1998 Discovery Series I LE. I need some suggestions on how to make my sunroofs stop leaking. I have read all (or most of) the leaky sunroof threads I could find and all those people have it sooo easy. If only my drain lines were clogged I would be so happy. Both the front and rear sunroofs leak but they leak differently. My headliner is removed and has been for years due to leaky sunroofs a long time ago. I took the headliner out and checked all the regular things and all looked fine. A few weeks later when it rained they had magically fixed themselves and didn't leak for a few years. Then a few months ago they started leaking again. My headliner is still out so I have a perfect view of the mess unfolding. Some of the leaking I have is somewhat minor so you with your headliners still installed may be getting slight leaks as well and not even know it. I can see every little drop.

The rear sunroof is the main problem. This sunroof usually does not leak if it starts raining while I am driving. The main problem with this one is that when it rains while the truck is parked, water pools up in the drain tray. If it rains enough to completely fill the tray water will start pouring out the top (usually at the back of the sunroof). Regardless of if it overflows while parked, as soon as I try to drive the water spills out from the movement of the truck. The drain tubes are not clogged, however there is usually no water running through them that I can see. Instead of draining down the tubes, it spills out the top. I have pulled the tubes completely out and checked the whole length for debris and then reinstalled. So I am sure they're not clogged.

The front sunroof likes to leak out the front where the motor mounts to the tray. This leak is more likely to happen as it is raining in a slow drip as opposed to building up and then spilling out.

I have gone as far as deciding to caulk the rear sunroof shut but that did not help. I used high quality 3M windshield sealant. The reason this did not work could be user error, but looking at the glass and the plastic sunroof trim piece from outside it appears to be sealed all the way around. I would like to fix this the right way but if I have to then I could recaulk it. Maybe I just need some caulking advice. I've thought about getting backer rod to fill in the gap and then caulk over that.

Another thought I had was that maybe my truck does not sit at a good angle front to back. I have 2" RoverTYM springs and 235/85s. Using a level the truck appears to sit level front to back, but maybe that's not good enough. Maybe stock truck sit a little nose down. Or maybe this has nothing to do with it.

I'm sorry for the very long post but this is getting on my nerves and I would really like to be able to fix it. All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
Dane

 

My rear sunroof does the exact same thing. I haven't tried to fix it yet. Just got the headliner out to see where the leak was from. I'm very interested to hear if anyone has had any luck with this.

Thanks,

Ryan

 

Mine did the same . Had the ceiling liner off, cleaned the drain tubes, redid all sealant joints, cleaned tracks and gaskets, did a final test with a hose and put everything back in place.

Ceiling liner was full again when it rained (hours long).

I found out that while the roof did close, the last sequence with those forks on each side that catch in small dowels to squeeze the glass panel on the gasket....well these did not catch in. I used an allen wrench to manually wind the cable this extra inch or so and...it snapped.

It was late fall and i had enough of it. I pushed the forks in place using a screwdriver and sealed the window with silicone.

Now it stays dry...