RAIN and moonroofs and soaking floor board

[Ultra Magnus]

What is up with these moonroofs? It rained all night last night and I open my door and my whole driver seat is soaked, the rear passenger seat is soaked and both rear floor boards. When I drive, it's a water fall coming down from above my head and above the rear right passenger when I brake or take off. I almost want to wrap the vinyl wrap the roof and be done with it, I don't like moonroofs this much.

Question, is it the moonroof or is it the seems in the roof that leak? Because as i said, the moonroof was closed last night and the seats and floorboard were soaked.

Some posts mentioned clogged drain hoses? Removing all the interior to get to them.....vinyl wrap is sounding really tempting.

[shutudwn]

When it comes to leaks you really have to bite the bullet and pull the interior. Once it's out you can dry it and find the leaks easier.

[Ultra Magnus]

My situation, time to do that and space needed make that impossible. Just looking to stop the leaks asap.

The rear drain hoses, where do they actually drain out? Under the rear seat or inside the trunk?

[MKMike]

I have 4 2000-03 Bonnevilles all of which have a sunroof.
The problems I have had include: sunroof height not correctly adjusted, debris in the sunroof frame,drain outlets clogged at the sunroof end, tubes stuck closed at the wheelwell end, some disconnected tubes in the trunk and all had the tubes disconnected behind the kickpanels.
Add to this 2 having poor sealing of the rear window plus previous owners or mechanics doing window regulator replacements without resealing the door panel water barriers and the cars were practically mobile swimming pools.
In one instance, the long-term standing water led to corrosion of the connectors on the bottom of the rear fuse block.

You don't have to remove the entire interior to access the sunroof tubes BUT removing the carpeting is the only way to get the foam backing dried out without a moldy mess forming in your car.
You will need to drop the headliner in order to get at the sunroof drain outlets.
The tubes all drain behind wheels.

Here's the Common Problems thread, in case you haven't seen it: http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... 25362.html

[Ultra Magnus]

Thanks for the link. The front passenger doesn't seem to leak, but is its located towards the firewall as well? I couldn't find a picture.

[CMNTMXR57]

We've all been through this. Once you clean them out though, and be sure not to park under trees and such (regularly), you'll be fine.

[ddalder]

Of course there's also the other sources of leaks. My car had body plugs in the floor pan that were not sealed correctly and seam sealer that was missing or misapplied on the firewall requiring me to remove the entire dash assembly.

[redfury]

Part of the problem as well is the sunroof seal shrinks some and allows too much water past the sunroof glass. The drains are there to mitigate what water makes it past the seal, but if too much water gets through, it's just going to overflow the gutter system. I replaced the seal in my sunroof. It's not ideal because the seal is larger than it should be ( 10 mm vs 8mm ) so it's not exactly something I use much and have to do a little tucking of the excess seal. I'm still trying to find a decent source for a replacement seal...the only other way is to replace the glass which is 300 bucks or better, which is ridiculous. In the mean time, you could try to line the opening with a strip of pinstriping tape to close the gap a bit more ( open the sunroof the entire way back and wipe the lip with alcohol and apply to the pinstripe tape.)

[MKMike]

Thanks for the link. The front passenger doesn't seem to leak, but is its located towards the firewall as well? I couldn't find a picture.

You're welcome.
There are drainage tubes at each corner of the sunroof frame.
The fronts are in front of the driver's left/ passenger's right.
Picture of the passenger's front drainage tube at the sunroof http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d61/b ... C06072.jpg
More pics and detailed info by clicking earlier post's links under Interior: Water Leaks.

To remove or lower the headliner, instructions are here http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... c9351.html

Redfury, did you try cutting the tips off the tubes at the wheelwells?
If they stick closed, drainage= zero

[Ultra Magnus]

I meant the actual drain to the outside, is it in a similar location as the driver side; against the firewall?

[ddalder]

In the front, there is a drain to the outside behind the rear wheel well liner on each side (in the front, the wheel well liner is comprised of two separate pieces). In the rear, there is one on each side but it is hidden by the rear fascia. You can access the rear drains from inside the trunk by carefully pulling the body grommet in where the wiring harness exits the car to the exterior (one on each side).

This is a front drain (on the driver side).


This picture is in the trunk on the driver side. You can see the large rubber body grommet below the gold coloured connector on the XM receiver module. The drain passes through here.


Here is the exterior view. Water drains by the arrow.

[Ultra Magnus]

Update**

I temporarily sealed the moonroof. And added some silicon to the roof where the windsheild meets the roof and pillar. Actually all 4 corners. Water is still dripping from around the windsheild and falling onto my lap. A towel is now a requirement when I drive in the rain. Also the rear deck is getting soaked as well. Baffled. Why it keeps raining is so my car can develope more leaks.

Where should I look to eliminate these windshield leaks?

[ddalder]

Are there any signs of rust around the areas when the windshield bonds to the body? This would be bad news and you could be doing Band-Aid fixes from now until forever.

If it was me, and I was confident it was the windshield, I would have a glass shop remove and reinstall the window. If you need a new windshield, this may be the time to get it. If there's rust around the windshield opening, you may need body shop intervention.

I've always found silicone to be a poor choice for this repair. You can't get into all the areas necessary to properly clean them for it to adhere effectively. Where water enters, so do trails of dust and dirt. If you want a proper, long term fix, you need to do this right.

There is a flowable silicone available that is better for this, but even still, not the best fix.
https://www.permatex.com/products/adhes ... ss-sealer/

[Ultra Magnus]

No rust. Permatex gasket maker not silicon. Now after my last post, I went out and inspected the gutter channels on the roof and noticed the weather stripping in them aren't sticking. So I'm supposing the rain is able to make it under and past the failed strips and leak out by the windsheild. So I'm going to run a bead of permatex the entire channel length and see if that cures it.

[ddalder]

I really wouldn't recommend that as your next step. If you get that stuff in there, it will make a mess and you'll never get it out again if you need to. The sheet metal is all sealed. If you think it's leaking there, I would drop your headliner and have a close look to identify where the problem is. Silicone and gasket maker are not the right choices for this.

There are so many reasons that's not a good idea...

[Ultra Magnus]

There is no headliner anymore because of all the leaks, it was destroyed. This may not be the professional way to do it, but apparently professionals didn't assemble this car or else I wouldn't have to drive with towels and rtv. Haha!

**mini update**

Applied gasket maker. Windshield still leaks, not as much though. Now its just a steady drip drip drip in rain. Obviously not good enough. Its not the windshield, its the sheetmetal joints, they werent properly sealed from the factory.

Another 4 days of soaking rain later. Rear driver passenger side floorboard is a .5" deep pool. Ripped off driver side door panels and re pressed the rain shields down. Separation occurred so I pressed the goop channels down and after I was satisfied, slapped the panels back on. Cross my fingers.

I'm getting closer to a dry car. I hope.

[MKMike]

http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... =43&t=9351 tells how to replace the headliner fabric

I hope you also checked for disconnected drain tubes behind the kickpanels.
When they're disconnected the water leaks soak the underside of the rear carpeting--usually going unnoticed unless you lift up the carpet and check.

On my cars pushing the plastic back without replacing the sealant only gave temporary results.
I later used 3m WindoWeld to successfully reseal the door plastic liners.

[Ultra Magnus]

Anyone know what other H Bodies I can harvest parts from; sunroof, headliner, sunvisors? Is the Aurora the closest? I've tried looking up part numbers and cross matching but came up with nothing.

Haro, do you know?

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/5985536075.html I'm considering buying this car, harvesting it. The moonroof assembly should be the same right?

[MKMike]

Why would you bother?
They all have the same water leak issues.
1st Google result http://www.justanswer.com/oldsmobile/7n ... aking.html
then http://aurorah.proboards.com/thread/13686
and
https://www.2carpros.com/questions/2001 ... amp-floors

Fix the leaks in the car you have and buy a used headliner to re-cover with foam backed fabric.

Re-pressing the door liner sealant probably won't work--at least it didn't on my cars.

[Ultra Magnus]

My car doesn't have a headliner or sunvisors, and my moonroof assembly is falling apart bro...