I have a problem with wet getting into the car at the top of both A posts and the left hand back corner. No sunroof or roof rails and rear screen washer has been disconnected and blown through with an airline, windscreen is the original factory fitted one.

Anyone know if the roof panels are spot welded or just bonded in place? I currently have the black inserts removed from the channels in the roof and there looks to be some cracking of the mastic sealent stuff where the roof skin meets the structural parts of the shell in the 2 front corners and the NSR corner. Anyone else had similar issues? 

A quick look at the parts diagram for a 2003 Fabia doesn't show any fasteners for the roof panel, suggesting that it is iether welded or bonded in place.  The same diagram for an  Octavia includes details of the bonding agent so that may be a clue?

 

The roof trim details are here, although I'm not sure how helpful they are in this case.  Again, on the Octavia the roof rail mounting bolts go through the roof and are fastened down by nuts from the inside, so a possible water ingress route there if the Fabia is the same.

 

Note: you list a Fabia as your vehicle in your details but have posted this in the Octavia forum; which car do you need help with?

 

 

Edited 31 March, 20224 yr by MikeTheThinker

Fabia is the wifes, I have just bought back an old Octavia estate I used to own 15 years ago and saved it from being turned into bean tins...

I have filled the 8 holes with sealant where I believe the bolts would have gone through and it seams to have stopped leaking at the front but still getting half a cup of water in the NSR corner overnight.

In answer to your original question, the roof panel is bonded at the front windscreen flange, the tailgate opening and across the centre reinforcer member under the headling. It is also spot welded in the valley that the roof trims cover and is finally seam sealled following satisfactory welding.

 

Hope it helps.

We had snow in the night, as it was thawing this morning in the sun it was like Niagera falls running down inside the rear pillar! I am pretty sure its getting under the roof skin now as I have exhausted all other possibilities. I do know the car has never been crashed in its life, not even a minor bump so I assume the sealent has just hardened and cracked with age. Anyone know of a liquid sealent that will creep and find any cracks or holes? I did wonder about black bituminous paint, heated to make it runny and the just dribble it along the join.

I had similar to my mk1 estate on the rear. Maybe not as bad as yours, but enough to complete ruin the CD changer and saturate the boot floor panel over time.

 

After a very long story of trying to find out where the leak was at the rear of the car, the best I could do was isolate a section of the roof gutter behind the roof bar connection. I used putty to block areas of the gutter and pour water into localised areas.

 

The fix has stood up for a couple of years now: And it was just spraying a few coats of clear lacquer into the gutter in the relevant section. Felt like a bit of a cheat after so much effort to find it...

 

Good luck.