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Sunroof Leak, Please HELP!!!



  1.2 Dynamique
As the title says, my sunroof is leaking into the car and onto my seat :( it started off on the passengers side, got that fixed and now its on the drivers side. It's had a new seal put in and has been fitted back in correctly. What should I do?
Any help at all will be greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance
Chris
 
How long ago was the seal replaced? If its leaking again, take it back and get the seal replaced. Other than that, do it yourself.
 
  1.2 Dynamique
I'd say about 2 weeks ago, wasn't long at all, just seems strange how one side has been fixed and it's gone to the other, me and my grandad replaced it. we've also had the full sunroof out and put that back in properly.
 
  Arctic Blue 182 FF
I'd say about 2 weeks ago, wasn't long at all, just seems strange how one side has been fixed and it's gone to the other, me and my grandad replaced it. we've also had the full sunroof out and put that back in properly.
When you put it back in did you silicon around roof and frame,you have to use sealant as the rubber doesnt do it ;)
 
  1.2 Dynamique
Yes, we put silicon around the roof and the new seal we bought is some other material that's stronger than rubber, would you suggest putting sealant where the seal lies then putting the seal on top?
 
Take it out, clean everything with white spirit, silicone the f**k out of the old frame. LOADS on the corners where the water leaks. Put it in place, bolt it up. Wipe the excess off then seal around the edge of the frame. Also check that the funnels are not cracked and tubes are correctly attached on the frame!
 
  1.2 Dynamique
Thank you so much for the help and advice guys :) my grandad is going to have a look at it on sunday while I'm at work, I'll tell him what you've all said and it'll hopefully be sorted once and for all :)
 
  Arctic Blue 182 FF
Yes, we put silicon around the roof and the new seal we bought is some other material that's stronger than rubber, would you suggest putting sealant where the seal lies then putting the seal on top?
Yes mate put it on all mating surfaces it will stop the leaks
 
  SG9 Forester STi
Mine leaks but so far I've not had it drop onto the seat, just two wet patches around the sun visors. I've long since accepted it as character lol.
 
  1.2 Dynamique
Thanks for the help :) it should hopefully be sorted tomorrow, and mine leaks badly, I'd just finished work, went to the car and the seat and roof lining was soaked through, had to drive home getting dripped on and got a wet bum! :(
 
  1.2 Dynamique
I've had it looked at and done what you guys have said to do, the rain has come and so far it's not leaked :)
Thank you very much for your help everyone, much appreciated :)
 

MatthewR

ClioSport Club Member
mines leaking now! its a never ending trail of shoddy sealing from renault! only trouble for me is i have no garage to take it into so i can pop the sunroof out etc cos its still raining. it got to a point today where it was dripping in from the light!..

iv taken the light out and put tape around edge of the sunroof and then vaselined around that as a quick fix untill i get it somewhere dry!
 

incy-spider

ClioSport Club Member
Silicone is a BIG no!!! Can't stress that enough, it makes a shitty mess and never works or if it does for a couple weeks until it dries and then peels off from the roof, I hate doing these after some goon has siliconed it up!!

It's so easy to just do it properly, easy test is to 'tap' around the sunroof cassette where it sits on the metal work of the roof, you will see the roof of the car flex up and down under the plastic cassette, this is where it will be leaking. Renault used a stupid water soaking foam material to seal the cassette to the roof which obviously was dumb!!

Removing the complete roof is straight forward,

1. Remove the finisher around the sunroof headlining.
2. Remove grab handles and sun visors.
3. Remove courtesy light and courtesy light panel.
4. Pull back both front door seals around the A pillar and tops of doors.
5. Remove both A pillar covers.

You can now pull down the front of the headlining ( best to wind down both seat and put them right back )

You can now see a ring of 10mm bolts that sandwich the roof between the lower metal frame and the plastic cassette - remove these please!!

Once they are all loose you can push the sunroof cassette right out (easily) dependent on if some looser used silicone before!? Now use a powerfull jet wash on a concentrated jet and blast the old foamy seal away! Prob worth taking the glass out if it's a manual roof..

You need a mastic that will never set or go hard, it needs to stay flexible for the rest of it's life, Renault have such a mastic that is used on door cards and comes in a roll (fairly cheap) you need to stretch this all the way around the cassette where the old seal used to be, fairly central. The bead needs to be about 5mm wide and the same in height, make sure it's stuck to the cassette all the way around.

Clean the roof as best as you can I use a mild compound to get the heavy dirt of.

Then smack the cassette back in the hole it came out of, easier with two people the line it up. Give it a little push all the way around to squeeze the seal a bit. Next push up the lower metal frame and loosely screw in the 10mm bolts (give them a grease up first) then in a cross cross pattern nip all the bolts up (not too tight). You will see the seal start to squeeze out slightly and if you havn't uses to much mastic it won't squeeze out to far.

There you go, put back all the rest of the gubbins in reverse order. It wouldnt hurt to clean the rubber seal around the glass too, and lastly don't forget to push the drain pipes back
on to the cassette!! (forgot to
Mention those earlier they just pull off)

Now you
 
  172 exclusive
Take it out, clean everything with white spirit, silicone the f**k out of the old frame. LOADS on the corners where the water leaks. Put it in place, bolt it up. Wipe the excess off then seal around the edge of the frame. Also check that the funnels are not cracked and tubes are correctly attached on the frame!

ditto,
make sure the drain tubes are clear and intact ,you might end up taking the wing liners out for access to the other end of the tube to make sure.

mick
 

incy-spider

ClioSport Club Member
Silicone is not fine, when silicone dries it dries to a shape, it may be flexible but it will not last, cars flex alot especially roofs. When the silicone has finally dried and the car twists and moves the silicone will peel away from the roof and just be a flexible non tacky substace that will cause more harm than good, mastic will never dry and will always change form, also it will always stay tacky, either bodge it or fix it - two choices!
 

incy-spider

ClioSport Club Member
I recommend renault stuff as I said it's tried and tested, I comes in a large roll, sorta like how blue tac comes, paper on one side that you peel off, it stops it sticking to itself!
 

Sash

ClioSport Club Member
  A Yellow One
I've taken mine out and fixed the leak, but now it creaks and makes god awful noises all the time... is there a fix for this?
 
  '51 Clio 1.2sport
Mine's leaking on the passenger side, quite badly. I'm gonna follow incy's guide, so hopefully that'll sort it.
My hazards come on randomly when it rains too, which I thought would be down to water in the alarm. Only thing is, I'm not sure my car's even got one... Could the water from the roof be getting to the fusebox?!
 
  Clio MK2 1.4 16v
should we change the rubber seal as well?

Is it difficult to do that one? I need to sort out mine as well.

Mine is electric, is there something i need to pay more attention too?
 

Gavin.

ClioSport Club Member
Can anyone recommend anything to seal it temporarily until I have the time to get it fixed properly in a week or two? Or is it just a simple gaffa tape job?
 
  Clio 1.2 16V
Can anyone recommend anything to seal it temporarily until I have the time to get it fixed properly in a week or two? Or is it just a simple gaffa tape job?

Suppose you could use some water-proof tape around the outside edges of the sunroof(think thats where the water leaks in mainly because the seal has broken down), should hold it for a bit (think someone used that as a permanent somewhere else iv seen). I did mine over the last summer, got bored of having a wet seat every time it rained lol . Was pretty simple, just cleaned up the poor stuff that Renault left on there, added some silicone around it and its been fine every since.
 
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