Water leak A pillar - Roof

[cglchristian]

Hi everyone,

Skoda Superb combi 2014 - Diesel 125kw - 4x4 - No Sunroof

 

Starting this winter (no accidents or repairs), and only when it rains very hard, I have been noticing that the driver side (in my case left hand drive) A pillar trim was getting very wet to the touch, the outer fabric dripping with water. Now car starting to smell like mold.

Sometimes a couple drops of water will be located on driver seat which would indicate that some water is getting under the headliner. Strangely the headliner is never wet to the touch. I do not know where to start since removing the A pillar trim is quite difficult without specialised tools, and I do not want to damage the airbag.

Please note that this car is not equipped with sun-roof.

 

I can see only 3 possible sources of water (see attached pictures):

1. Roof bars bolt holes: I have used a box with heavy loads in the past, can the bolts or seals be loose? Feels sold to the touch (red on pic)

2. Windshield seal issue (yellow on pic)

3. rubber seals between side and roof panel (blue on pic)

 

I added a picture of a rust spot that I just located at the top of windshield/roof, but this is about 40cm from the corner of the windshield so i think it is unlikely that this is the cause. Maybe I can rule that one out by putting a bit of silicone on it as a temp fix!

 

If someone can give me some advice on how to troubleshoot or possibly point me to some other posts where someone had similar trouble?

Otherwise dealer will charge an arm and a leg to take apart the trim and try to locate leak.

 

Thanks!
Christian

Edited 23 May by cglchristian

[skomaz]

I'd be pretty certain that will be the windscreen seal that has started to harden and unstuck somewhere.  We had similar on our Fabia estate and Octavia 4x4.

 

You can check by sticking electrical insulation tape around the top and sides of the screen between the screen and bodywork to see if the water ingress stops.  If it does just seal the windscreen to the body again using polysulphide sealant over the top of the original.

[cglchristian]

52 minutes ago, skomaz said:

just seal the windscreen to the body again using polysulphide sealant over the top of the original.

 

Thanks Skomaz. Can you point me to an example of appropriate sealant? Seems like some people are recommending this product, but seems only sold in north America:

https://www.permatex.com/products/adhesives-and-sealants/adhesives-sealant/permatex-flowable-silicone-windshield-glass-sealer-1-5-oz/

Thx.

C.

[Ootohere]

Autodoc, ebay, amazon, any online. Motor Factors, nothing is North America only in this Global Economy. 

If there is a product someplace others have it, or copy it.

 

[J.R.]

I doubt that is a polysulphide screen bonding compound, flowable sealants have their uses on older traditional wrap round windscreen sealing rubbers that seal against the glass on on part of the cross section and the bodywork flange on the other but I doubt will be effective with a broken down bonded screen joint, that said the correct compound should be used after removing the screen, removing all traces of the old sealant from the screen and bodywork, cleaning and preparing the joint, putting it around the existing leaking compound is like using a band aid but it does stick like **** to a blanket if the area is properly prepared.

 

A flowable sealant if they even do what is said on the tin will be trying to seal a capilliary gap full of road dirt and damp.

[skomaz]

3 hours ago, cglchristian said:

 

Thanks Skomaz. Can you point me to an example of appropriate sealant? Seems like some people are recommending this product, but seems only sold in north America:

https://www.permatex.com/products/adhesives-and-sealants/adhesives-sealant/permatex-flowable-silicone-windshield-glass-sealer-1-5-oz/

Thx.

C.

 

When I did our I used black Tiger Seal - available from most good car accessory places (Halfords link below for info only!)

 

Tigerseal Black 310ml | Halfords UK

 

I cleaned the gap between the body and windscreen thoroughly with and let it dry, then masked off the roof on the bodywork and the surface of the windscreen with masking tape leaving the gap between them exposed to be filled.  The gap was then filled with Tiger Seal and smoothed off prior to removing the masking tape.

 

This was done round the upper edge and sides of the screen.