Leaky sunroof, cloudy & swirled paint

A

ahunt01

New member
Well i finally got around to washing my car that had a complete re-paint, and repairs from the tree falling on it. I never noticed any leakage from the sunroof from driving in rain, but when I washed it... I notice that there is water around the inner track and the water will probably soon start leaking inside the roof. I also notice that the paint is cloudy, and that they buffed my paint and swirled it completely before clear coating it. Needless to say I'm rather pissed.

Anyways, I was thinking of taking the car to my insurance company, since they paid for the work, and explain how shoddy the work is, and that I want it corrected, by another place of my choosing. BTW the shop that "fixed it" was one of their preferred shops, although everyone in my area raves over it. I want to take the car to a shop out of state about an hour and a half away, but I dunno if my insurance will pay. They're gonna have to somehow fix the leak, and strip the paint off and redo it, since I don't want another layer of paint applied over top of this which is applied overtop of my factory paint.

Any suggestions?:confused:
 
You sure they buffed before the clear .. Sometimes with clear if it is washed before it finishes curing , eg in the first 24 hours it can cause the clear to cloud down the road.
 
I dunno if it was a car wash that made it cloudy or what. I just washed the first time since I've had it for about two weeks, so if it got washed it was by them. I think they waxed it, because I saw white residue that looks like wax in the jams.

I'm pretty sure they buffed it before the clear, they told me they buffed out orange peel, which is b.s. because there is orange peel, and a whole lot of swirls everywhere. To me, they look like they're under the clearcoat. Although it'd be nice if it's in the clearcoat and not the color paint, because I can fix that.
 
If you are still unsatisfied. Maybe you should call your insurance company. Let them take a look at the car and evalate what should be done to correct the problem. Just a thought...
 
I believe all sunroofs have drainage tubes, at least mine does. It seems every spring I need to flush them out. Your's may be clogged and it should be a simple job to locate and clear them out.
 
ahunt01 said:
Hmm, I've never heard of a drainage tube before.
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Oh and how! I'm pretty sure all factory and better aftermarket roofs have them. When my headliner in the Lincoln gets a bit damp I know it's time to clean them. Seems I don't get leaks in the rain, just from washing. My wife's car (Seville STS)had them so baddly clogged that they backerd up and leaked into the foot wells, the dealership had to remove the front seats and dry out the carpeting.
 
Very interesting. I hope that's all it is lol. Well the car is 4 years old, and I've never cleaned out the sunroof so that could be it. Since i've had the roof repaired from the tree damage, I've driven in the rain, and although I haven't checked for leaks, I don't think it was leaking. When I decided to wash it about 2 weeks after the car was repainted and repaired, I heard dripping noises when I hoped back in the car. That's when I reached up and opened up the sliding headliner and felt around the edges of the sunroof from inside and felt moisture.
 
look for the drains, and use some pour litle bits of water into them and see if they drain or just back up. If they just back up, use some sort of cable (I used an old speedometer cable) to clean it out
 
Ok, but I'm a little confused on what you mean by drains. Where do these drains drain the water? It can't drain the water inside the roof, and I don't see how it would drain water out of the car.

I mean, the sunroof is sealed with a rubber gasket, so shouldn't that prevent any water at all from leaking in? I don't know why I would need drains if that's the case. *confused*



Here's a post-accident picture. Shouldn't that rubber seal keep out moisture?
sunroof.jpg
 
My '97 Maxima has four drains for the sunroof. Theoretically, the rubber seal should keep out the moisture. In the real world, moisture still gets in (rubber seals fail, sunroof open slightly during rain/wash, etc...). I have found 2 of my four drains. The rear drains go from the back of the sunroof all the way down to just behind the rear tires. They exit through the inside rear fenders, out of sight unless under the car. I found them by accident wondering what the little metal "pipes" coming out of my rear fenders were when I was under the car. I pulled them slightly and saw that they are hooked to a rubber hose. I guess the metal "pipe" piece is just for durability as it is the only part exposed to the environment (rocks, etc...).

I would venture to guess the front drains travel down the A-pillars, and exit through the front fender. If I remember, I'll check for my front ones tomorrow just so I know where they are at.



Dave
 
Neato, now I'm gonna have to go out and search all over the car for these. If and when I find them, how do I go about flushing them out?
 
I wouldn't worry too much about where they come out. Just open up the sunroof fully and look around the rim for them. It really is the main cause for leaking sunroofs and the blockage is often right at the top of the pipe. Normally the drains are in the corners (gravity and all that on a curved roof), so if you pick the lowest points of the sunroof, thats where they will be.



To clean them, try a vacuum first then a blower and if all else fails then carefully poke them through. Remember you are dealing with a rubber pipe so don't poke with anything hard or sharp - if you damage the pipe then you will have a much bigger problem. I use something like a thin plastic clothesline but anything like that will do. As noted above test by pouring a little water into the sunroof rim and watching to make sure it drains away
 
Well, I flushed out the drain tubes. The front were quite easy to find, and I just took a syringe with water and shot it in. The back were harder to find, so I just parked the car on a hill and shot a little water back there. Both drainage tubes work beautifully. So now I'm not sure why it leaks.:confused:





~These are were the front drain tubes are.

Resize-Wizard-1.jpg


Resize-Wizard-2.jpg


Resize-Wizard-3.jpg


Resize-Wizard-4.jpg
 
ahunt01 said:
Well, I flushed out the drain tubes. The front were quite easy to find, and I just took a syringe with water and shot it in. The back were harder to find, so I just parked the car on a hill and shot a little water back there. Both drainage tubes work beautifully. So now I'm not sure why it leaks.:confused:





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OK, so now you have tested that - back to your original question. As you can see, the sunroof is designed to have water running around the inner edge - what do you mean by the inner track?
 
I know my leaky sunroof on my Talon was caused by the glass being loose. To further this, the problem was loose screws that that attaches the glass to the arms that run the track to open it. I am not sure about Hondas, but my Talon uses 6 hex-head screws to attach the glass. Also, Mistu recommends that the glass be set at an angle for drainage, again check a Honda service manual for that information. The leaky sunroof is a notorious problem with the 95-97 Talons / 95-99 Eclipses, and I have the water marks in the headliner to prove it :( (will be working on cleaning that). You can check this by slamming a door shut with the windows closed and see if the sunroof jumps. If it jumps, then try tightening it down.
 
Yeah I must admit I've gotten a quick lesson in sunroofs lol. Now that I look at the pictures I do see how the edges are raised, as if the sunroof is designed to hold water. I never knew that, so I learned something new :cool:.

track1.jpg


track2.jpg
 
ahunt01 said:
Yeah I must admit I've gotten a quick lesson in sunroofs lol. Now that I look at the pictures I do see how the edges are raised, as if the sunroof is designed to hold water. I never knew that, so I learned something new :cool:.
Click to expand...

Yeah - looks OK to me. Its an internal gutter, just like the ones you used to find at the edges of the the roof. It should not get a lot of water in it - those drain tubes can't cope with lots of water, but the odd dribble is fine :D
 
Cool. Well I washed it at home, and I see no water leaking in. The pressure washer at the brushless car wash must have been the culprit. Yeah yeah I know you all are hissing at me for going to a car wash, but I just wanted to quickly get off the road salt (which it didn't do lol).

Anyrate, I"m happy now that there's one less problem I have to deal with. Now I just have to fight with the insurance company about paying to get the paint fixed, i.e. sanded down, not another coat on top of my original coat and this new shoody coat. If they say no, then I'll try going back to the same body shop that painted it and see what they'll do. If no luck there, then f()ck it until I get out of college and can afford to pay someone else.
 
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