Hello all, 55 plate (2006) 4.2 SC, had it a week and the headlining is currently in the spare bedroom after i found water.

Just want to pick peoples brains about what else can be dealt with while its down.

Is it worth changing the sunroof seals? I understand the glass one isn't meant to be watertight.
Does the shark fin aerial normally leak? Haven't seen much mention of that.

The Story:

The car has been sat since june, the sunroof may have been left open slightly, there are some small leaves between the headlining and the roof.

The passenger footwell was completely soaked, a good few litres of water down there and in the wiring well along the sill. took the carpet out on the passenger side by cutting it under the centre console out of sight, now drying.

Checked the air con drain which had a little kink, but no water backed up in there, it was dry, sorted the kink.

Had the side of the dash off, metal dash frame has surface rust. A pillar cover off, air bag has droplets on it. looked above headlining, lots of water droplets on underside of roof skin. Headling itself was totally dry on the underside, a little damp on top. if water is getting in the sunroof, then it seems to be tracking down the metalwork/airbags/A pillar.

Checked the front sunroof drains, the fronts are blocked but letting a little through. How does one normally get to the top of the rear drains before dropping the sunroof assembly? it looks like a few bolts and it will drop down unless its glued...

Cheers All

I had some seriously blocked up drain hoses, it took a fair bit of compressed air blown through in bursts to unclog them. I think my sunroof drain tray is cracked but the guy I got it from said he glued it sufficiently that it's draining right now. I'm also curious about the shark fin leaking since my headliner has sagged off the base in the rear. I would sure love to see some pictures of the inside of the roof with the liner out if you could.

DONT blow through the drains with compressed air unless it’s 2010 plus!

Stupid they just push the drain hoses on - 2010 they cable tie them tight... I’d be tempted to put cable ties on them while it’s down bit before hand pull them and blow through.

Also the shark fin will go take it off there is probably rust already if you take the plate off. Replaced mine with a better aftermarket one... Current stable:
2006 BMW M6
2007 4.2 V8 S/C FF
Gone:
2002 4.4 V8 FF

It seems to have worked pretty well. He blew from the bottom up not top down if that makes a difference. Either way, when it's raining there's water pouring out the hose so for now I'll call it good but that's part of why I want to see what it looks like with the headliner out.

you may have got lucky or they may have used their brains and put cable ties on from the get go on the NAS spec models... Current stable:
2006 BMW M6
2007 4.2 V8 S/C FF
Gone:
2002 4.4 V8 FF

Check the windscreen for leaks, they can come unstuck and leak badly, a hose on the top and sides and you can see it up under the foot wells if it leaks, especially if it’s not the original screen... Pete

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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the slow replies, I didnt get an email to say I had replies!

I drove around for about 5 days with the headlining down to keep an eye on it, to see where the water was coming from before I started fixing things.

So the sunroof tray basically is an open bath, with which isnt sealed to the roof at all, you can just put your hands over the top of it in situ and dip your hands in water if the drains are blocked, which mine were. I made a video demonstrating this...


To unblock the drain pipes, i used a water hoover, adapted the hoover pipe down to a snug fit around ends of the drains, and then sucked in both directions alternately while feeding a bit of nylon with a rounded brass bit on the end (for running cables in conduit, from screwfix) and pouring hot water down the pipe, and then once it was clear i attached a garden hose set to low flow to give it a good flushing for a few mins.
Reassembled and worked very well, as you can pour litres of water into the sunroof tray now and it drains very easily.

However, i then noticed that the plastic drain assemblies at the rear of the sunroof tray were dripping, so i took the whole tray down, unglued them and re sealed with tiger seal. Blew out any debris from the runners and re- lubricated.

Shark fin was fine under water test.

All good now, apart from the boot which has some minor ingress. Keeping an eye on the windscreen too.


Its all back together now.

Thanks All.

Here are some pics of the tray down and being sealed. There is a cross hose at the back, this may need unblocking and cable tie treatment too.

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Good stuff, thanks. I need to get in there and do this too. My drain tray had a crack in it that is supposedly fixed but I want to solve whatever is going on for good. Hey you didn't happen to take any pics of the roof with the headliner down did you? My rear window washer doesn't work and I'm curious where the line runs.

So apart from that video i can't see where the line runs clearly, I had a look at my photos. Did you locate it?

I haven't dropped the headliner yet. I get pretty wimpy when it comes to working on my cars outside in the winter so until we get a warm day most things are on hold. I really need a garage...