Odd Roof Leak

Morning folks.

Well, with this lovely summer we've been having so far, I've noticed over the past few weeks that my S1 leaks water into the cabin through the little apeture the climate control fan sits in, in the roof.

This tends to happen when the car has been sitting idle and it has been raining heavily. When I drive off, a fair amount of water comes in through the fan as you go round corners etc.

I thought this was the usual leaky aerial base, so the other day took it off (it looked fine), and resealed it well with RTV sealent. I thought that was the problem solved, but it rained heavily last night, and this morning I again got a deluge coming in the fan housing / sunroof switches when I went round a roundabout.

Is anyone aware of any known leak spots in there? The sunroof itself seems fine, it is very clean, and bone dry with no evidence of the usual overflowing drain pipes etc.

I suspect the headliner is going to have to come out for some investigation, but some pointers to usual problem areas would be appreciated if anyone has any.

Cheers

Ciarán

Let me know what you find as I live with this minor feature of the S1 XM!!

John

Me too

Ditto, several times over!

"It's just a 'characteristic' of this model sir"...

I've always had the suspicion it was the aerial base, unless there's a weak spot that
rusts in the main sun roof tray?

Andrew

Me too. I did try sealing the aerial base once, but I suspect it may be that. I intend to take it off again and completely fill the void underneath it with sealant just to make sure. Mine is just making the headlining wet, but today it started dripping onto the drivers seat.

Mine has a dodgy manual sunroof so it could be that, but I don't think it is as I took the roof console off when it was raining once and could find no trace of water flowing forward from the roof.

If it is sitting in the console then it must be coming from somewhere above or uphill of that point.

Hi Ciaran

Ive got the same thing, re sealed the Ariel, and cleared the drains in the sunroof, still happens in or shortly after heavy rain when i take a sharp turn, its too far back to be the Ariel though so must be the roof but i cant see where the hell its coming from , could be the fact that water cannot flow from side to side in the sunroof tray, so i think when you take a left turn the water from the left side of the tray runs to the right and spills over into the cabin, open the sunroof and look at the front part of the tray from outside and you will see what i mean.

D

Hmmm you may be onto something there Dean... my driveway is perfectly flat, as is my work parking space, and it only ever seems to do this first thing in the morning after being sat in the drive all night, or after work. I wonder does the flat surface mean the water is sitting in the cross section and not being angled into the sunroof drain pipes due to the car sitting perfectly level?

I must open it and have a look before driving off the next time its been raining....

Ciarán

Just to change the score a bit : I DON'T have any leak there (I have no sunroof).

Sorry not to be helping...just seemed I'm about the only one who's XM doesn't leak!

G

Yes, I was wondering if there wasn't going to be a dry seat in the house...

I'm another belated "Me Too" in the S1 car, though!

having stripped down the sunroof cassette in the past, it's possible for water to leak in past the seals for the metal strips that cover the cable runways, esp if the drains are blocking and you end up with standing water. This would show via the motor though as that'd be the lowest point, and so on into the console.

When I had this leak issue though, I found 2 items:
1. aerial base
2. foremost screw/bolt holding the sunroof motor/mech

latter has a rubber seal and I just used a silicone sealant on both.

For the cassette - take the motor off and check for rust where the drive wheel meets the cables. Most likely will be some anyhow, clean up and apply lots of grease, refit motor, wind on a bit, do again etc to help things last a bit longer, befor ethe cables get too worn or stripped.

Or remove the lining and the cassette and do a full strip/clean/rebuild....
doesn't take that long really half a day ( or less if it starts raining in the middle of the job

regards
Dave

Mine doesn't leak there!!

But it did leak at the other extremity. The drainage tray overflowed due to crimped drainage pipes from the rear of the tray. The water would overflow onto the headlining, and run down the inside of the C pillars and leave a nice puddle under my back seat and rear carpets.

I have created a tutorial to show how I delt with this problem. Perhaps you have the same problem, only at the front.

Hi All

The crimped drainage pipes are common with the crimping often made worse on Mk2's as Citroen filled MK2 roof pillars with expanding foam squashing the tube even more. Accumulated muck from the sunroof tray then blocks the restricted tubes. Air jetting the drain tubes is about the only way to restore drainage.

Regards

XMexc

Unfortunately the drain pipes were the first thing I checked and water flows freely and rapidly down them when poured directly into the channels, was worth a look though

I'm going to have a look at the motor mounting screws next I think, the aerial base seemed bone dry and completely rust free when I checked it, but I resealed it anyway just in case...

Interestingly, it rained last night but no water entered the car this morning. I opened the sunroof to check inside it before driving anywhere, and the drain channels were empty of water, yet there were a few droplets of it in the cross section, below the wind deflector which pops up.

Odd one this, but I'm far from alone it seems!

Thanks for the suggestions guys

Ciarán

In addition to coat hangers and cupholders, sou'westers and waterproofs were optional extras on XMs fitted with sunfoofs, you'll find them in the storage compartment under the lift up lid in the rear armrest

Derek