yeti Leaking Panoramic Roof - The Cause and the Cure

[PanoYeti]

I’ve kept my car covered today - I’m sure some water will have got into the affected area though but I’d prefer to test it myself by pooling again.

 

goose - did you see tolleys being taken up by capillary action in the danger zone?

[Goose35]

yea I did see it getting sucked in

[PanoYeti]

Bad news for me - pooled the water and tested again and got the dreaded sound of water hitting the headliner! 

 

No 1 - my tarpaulin isn’t entirely waterproof as the collection channels were wet.

 

no 2 - some tolleys was present around the drain channel collection area (goose if you applied yours yesterday did you notice this?)

 

no 3 - I had some water come from where the white spring pipe enters the frame.

 

any tips on how to rapid dry the area as I really need it sorted for next week plus I’m sure I’ve got rain forecast!! Damn you leaky parts!!!

[PanoYeti]

Goose - how much tolleys did you end up applying? Roughly?

 

also, United - did you dry by directing air at the compromises end or where the water was leaking from?

 

ive got quite a bit of Tolleys residue so I’m guessing I’ve not dried well enough or over applied? Not sure why it hasn’t dried other than I didn’t dry well enough first time...

[PanoYeti]

I’ve noticed that with a bit of pressure the whole plastic downward stretch moves, compromising both channels’ connection/seal. 

[PanoYeti]

United - when you retested before reinstallation did you make sure your waterline went over and back up the channels? In my pool test this morning as soon as the waterline hit where the seal is it started gushing. I probably should have tried a pour test first to see if any got sucked back into the seal...

[PanoYeti]

I’ve circled on the inner channel - if pressure is applied the gap increases quite easily - I have tolleys from Thursday still wet against the inner wall. 

 

If you apply gentle pressure from below in the last image you can see liquid/tolleys appear along the red line circled in 2nd image.

 

perhaps everyone who’s had this problem is thinking “yeah, and...” did anyone have to seal the inside channel too, the one circled in 1st image?

[Goose35]

sorry for the delay

I applied a full syringe of the tolleys above and below both front corners and from below on each rear corners figuring if one has failed the others will.. obviously I have removed the roof liner to do from below. so I didnt use a lot on each of the 3 applications. just enough to leave a bead of tolleys along the joints

 

I also applied it to the areas you have shown in the red and black circled areas of your image. basicly the whole joint where each part was in contact was tollied

Edited 7 April, 2018 by Goose35

[PanoYeti]

Hi goose, thanks for coming back. Had your tolleys dried ok? Even with the rain? I reckon I must have water inside the frame somewhere even though I tried to blast the air out with a foot pump (all I had to hand). My tolleys applications, although applied Thursday, don’t appear to be dry properly. Where below did you apply it? Where the plastic housing meets the metal? Interestingly, mine had a thick blob of black sealant hanging out - like someone had already tried sealing it...

[PanoYeti]

More importantly goose, were you getting movement in the plastic? 

[PanoYeti]

If I do have water inside the frame somewhere I probably need some advice on how to get it out - on the 2nd pic it looked particularly wet along the edge of the red circled area

[Goose35]

I didn't try to move it. I just kept applying small amounts of sealant very hour. didn't leak this morning in the rain but I'm going to apply 3 more before I re assemble

Edited 7 April, 2018 by Goose35

[PanoYeti]

Did any tolleys run down towards the drain channel opening? I found mine started doing that after only a tiny amount had been taken up. I’m also not entirely sure if it’s leaking on the outside or inside channel. Could be both. I’m not getting any drips the other side

[PanoYeti]

Also, does your tolleys dry clear? I had that after the first day or so but the sealant I applied yesterday doesn’t appear to have dried.

[Goose35]

some of it is still white. I got a splash or two near the drain but only dots.

just keep appying very few drops each time or it will floor then allow an hour between applications

[PanoYeti]

Big thanks to United for this post - tolleys is definitely a wonder product for this occasion. Thanks also to goose for help - I was losing it saturday!

 

Having added tolleys and watched it seep into the various cracks I decided to layer up the cracks to hopefully keep it watertight for a while. I layered the tolleys all along the marked red areas to hopefully stop any backwards flow of water.

 I wish access was a bit better on the outside channel as I can’t see how well it’s layered but it’s holding for now...

[Goose35]

Good news Pano. Thats exactly the areas i filled. The outside is a bit of a pita the get in. I used the hollow tube off a cotton bud that fit snug in my syringe after cutting the ends off.

Its been raining since about 3 here today and currently no water. The rains in for the night so all being well i will be putting the roof liner back soon. 

 

[United232]

Hi @PanoYeti, @Goose35

 

Apologies, I've been away for a few days, but it looks as if you're both on top of it now.

 

Yeah, the sealer is funny stuff. When I'd completed the final treatment, I left it to dry for a few days before testing it. Initially the water rinsed out quite a milky residue. Alarming perhaps, but now with the benefit of hindsight, it proved nothing to worry about. I did also pack some blue tissue paper behind the screen-pillar trim on both sides so I could pull it out after a week or two to check the integrity of the repair. Again, all was well.

 

@PanoYeti, "I wish access was a bit better on the outside channel" - you and I both. You'll see now why I initially elected to remove the roof, but it wasn't necessary. Even though the needle pointed away from the joint at an obtuse angle, capillary action (the enemy in service) came to the rescue. Full marks to you BTW for doing this outside ... Per ardua ad astra, eh?

 

You may consider a 'top-up' on a fine summer's day though as an insurance policy. But only when the lawns are mowed, the hedges trimmed and conditions favour this kind of nonsense.

 

Happy days, eh? 

 

 

[PanoYeti]

United - thanks goes to you for the insightful and clever write up. Well done to perhaps saving many panoramic-owner people £hundreds!!

 

i managed to flatten the battery in the process (left ignition on like an idiot). I have also discovered there is a headlight fault and can’t help but think I’ve “aided” another problem!

 

at least I’m leak-free for now

[italian job]

Unfortunately this excellent guide didn't work for me,well it did for a short time,just long enough for me to think i had cracked it and so replace all of the underfloor sound proofing which i had dried out again.

So,back to the drawing board. I have removed the complete sunroof from the car, its no wonder we are having these problems,there is so much flex in the front plastic section which obviously has an impact in the seal between the plastic and aluminium side sections. After removing the sunroof i carefully separated the front plastic section from the aluminium sides just enough so i could see that there is a rubberised seal inside the plastic,i carefully removed all trace of the seal then generously applied black tiger seal before re assembling. Tiger seal was oozing out between the plastic and aluminium...perfect. Then i clamped the joints allowing the tiger seal to set,although it never fully sets before re fitting the sunroof. I'll let you know how it goes. 

[PanoYeti]

Italian job - sorry to hear that. I haven’t fully refitted everything in mine yet because I’m not 100% confident. Every time it rains I check the tolleys to see how it’s holding up!! It looks great when it’s dry but it looks like it might deteriorate with time.

 

just to cap things off, I started parking the other way on my sloped drive and I must have had some residual water still in the car because it ran into the rear footwell. Much harder to get access there without taking seats out etc.

 

anyway, hope this works out for you.

[alanmillard]

Loads of Brilliant info in this post , I have a yeti in the workshop leaking from the rectangle hole on the o/s . Looked up price of new sunroof / seals etc over £1100. will be recommending the special sealant.

Cheer guys

[mupit]

Hi There,

                Newbie here with a 2015 yeti with the panoramic sunroof. Having read a few issues on here I discovered that I had the "bubbling" and "gurgling" sound coming from the rear of the roof . These sounds became louder and more pronounced when you increased the fan speeds and stopped abruptly when you either opened a door or window. I took the car into my local Skoda dealer and the mechanic who inspected my car said it was "sagging" drain tubes that were more than likely the cause. It was booked in and the repair carried out.

                 They were a bit reluctant to tell me what the repair involved and would only say that the car required a new clip kit and that the head linning had to be dropped down completely and then reinstalled. The cost for the 2 hour job was £390. I do hope I don't now suffer from the wet carpet syndrome and have resorted to using a damp tester and pushing the prongs into different areas of the carpet on a regular basis. 

 

Fingers crossed !

 

cheers for a fantastic forum,

 

Jim

[Polypenko]

First of all thanks very much for your detailed explantion of the cause of the panoramaroof water leakage.

 

Last week I removed the passenger front seat since I noticed water on the floor maps, unfortunately

we did not have sufficient time to remove the headliner.

 

While checking the drainageholes in the front all was ok.

 

Yesterday we partly removed the headliner enabling us to see the drainage tubes assuming the tube connections

were the cause. (as seen on YouTube)

 

After sealing the front tubes, we did a test and much to our surpise we noticed water at the front of the frame assembly

was leaking thru.

 

We initially thought by applying some seal on the bottom of the frame we could solve this matter, but after having applied 

the seal the leakage was now vissible at the front of the frame as clearly indicated on your very much appreciate summary.

 

Laking time we had to close the headliner applied tape to the outside of the window to prevent water leaking thru.

 

Repair / Fix to be continued.

 

Today I'm going to send an e-mail to Skoda but mine Yeti is 4,5 years old, had the warrenty extented to 4 years but meanhile expired ,

and fear that Skoda Holland will reject my claim, eventhough it clearly seems to be a design fault.

 

Removal of the complete roof is quite time consuming, so I hope by applying the correct sealant to stop the leakage completely, but

needbe would have to remove the entire roof or continue to drive with a useless roof taped closed to prevent  water leakage.

 

Sofar only the front right passenger side is effected.

 

kind regards,

 

Martin.

 

 

[kenfowler3966]

I have read on here of sunroof frames cracking and water leaking through the crack. Try doing a search? Sealant wont solve this, the crack needs to be properly repaired.