Leaking panoramic roof superb estate

[italian job]

I first noticed water splashes on the plastic next to the area where the drivers feet are, A pillar area following heavy rain,initially thinking that water was getting past a door seal. Further investigation revealed water was leaking from the panoramic roof,onto the headlining then running down the A pillar trim,behind the plastic panels and being absorbed by the sound deadening under the carpet.

By this stage there was a lot of water under the carpet as the sound deadening is plentiful and acts as a sponge.

A bit of searching on here pointed towards blocked drains...there are 4 drains,the two front ones exit near to the front door check straps on the A post,they are just visible when the doors are open.The two rears exit at the top of the boot opening,again visible when the tail gate is open. Mine were not blocked.Bugger.

A bit of a red herring followed,the external seal that runs around the perimeter of the sunroof,it has a felt edge was slightly torn on my car,it was that way when i bought it,that must be the problem...so i stripped the head liner out of the car...not the work of a moment...dropped the complete sunroof assembly...which is surprisingly easy,its held in place by 12 or so T30 bolts...its just heavy,ask a friend to help.Then i replaced the seal,which was approx £80 and put everything back together.

Just to note,there was evidence of slight weepage at the point where the drainage tubes connect to the sunroof,its really obvious with the head liner removed. I have addressed this by securing them with stainless fuel pipe clips,lightly tightened,as the stubs attached to the sunroof tray are made of plastic.

I was not best pleased to find i still had a leak....infact it was worse than before,and on both sides now.

At this point i thought i had found the answer to my problems on the Yeti section of this site. They are fitted with the same sunroof. Actually the same roof is fitted to a lot of VAG estate cars.

Someone with the same problem had been able to stop their leak using a solution that boat owners buy that finds cracks and seals them. This solution is applied to the visible join between the plastic front section and aluminium sides.

Brilliant...that worked....well long enough for me to put the car back together including the now dry underfloor sound deadening.

But the next instalment wasn't good news...

So,headliner removed again...quicker this time...sunroof out again,its really obvious why these things leak,the joins between the aluminium side sections and front plastic section are subject to flex, there is little structural integrity. I separated the joints just enough to see that inside is a flexible rubberised seal,this was carefully removed and replaced with a good dose of black tiger seal which oozed out nicely when it was all put back together. The joints were clamped for several hours before the sunroof was put back into the car.

And here we are,i have fingers crossed,i'll test it properly tomorrow,i want to give the tiger seal 24 hrs before subjecting it to the jetwash

 

I just wanted to put this here incase anyone else runs into the same problem,its do able by a competent  home mechanic, actually probably anyone can do it,i'm living proof.

 

I honestly wouldn't buy another car with a panoramic sunroof,when you google to try to find a solution you realise this is far from an isolated incident.

 

[superbdreams]

excellent, thank you. great to see some pictures too.

[italian job]

11 hours ago, superbdreams said:

excellent, thank you. great to see some pictures too.

No problem,there would have been more pictures but i was paranoid about getting Tiger Seal on my camera...

[PeteJ80]

Hope you have managed to sort it once and for all!!

[Wile7]

Fantastic post and very useful....must check my PR again.....thank you for posting IJ!

 

Dave

[italian job]

Thanks both of you....good news,i have just jet washed the hell out of it and its bone dry inside...its looking like a success to me

21 hours ago, PeteJ80 said:

Hope you have managed to sort it once and for all!!

 

9 hours ago, Wile7 said:

Fantastic post and very useful....must check my PR again.....thank you for posting IJ!

 

Dave

 

[26DIPP]

This is not unknown on VAG panoramic sunroofs. Apparently VW changed the sealant. What year is your Superb?

[italian job]

2010.....from what i can see this sunroof is fitted to various VAG models,and manages to leak in them all.

[clover]

It never crossed my mind that the panoramic (once completely closed) could leak. I was searching the forum for panoramic noises and couldnt find anything except the leaking problem. And it got me worried. Now mine doesnt leak or at least I didnt see anything so far, but reading all these leaking problems I realised that sometimes (not always) while driving and raining, I can hear the same noise that rain drops do when hitting the windscreen, coming from the left back part, around the rear left passenger area. Could this be the beginning of a leaking?

 

Now what really bothers me the most is the cracking noise the sunroof do. Everytime when I go over bumps, potholes or uneven road or simply when there is torsion on the chassis, I hear some cranks. it reeeeeally ****es me off big time. Does anyone know what could make that noise? Nothing seems to be loose.