Leaky sunroof = wet rusty floors :( What's my next move?

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I don't know about yours, but mine tends to leak a little through the door seals if I happen to get stuck mid puddle

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Not so surprising if you look at where LR actually join the seals.
Right in the centre at the Bottom Edge is where.
There is a piece of tube inserted in the two ends but it leaves a small gap & if the vehicle is left standing in a creek/puddle/ocean then it will easily leak through there. Blind Freddy could see this was a weak spot! More so if the piece of tube has fallen out or slides along as mine was a slip in fit with no adhesive.


As for the replacement mat. Diana's image of the back floor of her FFR uses a rubber mat which actually looks quite sensible & is composed of rubber block sections. Don't know if it is a special or off the shelf, but well worth digging up her image of this. Being quite thick, but without the LR "soundproofing" it appears as though it would do the job nicely.

Here 'tis.

you should be able to buy rust converter in any good auto shop or super cheap or the like. When you paint the rust it turns black. I did that then used the tar based sound deadener on the pan to act as a seal to stop more rust.

I also pulled out the felt sound deadener and used some plastic bath non slip stuff cut to shape to leave an air gap under the carpet so if it does get in again at least it has a better chance of drying out

Yep. Rust-Eeter seems to be the most common one, but do get some cheap brushes to apply it.

KILLRUST RUSTEETER 500ML - Paint - Paints Exterior - Walkers Online Hardware Perth Australia

Well a friend of mine came over last night who is an Alpha enthusiast and he had just recently gone through a fair bit of this with his own car so he had the rust kill and fish oil. We wire brushed out the rust on each side and it was all surface stuff thankfully and even removed the kick panels and found nothing more. It had just been sitting under some spots beneath the floor mats.

Put rust kill on and waited for it to turn black then dry, then put a bunch of fish oil on which was disgusting but hopefully this morning it has dried so I can take it to the sunroof place and get the sunroof serviced and hope it won't happen again.

The fish oil is the last thing I really need to do isn't it? Do I need to prime it or will the fish oil seal it up and be okay as it's under the carpets and I won't see it so I don't need to make it look pretty?

Also if you look at my photos you'll see the main steel floor, then another kind of rectangular panel stuck on to the floor in the middle of each floor which doesn't look like steel but is really stuck on hard.

What is that?

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Originally Posted by Young Angus

Well a friend of mine came over last night who is an Alpha enthusiast and he had just recently gone through a fair bit of this with his own car so he had the rust kill and fish oil. We wire brushed out the rust on each side and it was all surface stuff thankfully and even removed the kick panels and found nothing more. It had just been sitting under some spots beneath the floor mats.

Put rust kill on and waited for it to turn black then dry, then put a bunch of fish oil on which was disgusting but hopefully this morning it has dried so I can take it to the sunroof place and get the sunroof serviced and hope it won't happen again.

The fish oil is the last thing I really need to do isn't it? Do I need to prime it or will the fish oil seal it up and be okay as it's under the carpets and I won't see it so I don't need to make it look pretty?

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The Fish oil needs some time to set properly (& it does go quite firm) & lose it's pong.

Follow the instructions on the containe, but if in doubt treat all seams, corners & anything else that looks a bit sus. It penetrates very well.


bon chance.

Well I got back from the sunroof place this morning and I managed to leave the passenger floor mats up for the drive but had to put the drivers side ones down so I could use the pedals. According to my mate who helped me out last night he said that sitting overnight would have given it enough time to soak in well and that would be enough even though it was still wet to touch this morning and it wasn't completely dry. I've put it back in the garage after the drive with the mats up again and now there is fish oil in the bloody bottom of the mats...yuk! Hopefully now it will have time enough to dry and set properly today and tomorrow before maybe having to drive it again tomorrow night if I'm taking it back to the sunroof place. Don't think I need to put any more fish oil on though, I sprayed a fair bit on so there was still a bit on the floor even though some of it got in the bottom of the mats.

What were their initial thoughts on the leak(s) YA?

Well they ran the hose over it at first and nothing leaked. Then he proceeded to tell me that there were no actual drain plugs/pipes in that sunroof model and it was sealed from the outside. When he opened the sunroof up after having the hose on it a bit of water rolled off the glass and went into the mechanism and this dripped through the roof lining and he said that's just where the water went if it got into the mechanism like that but that it wasn't anything to worry about as it was just normal...and the thing was that was the only type of leak that had ever happened to me dripping through the roof lining exactly how it was that time.

He thought that it might have been some kind of centre seal that is in the middle of the front most edge of the sunroof but this can only be accessed and changed by taking the roof lining down and removing the sunroof. Quoted me $300 for this exercise but he said it was just to "eliminate" that from the list of possible causes.

I kind of started thinking that since it has NEVER hinted at leaking before, and all of a sudden it leaked heaps after I let some water in accidentally one morning, there is a small chance I may not have closed it properly that day when we got a big downpour...but I doubt that since it closes itself once the vehicle is turned off.

Bit of a stumper.

Also I'm wondering if the water that was under the floor mats came from the sunroof at all or if it had previously come from under the car coming up through the plugs when it may have been taken off road by the previous owner. I thought this was a possibility because there was no sign of any moisture anywhere up the side kick panels or up the front panels where water might have dripped down...only actually right in the floor itself. Same for the underlay mats, they were only wet on the very bottom bits. They were bone dry up the sides.

Not sure if it will be a waste of money or not to get them to do this job on the sunroof.

Aahhh, you have just reminded me of a couple of firewall leaks I had a few years ago. Don't have a sun roof.

Look into the air intake (pass. side)under the screen after removing the air filter foam & you will see the fresh air duct that is sealed in with gunk, & from what I could observe is all that holds it in as the AC assy is slid in from inside during assembly. If the "trough" side drains (2 off) are blocked with leaves & crap, water can slosh over & go in under the duct which is set lower wtf!, especially if the sealant has let go. I also found some PK screw threads dripped water from here, so a look under/behind the dash might be beneficial when wet or you may notice some staining. Removal & a dab of sealant fixed those.

I think it is a bad design. Ok if all the sealant is in A1 condition but if it dries out over the years & with the body torsioning then gaps open up & water gets in. The other thing that gets a mention here from time to time is blocked AC drain hoses (2) assuming you have that). These exit in different locations from high up in the transmission tunnel & you need to get underneath with a torch to check the pizzle ends which you can pull out with pliers, clean & replace, although some leave them out permanently. It may not be the sunroof at the end of the day but ingress as described above so I suggest you check these, in view of your latest findings before sending her off for repairs.

Access to the side drains is gained at the bonnet shut gap towards the screen & which exit under the guard.

I used flexible body sealant around the duct & screws. Never had a leak since.