Dry headliner with mysterious water stains
 

Howdy folks,

A few weeks ago I replaced a-pillar plastic covers and the lower windshield cowling (intake plenum). While doing that, I cleaned and patched the corners where windshield meets a-pillars, patched the gutters, and inspected everything for leaks. Most of the maintenance was preventative because while I experienced no leaks myself, I saw light water stains marks. I presumed they happened before I took the ownership of the car.

The car survived several downpours without any leaks whatsoever. This morning I noticed that there was a water stain in the top passenger side a-pillar area. When I touched the headliner it was bone dry. The thing is that we did not have what I would call rain. It sprinkled for a few minutes but the side with the water stain did not get wet at all due to how the car was parked. I popped interior a-pillar covers--everything is dry. There is no sign of water anywhere, even the inside of the headliner is dry. No dampness.

Has anyone experienced this? My Disco has no sunroofs, so faulty drains are out of the question... I think.

Thank you,
--mc

Often the water shoots forwards when you are braking hard or the truck is pointing downhill. The water mark may be from an old leak that you've already fixed. The headliner material tends to delaminate once the roof or sunroof(s) have leaked so maybe worth a closer look.

Good point. The PO changed the headliner, so I presume not much of the "old" water is in the car. I'll point the car downhill and see what's up.

There was a TSB issued that referred to upper A pillar leaks and how to address them: maybe someone here can direct you to that. Also the attachment points for the roof rails have been known to leak on the previous style; not sure if the '04 models experienced the same issue or not.