Sunroof leak - blocked drain?
Second G it has happened to - a pool of water in the drivers foot well. The first time I had a MB body shop investigate the whole sunroof (which they had REAL problems re-fitting). They had to refabricate the drain - at a cost. Now the "new" one doing the same thing. I managed to get a bit of garden wire down it (once). But I guess that the door pillar cap needs to come off for investigation. Does anyone have experience of this? I have photos of the work done to the first one - it did not fix the problem though and I am now told that it is the wiper spindles!
Hi Alan
most common areas causing water to collect in the footwells are-:
1.
worn wiper spindles... easy to obtain from MB but expensive to fit (4 manhours if you know what you are doing) steering wheel and instrument cluster must be removed to access drivers side spindle and remove glove box lining for the passenger side spindle ***NOTE ! disassemble new spindles and grease with high temp grease before installing.....
2.
corrosion under the windscreen rubber surround...remove the screen and thoroughly clean the meteal frame that the rubber surround fits into.. do the same to the rubber.. treat any corroded areas back to a smooth finish... apply heavy coating of petroleum jelly (Vaselene) to the rubber surround and leave for 24 hours ...wipe clean... re-instal and apply a continuous flow of professional windscreen sealer under the outer lip of the rubber surround press firmly and remove excess sealant ...chances are the water in the footwells will not re-appear
Peter is right, sunroofs get the blame when its actually the spindles, right hand side in particular, see if you get a puddle inside when its been raining and you have left the car outside, my bet is you don't, its the action of the wipers.
I have had a similar problem for a while now with my 463. I think the volume of water is to great to be through the wiper spindles ( which have no play) and the water does not appear to be coming from behind the dashboard or under it.
I suspect my front door seals or the sunroof drain pipes.The water collects at the rear of the footwells and the carpet in the storeage boxs under the front seats is also wet.
Where do the sunroof drain pipes exit from? I can find the openings at the sunroof but not where they eventualy exit the body.
Fixwin kindly sent me this schematic of the sunroof drain pipes which shows the layout but unfortunatly not where they exit.
Try pouring some water down the drains and see where it ends up. In my case the front drains led out to somewhere near the front wheel, so that turns out to be working.
I would also suspect the windscreen/surround. Spindles are easy enough to check for traces of water underneath, once you remove the glovebox/speedo cluster and shine a light in there..
-edit-
PDF of WIS on windshield installation attached for reference, showing where adhesive needs to be applied, and what part number to order from MB if you want to source it from there.
Hi Alan
I have had windscreens put in by "Professional" installers and they still leak.....cleaning and preparation of ALL SURFACES that interface with the seal and the glass is a must ...road dirt... rusty flakes.... corroded metal on the edge of the windscreen surround will leak ..one of these jobs where there is 99 ways to do it wrong and one to do it right....roof drains run down each side of the window frame/ pillar and terminate at the back of the front wheel arches..they can become blocked with mud if the G' has been offroading.....
Water leaks only take a pin hole to let in massive amounts of water, you could try pouring water down the windscreen tube, if its not coming out behind the front wing and the carpet is getting wetter then it doesnt take a genius to work it out!! easy way to clean them is forcing a drain cleaning rod down it, there is maybe some junk in it. When this happens the water can overflow the drain channels and come in the sunroof seal.
If its the wiper spindles you could try putting a garden hose above them, tape it onto the screen with duck tape or similar and see if you can see a leak coming in.
One other are we find allot of water leaks is through the doors, I dont know how the G doors work, but the water should run down the inside of the door and out the drain holes at the bottom of the door, these could be clogged, but either way the doors fill up with water under normal circumstances, if the seal (membrane) inside the door under the door trim a ripped or damaged the water could come over the door and into the truck. Usually a new membrane and butyl tape to seal it is a good idea.
I'm not 100% on G's as I am just about to get my first one, but any grommets for wiring or water pipes coming through the bulk head can be problem areas as well, the hose method usually works here, body sealer is good for sealing these up.
Hope this helps, just some tips and pointers to look for. The G I am about to buy has a water leak in the NS footwell so I recon I'm about to get well aquainted with these problems.
Gents - thank you ... no time for investigation yet sad to say.
I guess that the drain outlets are behind the inner wing ...
OK I seem to be getting some dampness through the sun roof when it rains hard - like this summer. I have looked at the schematic, but can't fathom it out. Any one got any picture or more detailed drawing or even a step by step guid? Me thinks me drains ar plugged, can damage occue by prodding wire down it or should I ask the professionals to sort it out?
Many thanks
Spider1V
OK I seem to be getting some dampness through the sun roof when it rains hard - like this summer. I have looked at the schematic, but can't fathom it out. Any one got any picture or more detailed drawing or even a step by step guid? Me thinks me drains ar plugged, can damage occue by prodding wire down it or should I ask the professionals to sort it out?
Many thanks
Spider1V
Did you get this fixed? Must be a knackered seal of a blocked drain hole?
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Windscreen is new and put in carefully ... Leak occurs when the vehicle is standing out in the rain - not when moving. All roads seem to the lead to the sunroof drains. The schematic confuses me as it suggests that the two drains go down one side of the windscreen. This could of account for water only gathering in the divers footwell. I shall get pouring water down each drain hole and see ... thank you all for your comments.