This car is doing it's very best to annoy me!  thought I'd got on top of the noisy panoramic roof but still have the odd creak but this morning find my headlining offside rear wet through.  Almost certain it's the roof.  I've cleared the draining holes so don't think I have a blockage.  At least the weather is looking good for the weekend when I'll have to try and get in and have a look.  Really starting to miss my Honda's.

Well in my lunch our that lasted near *cough* two, I got the headlining down at the rear and it's bone dry around the drain.  The ingress seems to be around the B pillar, not got that far with trim removals yet.  Anybody any suggestions or what to look for?

@StuH78

Read the post right to the end and he tells you it can be done without removing sunroof 

click on the attached PDF

Have bought the large bottle of Capt. Tolley for future use  (Preventative maintenance)

Mines was leaking originally from n/s/f drain tube connection

Edited 11 September, 20196 yr by DEL80Y

I've read and re-read and got my Captain's Trolley just in case.  I've still not pinpointed the leak; the front drains are as free as a bird and water pours out, the rears are much harder to check if they are running.  There is a trickle coming out of the drains but that's not to say there's not a significant block.  Before pulling the rest of the headlining down I'd like to remove that rear glass panel and have a good look at the rear drain.

Well that was a complete nightmare! admittedly I should've followed the workshop manual when removing panels but still, a nightmare.  I've got the roof lining down and this is what I found:

 

http://

 

That is right under the rear drain so clearly something is happening around the drain.  I've cleared the drain though it didn't appear blocked.  I tried filling the channels as looking for drips but nothing though it was very hard to get it directed to the rear.   Ran out of time so cleaned everything up and put it together with a dry cloth under the drain temporarily. 

 

Apart from grazed knuckles the only trim damage was the cover caps on the grab handle, now need to find a couple if them.

 

To be continued.. 

 

Oh yeah, and what with the sticky black wrap around the drain tubes?

Edited 14 September, 20196 yr by StuH78

The VAG panoramic roofs leak on many cars. It is a common problem. I cannot remember where I read it but someone suggested a repair that works with flexible boat sealant. VW / Skoda recommend a new roof.

There seems to be a multitude of problems with the panoramic roofs.  It's definitely not the actual drain pipes on mine as I have one piece tubes as opposed the the two piece seen on VW forums.  The pipe sits quite loose on the drain so I suspect that's the problem so sealant has been applied and we'll try again.

Sealed round where the drain pipe connect to the drain and so far looks like it might have worked but not getting too excited yet...

9 hours ago, StuH78 said:

 not getting too excited yet...

Get excited 😎  
P M A

1 hour ago, DEL80Y said:

Get excited 😎  
P M A

I was right not too 😭

I did the captain trolley fix to mine last week.

Mine has only leaked a couple of times in 5+ years so who knows if successful but I liked how the sealant fed itself into the seams , assuming I put it in the right place as I has trouble identifying the correct place from the photos.

for the cost it has to be worth doing. running out of dry weather now though.

Well the weather broke so I took out the rear glass (which took minutes), this is the area in question:

 

http://

 

There was quite a bit of water pooling around where the metal meets plastic though no obvious cracks.  I've tried to seal everything with some serious sealant we use at work.  We'll see, at least I know I can get to it easy enough.

 

I WILL WIN 🤣

A view of how the rear of the roof looks:

 

http://

Still doing it but I've now seen it dripping in:

 

http://<a href="https://imgur.com/SyJS1by"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/SyJS1by.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

 

It's the join you can see circled.

On ‎28‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 13:27, StuH78 said:

I took out the rear glass (which took minutes),

How does one do that?

It's literally six screws:

 

http://

http://

Brought the car into my works so it would be dry all day, took out the glass again and using the Captains Tolley started building up the joint around the aluminium/plastic interface.  I already had one application applied to the offending joint but it did take in some more.  I decided to do the other corner as well as a preventative measure and surprisingly the first two applications completely disappeared in no time so hopefully I've caught that before it became a problem.  

 

This was in Wednesday and it has put down some serious rain since.  So....so far all seems to be dry, but I've been here before so chickens will most definitely not be counted. 

Just don't believe it 🤬 

A few years ago on my daughters Clio after much faffing and many failed attempts to stop the roof leaking I sealed around the whole think with clear silicone and rendered it permanently closed - but watertight. 

 

When we traded it in the dealer spotted it and laughed - he said they all leak on Clio's and many owners did exactly what I had done. The rooflining was stained but apart from that it wasn't unsightly. It did also suffer from intermittent electrical faults including not starting when it felt like it. Standard Renault electrics in those days.

 

You have to ask yourself if some of the features we crave are worth the hassle. 

Back at it.  Dropped a good part of the headliner, the water ingress could be clearly seen:

 

http://

 

Seems straightforward, well no because I traced to actual leak to the back of the frame right in a tight area where the factory fitted butyl tape was coming away.  This is a problem; to actually get on there and seal it properly would mean removing the whole roof and that's not helping if I can help it.  Anyway, the water must still be coming in from above where the aluminium sits on the plastic.  So, yet again the whole area cleaned, dried prepped.  I've used a strong sealant and tried to seal anything I can.  Will it work? I won't get my hope up.  If it doesn't work then unfortunately I'll have to take the roof out. 

 

 

I know you all must be on tenterhooks, no doubt sleepless nights fretting over my leak.  Well, the Captain's Tolley was a waste of time so I've cleaned the whole joint and I've done the whole joint with tiger seal.  We'll see..

Well it hammered it down last night and....it's dry this morning 😍.  A nice little stream coming from the drain too.  

There's a dent in the wall and my head hurts..

Lol, the leak is back then I'm guessing?

 

I just recommended the same to another MkII Superb owner with the same issue, this is your best option, seal the bloody thing up and pretend it's a non opening panoramic sunroof!

 

 

 

I'm on plan N now. Bit quiet at work tomorrow so I'll bring the car inside and remove the headliner and attack from the inside.