Oops... I sprung a leak...

pcb

The Diagram Dude
:
2002 MP5
I got in my car today to find this...





The rusty part on the corner of the roof must have rusted through.

I'm gonna try pulling up a part of the molding the filling it with silicone.

The water is dripping down on to my fog light switch and dimmer dial,.. Not good...

 
It was a nice day so I decided to try to seal up my rusty leak.

I tried to fix it once before thinking it was leaking on the side of the windshield.




















I scraped out the rusty crud and sealed it up on both sides with silicone...
It doesn't look too cheesy... Let's see if it's sealed,.. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow so it should be a good test.
 
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It was a nice day so I decided to try to seal up my rusty leak.

I tried to fix it once before thinking it was leaking on the side of the windshield.




















I scraped out the rusty crud and sealed it up on both sides with silicone...
It doesn't look too cheesy... Let's see if it's sealed,.. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow so it should be a good test.
Looks good ! God bless nice days heh. I have to do something about mine as well. Let us know how it holds up [emoji41]
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If yours hasn't rusted through and isn't leaking, then just some oil or grease in there should be enough.

I had replaced my windshield myself and it wasn't quite sealed in that corner.

That turned out to be a real s*** show... Window sealant is as thick as tar and I just had a cheap dollar store dispensing gun.
I couldn't squeeze the dam handle and had to reef on it with pliers and bent the s*** out of the handle,.. Meanwhile I had about 15 minutes to get the glue out of the tube before it hardens.
I did get the window in but I missed a spot.

Then I finally got myself a better dispenser.

 
My car's getting a water test right now !!

But it's the frozen kind so it may not count !!?!

 
Given the rust on your car in that location that was almost certainly the problem. However, in the more general case of a leak in that vicinity on most cars, and I'm assuming the P5, it is usually worth checking the drain tubes that come out of the sun roof. If those detach, crack, break, or clog the water getting past the seal around the top window can come out just about anywhere in the ceiling or down one of the front pillars. My father in law complained for years about wet carpets in his Accord. When we inherited it I took everything apart and found that a body shop which had worked on it when a tree dented the roof had never reattached those hoses. On closer inspection there was also some rust inside a little kick panel just in front of the driver's door, where the water had also been flowing.

It's too late now, but as long as you were in there scraping off rust it might have been a good idea to treat the area with one of the "rust converter" products, which change the surface chemistry and make it more resistant to rusting.
 
..., it is usually worth checking the drain tubes that come out of the sun roof...

I Hear That !!!

My 1985 Mazda 626 had the rear drain holes plugged up with maple keys and dirt.

I would back down the hill from home,.. Put it in first and a gallon of water would dump on by head !!,...

 
It's too late now, but as long as you were in there scraping off rust it might have been a good idea to treat the area with one of the "rust converter" products, which change the surface chemistry and make it more resistant to rusting.

I could have done a better job including scraping the bubbled up area then rust converter then bondo then paint but then I would have put off the whole project.
It's still winter here and we had an unusually warm day so I just did a quick fix.

I'll do a water test with the hose at some point including some water in the drain tray of the sunroof and maybe pull off the pillar cover to try to see exactly where it was coming in.

The rust should be sealed now so it should stay dry and stop propagating.
 
It will still rust from the inside out, silicone traps water, a urethane would have been a better choice. The windshield needs to be pulled and the rust needs to be fixed by a body shop or you following rust repair procedures.
 
Actually, it's been working great !!
It's been raining for days now and I no longer have a leak.

If I had to remove my windshield to fix it, I wouldn't bother at all.
My car is now only worth a few hundred dollars as scrap and wouldn't pass safety.

I will get it under coated again next month though and hopefully get another year or two out of it.
 
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