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leaking roof?

GTexplorer

Well-Known Member
Joined
February 22, 2008
Messages
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City, State
Dawsonville, Ga
Year, Model & Trim Level
96 XLT
I am havin water stains in my headliner after hard rains. Just noticed within the past month. All the wet spots and stains are down the passenger side. There is no visible cracks or rust on the roof. I'm thinking it could be the rear glass or one of the door seals. Any ideas as to what to do? Help!
 



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that blows bout ur leaking roof hope u get it fixed.
 






Sunroof or roof rack? Is the water close to the top of the door or towards the center of the roof?
 












all the water and stains either are very close or touch the plastic trim that runs down the passenger side. thats why i thought it could be door seals (is it even possible for water to come in like that?) . ill have to remove my rack tomorrow and look. other than missing screws, what should i be looking for? oh, and no i dont have a sun or moonroof.
ill update tomorrow with my finds so you guys can keep helping me out. thanks i appreciate it :salute:
 






I'd yank the headliner before the roof rack. You should be able to see where the water is coming in. Especially if you run water on it.
 






I'd yank the headliner before the roof rack.

damn i read this after i went outside and looked at it. i took off the roof rack, all the screws and holes looked fine to me. i put the screws back in the holes, but didnt replace the rack. i tightened them as far as i could without stripping them out. what would pulling the headliner find if there is no holes in the roof? im thinking it could be the passenger rear door seal, it doesnt sit flush with the door and body all the way. or could water not come in and "up" like that? im getting frusturated, i dont want to have to take this to a bodyshop to get screwed over :mad:
 






Crack in the seam sealer, lack of butyl under a piece of trim, leak under a door rubber, and sometimes the water will come in one place, run down the roof at a seam or pinchweld and show up a fair distance from where the water is actually coming in. Some leaks can be found by spraying very soapy water on the area you want to test, close the windows and doors and put the heater blower on high. Often you will find bubbling at the leak. Works excellent for leaky windows. You can also go around with a blow gun hooked to a compressor from the inside.

Often if you use compressed air around a suspected leak from the outside, you will see water coming out from under a crack in the seam etc. This might point to your leak as well. I have had to spend a fair bit of time finding possible leaks, then taping over them, running water again, taping over another spot etc etc

It is all much easier if you pull the headliner, but it's up to you. I guess it depends on how badly you want to find and fix your leak dude.
 






yea just got home from school, it barely rained today and yet it leakin worse. im pissed so im puttin it in the garage and the headliner is commin out!!!! :mad::mad:
 






One of my 1992's did the same thing on the pass. side. I have another 92 with a poop inside but a nice body. So i put the interior from the leaky one in the good one and scrapped the leaky one. May not be practical but instead of 2 crappy ones I got 1 nice one.
 






ok after removing the headliner partly, ive pulled enough down to inspect the roof rack holes where the screws go. two seem to have alittle water around the bases, i think that these are the problems. but its a good bit of water that comes in, there are no other problem areas, so how do these little drops wet my whole paggenger side from front to back? oh well, what do i need to buy from autozone or home depot that will keep these damn things dry? thanks for your help :salute:
 






UPDATE- what a night. so i pulled the headliner, and covered each hole with some $4 goo selant/bonder i bought at autozone. i covered inside and outside with two layers, replaced the roof rack and all the interior, and tightened everything down. did i use the right stuff? its what the guy recommended and he sounded like he knew what he was talkin bout.
 






I once had a Mustang that leaked all around the sunroof and the passenger side over the window. Turned out that the the top of the windshield surround was rusted out and water was streaming in when I drove in the rain.
 






I have used a high quality clear silicone (very little) but if you are confident you got it that's great. You may have put the screw in a bit tighter also and changed the amount of water getting in when you took the rack off. Either way, hopefully this fixes it.
 






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