With all the rain we’ve had on the East coast I noticed a water ring on drivers side A piller area of the headliner. Sure enough it was damp. I dropped the headliner and checked all the sunroof drains to be clear. The leak seems to be coming from the body seam itself. I found the pdf from land rover on how to fix.

question before I proceed with sealant.

anyone have any tips on sealing that area? Which sealant to use etc?

also, although the plastic drains on both sunroofs are in good condition it looks like mastic sealant on some may have cracked with age. Is it advisable/possible to remove the plastic drains without damage, clean them up and reseal? I figure I would do this while the headliner was out.

additionally any mods or wire run for lights that people can think of while it’s down? Sound deadener? Trying to do everything I can before it goes back up.

 

I just used standard clear silicone, check your roof rack seals while you are at it.

 

I had the same problem on my 2002. Turned out to be a leak in the same area. I used just a tube of 100% silicone from Home Depot. GE was the brand. Has worked great so far.

 

what’s the best way to check? Didn’t see any water coming out of that area.

if nothing else I guess the lesson is 2 parts

1 you must drop the headliner if you have a leak (it really wasn’t that awful)

2 leaks may be coming from other than the sunroof drains

 

@Micmac for the roof rack just examine the seals. If there are gaps at the roof or around the rack bar they will leak.

 

No need to remove the headlining for the A-Pillar leak. Look very closely at the exterior welds where the pillar meets the roof... Under and around the corner of the rubber windshield gasket and the trim pieces. If you see any cracks or gaps, add silicon.

You can safely resist the urge to make this to difficult.

 

Confirming that filling the gap between the gutter and the trim with silicone will stop your A pillar leak. Probably not going to make the windshield replacement guy's job any easier at some point down the road but one thing at a time, right?

 

How well do you want to solve the problem? It took me a while to figure things out, but I managed to get to the root cause of the issue.

First of all, take the headliner out. It takes little time and there are good writeups on the board. The most important aspect: do not rush. If things are stuck, take a break and gently try again. With headliner and A, B pillars out, you should be able to inspect the metal. If you see dried water spots, it is your sign that you have a leak in the area.

Secondly, with the headliner out, use a pressure washer to spray the roof in different positions. Put the car on an incline with front end facing down, front end facing up, driver side facing down, driver side up. This should reveal some issues. If you can't see the problem. Go to the next step.

Drive the car in heavy rain on w/o the headliner. If you want to pinpoint the problem areas, put some baby powder around the suspect areas and when water starts to leak, you'll see steaks.

This process sounds like a pain, but it takes the guesswork out. Without a holistic approach, you may become a frequent contributor to "I thought I stopped the water leak" threads.