cleared out the water I did some investigating and it appears it's dripped down from the passenger front corner of the roof (headlining is quite wet in this area). Carpet around the door is dry, it's not coolant (so not heater matrix leak) and no signs of water under the dash or towards the bulkhead.

 

Now here is the question I couldn't find the answer to.

 

When I was removing and re-fitting the aerial yesterday, I had the sunroof open for ease of access to the aerial. I closed it properly afterwards, but the engine wasn't running.

 

I believe the airlock system for the sunroof relies on engine vac to operate, therefore, is it possible the sunroof wouldn't have sealed properly when I closed it without the engine running yesterday? If so is it also possible that the water could have run in behind the seal (between the seal and the body) and then, as the car was on a mild slope, run across the roof and dripped onto the roof lining in the passenger side front corner, eventually dripping onto the passenger footwell.

 

That was the only puddle in the whole car, no puddles anywhere else.

 

If that's not possible I believe the culprit could either be a dodgy looking fabric washer on one of the sunroof body fixing screws in the front passenger corner of the sunroof or the usual blocked drain hole perhaps?

 

Thanks very much for the help guys and any tips on drying out 205 carpet are greatfully received

 

Del

[Guest Delboy]

Surely someone can confirm if the theory with the airlock is at least possible or not?

[Galifrey 1]

Surely someone can confirm if the theory with the airlock is at least possible or not?

 

Thought it used the vacuum to open, not to close?

[Guest Delboy]

Cheers galifrey.

 

See that would make sense, it opened fine though and the engine wasn't on then either. I did think when I closed it that day it didn't look as sealed as normal, but could have been my imagination.

 

Going to have a good look at it all this weekend, strip the carpet and sound deadening out to dry properly and inspect all the sunroof fixings.

 

What's the best thing to use to push through the drainage ducts that's readily available?

[Galifrey 1]

Don't know about cleaning the drains, for the sunroof, if it will slide then it isn't sealed properly, so check that first, unhook the sunroof without opening the handle fully and see if it will slide open.

[CosKev 16]

IMO it won't be from the vacuum seal onto the glass

Its quite high up for the water to get there to leak in,only time it would get up that high is if your drains are blocked I would think

Could well be like my 309,the drains will be rotten

s*it Pug design where the rubber hose goes onto the metal sunroof frame,the pipe is smaller than the metal drain and the water runs back and sits in the join of metal to rubber pipe

After removing the rubber pipe I found this on all four drains:

 

After removing the worst rust:

 

I fixed it with some 10mm copper pipe and some straight couplers,which are a very good fit into the orig drains

 

Make the copper pipe pipe abit longer than orig drains to stop the chance of water running back,I used Tiger seal to bond pipe into drain.

 

Then I used a smear of Tiger seal when refitting the pipe,along with a cable tie for good measure.You can see the slight bulge where the copper pipe goes down to on this pic:

 

Also worth noting the rear drain pipes are crushed between the plastic surround and the roof as standard,which crushes the pipe down to about half its size,which then gets blocked up and the water sits in sunroof frame

I cut some out of the plastic frame to stop it getting crushed:

 

Then just a smear of Tiger seal round the outside to finish:

 

[Guest Delboy]

Cheers CosKev, very useful post, especially the pictures

 

Will strip everything out this weekend and see what I find!

[CosKev 16]

Cheers CosKev, very useful post, especially the pictures

 

Will strip everything out this weekend and see what I find!

 

No probs,good luck

[Guest Delboy]

Got the carpet and sound deadening out this morning before the heavens opened again.

 

I've not had any more puddles like the last one again, so I'm thinking the poorly sealed sunroof last sat was a contributing factor, however there is def still a leak somewhere in that area of the roof. Sunroof drain still a high suspect, was about to investigate when the weather did it's thing, so I'll save that for the next dry moment.

 

Condition of the floor is excellent, one patch of rust in the rear passenger footwell about the size of a golf ball. Looks like surface so I'll sand it back and seal it.

 

Unfortunately I found another problem. When I removed the lower centre console, on top of the lower pocket casing were two tiny drips of coolant. Both smaller than a 5p piece and definitely not a big leak back there as nothing else had any coolant on, but still a sign the matrix is on it's way out I guess.

 

Not sure I fancy tackling that job, so I'll have to get some money together to get that sorted asap.

 

List of things to sort on car is now as follows:

 

Heater Matrix

Sunroof leak

Suspected weeping front crank seal

 

Not a lot really. Fingers crossed when they're all sorted she'll be good for a while!

[Guest Delboy]

Hi guys,

 

I thought I would report back with my findings having now removed the roof lining from the car and investigated the leak properly.

 

Sunroof drains are in perfect condition, absolutely no rot at all, which was a nice result

 

Loads of dampness around that area though and the water had been running from the roof, down the A pillar, behind the passenger footwell kick plate and onto the floor.

 

Soon enough I found the problem, when looking up at the sunroof drain I realised I could see daylight through the roof!

 

 

That hole on the top left of the pic was to blame. I'm guessing there is meant to be a screw or something in there ordinarily? Either way, both sides had this same hole. I'd seen them previously when I first started looking for the leak, but as I hadn't been able to see from inside before getting the lining out I thought they led into the drainage tubes.

 

Have now blocked them both up with some silicone sealant and small self tapping screws. I'll keep the lining out until the next heavy shower so I can be sure no more water is getting in, then I'll put it back.

 

Going to leave the carpet out until I can fix the heater matrix and get that rust patch I found welded up. It's more than surface rust as I almost stuck my finger through it earlier!

 

 

Getting there!

[CosKev 16]

Nice to find an easy fix like that

 

That hole is from the fittings of one of those gay wind deflector things people fit to 205's/309's

 

Should have been filled/blanked off when they removed the gay thing

[Guest Delboy]

Nice to find an easy fix like that

 

That hole is from the fittings of one of those gay wind deflector things people fit to 205's/309's

 

Should have been filled/blanked off when they removed the gay thing

 

ah, I see! Cheers Kev, I was struggling to think of any reason why those holes should be there!

 

Will be nice to not have to worry about the car everytime it rains now!!

[CosKev 16]

ah, I see! Cheers Kev, I was struggling to think of any reason why those holes should be there!

 

Will be nice to not have to worry about the car everytime it rains now!!

 

Yeah,I hate water leaks

Especially the ones that drip on your head when you reverse car off drive after a downpour!!!