Member Since: 05 Oct 2023
Location: Cape Town
Posts: 5
Disco 4 Leaking after rain
Good Day All
So i purchased a 2013 Discovery 4 SE a few weeks ago (auction dealer - no return warranty)
The vehicle has some minor cosmetic issue i knew of and will be fixing them as time goes on.
So here is my issue, the vehicle was standing still for about a week at my house when there was some heavy rain, the weekend i got into the vehicle and i could smell the damp odor of wet carpets.
On investigation the whole passenger footwell was under water and i had to lift the carpet as far as i could without removing anything and had dried it out with towels and left a heater fan blowing underneath the carpet until the insulation foam was dry (as far as possible)
I watched some videos and believed the issue to be the sunroof drain pipes that are blocked or the L shape bend part behind the dash that may be broken as in this video:
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I took the Disco to an indy and they said the drain pipe was clogged up and thus cleaned it out.
Last night we had some light rain again and when i inspected the vehicle the roof lining was wet behind the sun-visor and the whole panel at the A-pillar:
Image attached:
Click image to enlarge
The marks right at the sunroof seems to be old marks and are dry.
I called the Indy and they said they will maybe need to replace the whole drain pipe, but im wondering if this is not due to an issue with the A-pillar clips or even the roof rack seam sealer that has failed?
Any advise would be appreciated
FYI i believe the windshield has been replaced in the past due to my rain sensor bracket being loose in the black cover
Last edited by Static on 5th Oct 2023 12:33 pm. Edited 1 time in total
5th Oct 2023 8:30 am
Gary_P
Member Since: 03 May 2016
Location: Kent
Posts: 1523
Not experienced or familiar with the issues of leaks affecting the roof lining like that, but if you need to quickly stop water getting in through the sunroof ( if you believe it might be that), then you can seal it up with electrical tape. That might give you time to consider a more permanent fix, and could even help rule it out. Electrical tape doesn’t leave a sticky residue after you peel it off.
Best of luck sorting it.
ChersGary
-------------------------------------------
Discovery 4 HSE 2016MY
5th Oct 2023 8:52 am
joness7
Member Since: 09 Feb 2006
Location: West London
Posts: 233
I would say your indy has knocked the drain pipe off the sunroof spigot with some over zealous rodding, so now it dangles uselessly inside the roof lining, and the water is just running into your roof space and finding a route out down the A pillar.2018 1.5Ti Skoda Octavia - dull as f&ck
2019 D5 SdV6 SE Anniversary - black/black - good riddance!!
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5th Oct 2023 9:05 am
KPTV8
Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Itinerant
Posts: 136
Hi, DO CONTINUE keeping that footwell dry - if either footwell is wet then electrical problems build which are often VERY confusing and can be difficult and tedious to diagnose and repair.
Yes, sealing the sunroof perimeter with tape is a good stopgap measure, consider also drilling a 3mm drain hole in your floorpan where you can see the water pooling (typically just inside the sill/rocker-plate).
But do be very CAREFUL and go gently when the drill breaks through the floorpan steel so as not to pierce components immediately below !!
Good luck getting dry again, you should find a huge volume of advice relevant to wet footwelss on this forum !!
5th Oct 2023 11:02 am
Static
Member Since: 05 Oct 2023
Location: Cape Town
Posts: 5
Gary_P wrote:
Not experienced or familiar with the issues of leaks affecting the roof lining like that, but if you need to quickly stop water getting in through the sunroof ( if you believe it might be that), then you can seal it up with electrical tape. That might give you time to consider a more permanent fix, and could even help rule it out. Electrical tape doesn’t leave a sticky residue after you peel it off.
Best of luck sorting it.
Chers
Appreciate the advice i will look at taping it up for now until i know what I'm dealing with
5th Oct 2023 12:49 pm
Static
Member Since: 05 Oct 2023
Location: Cape Town
Posts: 5
joness7 wrote:
I would say your indy has knocked the drain pipe off the sunroof spigot with some over zealous rodding, so now it dangles uselessly inside the roof lining, and the water is just running into your roof space and finding a route out down the A pillar.
Ill try and remove the inner trimming and see if i can spot that drain pipe, don't know how to really get to the section where it connects to the sunroof unless i drop the roof lining?
5th Oct 2023 12:51 pm
Static
Member Since: 05 Oct 2023
Location: Cape Town
Posts: 5
KPTV8 wrote:
Hi, DO CONTINUE keeping that footwell dry - if either footwell is wet then electrical problems build which are often VERY confusing and can be difficult and tedious to diagnose and repair.
Yes, sealing the sunroof perimeter with tape is a good stopgap measure, consider also drilling a 3mm drain hole in your floorpan where you can see the water pooling (typically just inside the sill/rocker-plate).
But do be very CAREFUL and go gently when the drill breaks through the floorpan steel so as not to pierce components immediately below !!
Good luck getting dry again, you should find a huge volume of advice relevant to wet footwelss on this forum !!
Appreciated the advise, ill see to drill a small hole this weekend for draining if this happens again, will be trying to keep a waterproof cover over the Disco until i get it sorted as well
5th Oct 2023 12:53 pm
Gary_P
Member Since: 03 May 2016
Location: Kent
Posts: 1523
Here’s a link on a similar fault. Look at the description at the bottom of page 1 of the posts, which explains what to do to take a look at where the sunroof drains join the sunroof. There’s also some photos.
Always worth a search on here. There’s very little that someone hasn’t already suffered/dealt with.
Good luck.
Member Since: 04 Jul 2008
Location: In A World of My Own!
Posts: 2863
Get a cheap Aqua vac and some small bore valeting nozzles and you can dry the floor channel out reasonably easily - it helps if you can park the car on an incline as it will allow the water to flow back in the channel to the rear of the car so you can vac the majority of the water and then go from there.
Most aqua vacs come with the wider nozzles which will be great for getting a lot of the moisture out of the carpet and sound proofing.
Newspaper is a great help to draw moisture out of the carpet after you then have gone over them lots of times with the aqua vac.
Probably the case as mentioned earlier that the elbow has been pushed off under the headliner or nicked when they were cleaning it but also a good possibility it has got blocked at the elbow behind the CJB and that the pipe itself is fine.
When I changed mine the passenger side elbow was perished and weakened behind the CJB and the pipe was fine. All of the genuine elbows are the same type and you used to be able to buy the middle ones for the B pillar with pipe a lot cheaper than the front pipe used in the A Pillar. From memory mine were from a RRSport - once you have the pipe with elbow, you can remove the elbow part and just swap that if the pipe is ok and not blocked, however if you want to change the pipe and elbows together the old one can be used to draw the new one through.Must stop buying shiny toys....
5th Oct 2023 4:32 pm
M3DPO
Member Since: 22 Sep 2010
Location: Notts.
Posts: 8110
There’s a screw behind the airbag badge on the inside of the A pillar trim, pull the trim off. The corner of the roof lining can be pulled down sufficiently to get your hand in and push the rubber bend back on, tight and fiddly but it can be done. Test it with a small amount of water when done.
Hair dryer is your friend to blow dry under the carpets It can when others can't,
It will when others won't,
It goes where others don't.
5th Oct 2023 5:06 pm
Static
Member Since: 05 Oct 2023
Location: Cape Town
Posts: 5
Thank you everyone thus far for the great advice, its greatly appreciated.
So when i got home this afternoon i removed the a pillar trim, sunvisor, map lap unit and handle on the roof above the door.
I pulled down the roof lining so i could see the Sunroof and the tube was fully over the spigot
Decided to throw some water over the roof and checked for leaks. . . Water started coming from the windshield all around the top seal.
I will probably need to get a company to remove and seal the windshield in place again, then hope the issue is resolved or further investigation will need to be done it the problem is still there.
I also need to get someone to reattach the rain sensor bracket to the windshield seeing as mine was completely loose when i got the vehicle.
5th Oct 2023 7:21 pm
KPTV8
Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Itinerant
Posts: 136
Very good point there above about testing the tube/pipe/elbow repair !!
Ensure you see water going DOWN the corner hole in question below the sunroof (you can see it from above) and also ensure you see the same water appearing on the ground below !!
5th Oct 2023 8:21 pm
KPTV8
Member Since: 05 Feb 2012
Location: Itinerant
Posts: 136
Oh yuk, I just saw your update about the lousy windshield seal, sorry you've been hit with that ((
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