Thread: Leaky sunroof

Managed to get it sorted on the weekend

The sunroof tray is actually steel (checked it with a magnet), so decided to use the copper tube method with some Sika 291. There's plenty of posts about the place with pictures and videos, but in summary the process I followed was:

• Remove the rear passenger light and unscrew the grab handle (the grab handle stays attached to the headliner) and pull down the rubber door seal. That gave me just enough room to work kinda awkwardly.
• Pop off the trim strip on the roof that runs next to the sunroof, that will give good access to the drain opening
• Drill out the hole to accept 3/8" copper pipe. I ended up at 10mm for this
• Cut a 50mm length of copper pipe and flare one end. Apply some sealant to the flared end and push it through the hole. I added some more sealant around the opening as well, just to be sure. The Sika application notes say it takes 24 hours/3mm for the initial cure, and continues to cure for 7 days
• Clean out all the corroded remnants from the rubber tube and blow some air or water down it to make sure it drains well
• Once the sealant has cured enough to make the joint sort of rigid, reattach the hose to the new pipe. I found some hose clamps in my homebrew parts bin that had a plastic handle to tighten them which made that a lot easier in the space I had to work with. Bunnings appear to sell them, Solid Butterfly Screw Band Hose Clamp.
• The next morning, I tested it with a jug of water to make sure there were no leaks on the inside, then put it all back together

The back passenger carpet was the wettest. Lifted up the edge of it and vacuumed out 1 or 2 litres of water, then set up a fan heater to blow under it for the rest of the day. I'm positive there's still water in there, but hopefully will dry out by itself now that the bulk of it is gone

Fingers crossed, that's case closed on the sunroof leak

It's probably going to keep evaporating for some time. Foggy windows etc. Keep the AC switched on ( dunno, maybe that's standard on the Sport ) to help dehumidify. Try and leave the car open when parked if it's not raining, obviously with security in mind, and get some form of desiccant. Otherwise it will stink after a while, and corrosion is likely in electronics.

Just FYI

The fix appears to be working well. Parked it in the rain on the weekend and no evidence of leaking (I pulled the headliner down a little to check the drain locations for drips)

It's parked under the carport with the sunroof cracked, and have a bag of moisture absorber in the rear footwell (thanks for the suggestion Tins).

So far, no signs of condensation when it's closed up, or any hint of smell from the carpets

I'd say that's job done