Quick Leaky Sunroof Fix

[Marc]

I stopped a leak in my 2001's sunroof last summer, but I wanted to let a few months pass by before I put the results on here. I had never opened the sunroof before, but last summer it started leaking very badly. I used metal tape to seal the entire perimeter of the sunroof as the pic shows. Result.....end of leak, August 2020. BTW, I never wanted to use the sunroof in all the more than 2 decades that I'v owned my 2G, and never will........

[AUROD X]

Looks nice custom strip. Head turner.😂

[Marc]

Apr 30, 2021 14:44:47 GMT -6 AUROD X said:

Looks nice custom strip. Head turner.😂

Thank you!

[AmunRoo]

The issue really isn't the sunroof itself. The sunroof is designed to allow water to fall through into the channels which then redirect the water to the four drains at the four corners of the sunroof assembly. Your issue is most likely the drains are clogged. There's two that you can access at the two front corners of the sunroof. The other two are near the back of the headliner at each corner. They each drain into the trunk on each side. The two in the front drain down into the fender well behind both tires. It can also be that the drains that go down into the a pillars have disconnected from each other and you're leaking straight into the floor pan. The only reason I know all this, I had to fix that same issue in both of my auroras. Lol

[Marc]

Jul 8, 2021 15:02:41 GMT -6 AmunRoo said:

The issue really isn't the sunroof itself. The sunroof is designed to allow water to fall through into the channels which then redirect the water to the four drains at the four corners of the sunroof assembly. Your issue is most likely the drains are clogged. There's two that you can access at the two front corners of the sunroof. The other two are near the back of the headliner at each corner. They each drain into the trunk on each side. The two in the front drain down into the fender well behind both tires. It can also be that the drains that go down into the a pillars have disconnected from each other and you're leaking straight into the floor pan. The only reason I know all this, I had to fix that same issue in both of my auroras. Lol

Thanks for the info, but everything seems to have worked out OK with the way I fixed it. BTW, I have never used the sunroof in the more than 20 years I've had my 2G, nor do I ever want to.

[jimrockford007]

I had a v8 ford explorer that was in decent shape other than a leaking sunroof, Took a bit but what I found was the sealant around the glass to the actual glass frame was bad , and it was leaking between the glass and frame. I took the glass out, removed the frame and used some really nice flexible RV seam sealer and after cleaning both parts I ran a bead into the channel for the glass and reassembled while still wet and that solved 100% of the water getting past the sunroof and the sunroof was still usable for the vehicles next owner. It just sucked ass cleaning all the residue from the extra off the glass and frame. LOL I had a video of doing it but youtube nuked my channel and I dont think I have a backed up copy.

[Marc]

I had a similar experience like yours, but with Paypal some time ago. They so completely messed up my account that I had to close it & open another one. Fortunately, no money was lost.

[quixote]

I know it's not very helpful, especially when you already have fix that you are comfortable with... but I have seen "sunroof deletes," where they completely take it out & replace with a carbon fiber panel.

Ever since my older brother put a sunroof in his AMC Gremlin, I have not been a fan of sunroofs. (They always leak. So, why would anyone deliberately choose to have a leaky hole, in their roof?) As they are normally pretty flat, I do not know if you can buy a generic one & trim it to fit, or if there are semi-standard sizes available, which will accomplish the same result.

I am amazed that I actually have two cars now, with factory sunroofs. If & when I get tired of the one in my focus, that sucker is gone --as the car is black. My aurora is a different deal, as no standard color is going to look right, with diamond pearl white.

The moon-roofs on newer f150s are notorious for having the track mechanism break, which is kind of hilarious to me. (Its the kind of over-priced option that makes the truck Ford's biggest profit-maker.) Even if someone gave me one of those for free, I'd only be accepting it to sell it right away. (I already have an f150 with no holes in the roof.)

[Marc]

I had to buy my 2001 4.0 with the sunroof because it was the only 4.0 that the dealer had in stock back then. I didn't want to wait for about 6 weeks for one from the factory without the sunroof.