RX400H 2006 Sunroof leak

[jonathanca14]

Hi All,
Was driving in the rain yesterday when I noticed a fair amount of water coming down the Nearside front pillar and thought oh well, sunroof drains must be blocked again, had a look today and found this! I cant understand how its become damaged, and there is no trace of the missing plastic in the head liner! am I right in assuming I need a whole new sunroof frame? 😞 if so what's the job like to do? 

[Spacewagon52]

Sorry I am not clear on what the photos show. Can you do without the sunroof? I would be inclined to seal it up - however to be fair I never use the sunroof.

[jonathanca14]

Its the big hole above the drain pipe, photo one is from outside looking in, photo 2 is inside head lining looking toward sunroof. 

 

I dont use it much, but like things to work so I guess I'm stuck with replacement...

[Spacewagon52]

5 minutes ago, jonathanca14 said:

Its the big hole above the drain pipe, photo one is from outside looking in, photo 2 is inside head lining looking toward sunroof. 

 

I dont use it much, but like things to work so I guess I'm stuck with replacement...

I understand. I used to be very much that way but as I have aged I have become sanguine about many things, provided they do not stop the car from working!

[Barry14UK]

Even if you never use the sun(moon) roof, water will get by the fitted seal along with dust.  It is this that leads to the drain holes becoming blocked.  So if you don't wish to replace any broken/loose parts and are prepared not to have it open, you will have to make that outer seal water tight with a very good sealant, probably difficult to do neatly as you will be going beyond what the fitted seal is designed to do.                                                                             

[jonathanca14]

Cheers for all the replies - I think my main concern here really is how such a large piece of the structure has gone missing without me noticing! its a sizable hole that's appeared and somewhere that is never touched and can't be got at by stones etc... that's what confuses me with this all!

I've ordered a salvage replacement so hopefully that will do the trick. Has anyone removed a Headliner or sunroof on this car before? are there any tips you could pass on? 🙂 

[Herbie]

I've just sent you some info by PM that may help you Jonathan.

[jonathanca14]

Not sure if this will be of interest, but sunroof now replaced - wasn’t to bad to do, but the old frame was in a bad way! 
 

You can see the white roofing tape was my temporary repair but little did I know the whole underneath was cracked also! 
 

Still no idea what the cause of this was, but added for post completion in case anyone else ever gets something similar... 

[Herbie]

Wow! That's terrible.

Glad you've got it sorted and without too much hassle Jonathan, well done.

[Barry14UK]

Not sure how relevant this might be to your situation but is a possibility of something similar.  Some years ago I experienced water ingress on my BMW which accumulated in the rear footwell.  I took the car to a large independent BMW specialist who did the usual test on the roof drains and resealed/replaced one of the membranes in the rear door card, as these are well known areas for the problem.  However, water was still finding it's way in even though the drains were clear as I also proved.  So I did a test using some non permanent dye and established the water was coming out of the tray.  So back to the independent who removed the tray and found it was cracked, the first one ever in their experience.   They fitted a replacement from a car broken for spares, dried our all the interior refitting carpet and seats - a lot of work!

What could have caused the tray to crack?  Then I remembered not long previously I had been carrying a very heavy load between two cross rails on the roof and at one point the air pressure was so great it overcame the ties and tore away the load hitting the rear of the roof in the process.  It made hardly a dent in the roof and I thought nothing further of it at the time.  I believe it was this impact that had caused the roof to transmit shock to the tray before springing back in place.     

[jonathanca14]

Thanks Barry, That's an interesting possibility, I've never had anything on the roof, but I'm not the first owner. I think the damage was probably there when I bought the car, but somehow it took me two years to notice!! I guess I'm quite lucky it didn't do more damage while leaking! I think your explanation is the only one that makes sense so I'll run with it 🙂