Rusty Sunroof Drain Mounts - does anyone have a fix?

[rattler]

Hi,

I've had a little water in the drivers foot well for a while now, today it's gotten worse. The o/s carpet and headliner are saturated, water is every where

I had a quick look at the sunroof drains, and found the o/s front drain point has corroded. It is still attached to the water hose, but there is now a gap around the drain mount - so the water now drains down this gap (onto the headlining), and not into the water hose.

I'm not sure how to fix the water hose mounting point? How is the water hose attached to the drain?

From my 2 minute look at lunchtime, It looks like I should cut out the rot, make a new piece, weld in and paint?

Is this over kill? Can it / should it be repaired with a combo of silicone and fiberglass?

Has anyone had to make a similar repair who can offer any advice?

I plan to remove the carpet tonight to dry out properly, and I've read previous posts about how to check and clear the water hoses for blockages.

Cheers,

Craig.

[sam325is]

What car is it on? if its not worth much it might be time to consider another car as i dread to think what the rears are like if the fronts are in that condition...hop on to the back seat and start pushing and feeling all arouind the headlining in the back.....you might hear crunching and feel flakes!!!!! check at the edges of the roof lining mostly as thats where the channels are which tend to hold the moisture and therefore rust!

[rattler]

- Forgot to say, it's a 1989 318 touring.

@Sam: Thanks for the headsup on the rears - I'll check them out later tonight.

... I'm assuming if I want a proper look, the complete headliner needs removing?

Craig.

[sam325is]

i dont think feeling around on the headliner will work on a touring as the roff skins are thicker. thats a roof lining down jobby im afraid.

[rattler]

Dang - not really looking forward to the headliner removal.

... Thanks for letting me know

[sam325is]

you could just lower the back of it down a bit

but to get a good idea you nee top drop it all down

[bmwe30mtech]

You really need the roof lining off. As you pull it down watch for flakes of rust that might fall out.

You could bodge it with fibreglass but if you want a long term fix you need to buy a new sunroof tray. They are welded in place, but the roof needs re-painting after as the welds mess up the roof paint.

Good luck!

[Chief_Misfire]

The tray is bonded in place I think but you can bond or weld the new one in.

It really is a real b1tch to fix as it can mean trashing a car or over serious dough to do the job properly.

Mine rotted at a single drain connection but had rotted the tray AND the roof so I had replaced the whole roof.

£400 for new roof with tray bonded in already and £1000 labour.

You could cut it out, weld new patch in and use filler to restore the shape of the roof (it will distort after welding) for less.

[Simon13]

it's bonded and theres 3 tack welds holding the tray up. The roofskin is very thin and it will distort when it's welded back in. How much depends on how you your welding man is! If you replaced it that is.

Just tilt the roof up and shine a torch in. You'll soon see what going on in there. Things is you can't really bodge it up as it's exposed all the time and everytime it rains, you wash the car it's getting wet. So it won't take long for it to keep coming back

[Alex]

this happened to my 318i chromie ended up scrapping as it had been like that for years and there was no drain pipes left and there had been water behind the carpets for a few years which caused the floor to be rotten, and dont know how previous owner lived with the smell, it stunk of rotten water