Sunroof leaking (Page 3/4)
Black Pegasus MAY 10, 09:14 PM

quote
Originally posted by currie68:

It looks asthough your not getting that gasket seated properly,
when i got my fiero store gasket i had to trim alittle material
off of eack outside corner for it to seat right. it kinda looked
like they didnt quite trim it correctly



That actually has a good logic to it... I should take a look into that...

Fred

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87 Pontiac Fiero GT

Black Pegasus JUL 28, 03:18 PM
Played around with it a bit and I think I've found the flaw which is causing that. I looked up the sunroof panel that my father had for one of his cars, played around withe the gasket, rails and everything. Clearely the problem doesn't come from the gasket, but the roof panel.

What I'm thinking is that when I was prepping the car to be painted, there was some infiltration by the sunroof and the SMC was starting to rot. I used the dremel to remove what went bad and patched up the equivalent of what I just grinded. Maybe the problem is I didn't recreate the same arcs/angles as the stock roof cause I didn't put much attention into that since it would be "hidden". Therefore the tracks aren't in their correct position, neither the seal, neither the glass.

This is what I suspect because trimming, shimming or everything else I tried didn't work. I guess I will have to find a sunroof panel, sand it, repair it, paint it and be really meticulous about those grooves that the rails sits in.

So we will see how that goes later when I'll get the time. If this thread isn't archived when I will be done, I will post where I'm at.

Thanks a lot everyone for your help and ideas! Really appreciated!

Fred

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87 Pontiac Fiero GT

JOE 4RE JUN 17, 07:49 PM
OK the time has come for me to address MY leaky sunroof. Like Black Pegasus, I have a noticable gap between the glass and the rubber, but mine is at the LATCH EDGE. In the past I tried adding 1/8" spacers to the sunroof latch mechanism to drop it away from the body, but I still had a gap in the center and was afraid of busting the glass if I spaced it any more, so I got a strip of 3/8" thich x 5/8" wide rectangular neoprene and placed it along the back edge and about halfway down each side and that did the trick, but I can't open the sunroof without loosing the neoprene! So tonight I decided to pull it all apart and fix things.

My '88 GT has the four holes drilled in the corners and they do drain as they should, so that's one thing I don't have to deal with. When I pulled out my glass tonight, I noticed the tabs on the latch were bent... Anyway of straightening them without breaking them off? For now I'm gonna leave them alone and see if my idea for a permanent solution works.

I read in this thread that someone inserted a 1/4" or 3/8" soft nylon cord thru the hollow center section of the sunroof weatherstrip, so I'll stop at an auto part store and pick up about 8 foot of 5/16 OD fuel or vacuum line and try sliding that into my factory weatherstrip and see how she works. I'll post my findings later on this week...

WISH ME LUCK!

JOE 4RE

[This message has been edited by JOE 4RE (edited 06-17-2013).]

JOE 4RE JUN 21, 07:53 PM
Well I removed my sunroof weatherstrip and was able to insert a 9/32" OD vacuum line and a 1/4" OD clear medical oxygen tube into the cavity. I don't know if by design there are two smaller cavities or due to years of being compressed a "center membrane" was formed but initially I had a heck of a time getting the vacuum line thru the weatherstirpping. As I worked and worked to get the tubing thru, the center tore loose and it became much easier to get the vacuum line thru. Upon discovering this trick, I used a long skinny flat-bladed screw driver to go ahead and break the center web so I had one large cavity to pull/push the vacuum line thru. Once I got the line thru the latch side, I took it down both sides to about an inch off the front corners. With the vacuum line in, I had a nice sealing bulge for the glass to seal against but noticed it was easily moved away from the roof opening so that's when I found the oxygen tubing would also fit and acted as a stop to prevent the vacuum line from moving.

I reinstalled the weatherstrriping and was very pleased with the way the rubber now had a nice raised buldge for the sunroof glass to seal against and I figured my problem was solved.... WRONG!! I guess the real problem is the tabs on my latch are bent and weak and the more seal I install, the more the tabs bend! I'm guessing the latch material is probably potmetal or something if it bends that easily. What are the chances of bending the tabs straight without breaking? And if they do straighten out, how strong will they be???

So now to address the real problem... THE LATCH. Is the latch a Fiero only part or was it used on other GM compacts as well? Anyone offer a repair kit or reproduction of the latch?

AS ALWAYS MY THANKS!
Fiero.1984 JUN 21, 09:48 PM
Since you are still having trouble you can try this and see if it helps. Get some Mobil 1 grease and apply a thin coat around the perimeter where the seal meets the glass. I know it sound crazy but I have used it in several different situations and it has worked.

My refrigerator door had a magnetized rubber seal and it no longer would hold the door shut. After lubing the rubber and letting it sit for a few days, I wiped off all of the excess and now the door will stay shut. I have a MGB with a convertible top and have applied the grease to the top where the top meets the frame to seal it. The lube is absorbed into the rubber and makes it more pliable.

Even though you have used new seals, they could be older than you expect. As the rubber seal ages, it loses its flexibility. The grease restores it and makes it more pliable.

Good luck.
NetCam JUN 21, 10:00 PM
Pretty sure the latch was only used on the Fiero, but I've seen quite a few of them for sale. Give the Mall a try.
Joseph Upson DEC 13, 01:28 AM
I'm planning to install my sunroof seal soon after having it for about 2yrs now and decided to do a little research since I recall so many having problems with proper seal after installation and resulting leaks and wind noise. I have a Fiero Store seal and understand that the latch area appears to be the trouble spot most often.

Looking at my seal it is apparent that there is a front and a rear end as the corner radiuses are different in pairs. There is also about an 1/8" additional thickening on the mount surface of each corner which also differs in length along with the radiuses. Since the rear corners of the glass are lowest, it may help if the rear corner mount pads are trimmed a little in closing the latch area gap.

I've also read recently about use of a heat gun (non fiero app) to help soften the seal to help the glass form a print in the seal. Of course you would want to experiment with the old seal here to test the softening theory. I suppose adding a substantial amount of flexible (books, etc) weight on top of the glass and applying heat to the areas causing the glass to ride high might help solve the problems with glass height after seal replacement.

[This message has been edited by Joseph Upson (edited 12-13-2013).]

ltlfrari DEC 13, 08:39 AM
I suspect the real problem is that the glass has a curve to it and well, your roof doesn't (any more).
Shimming the catch does not really work because it can pivot along the line of the two mounting bolts. I ended up making a shim with a 'leg' on it the pushed up against the front edge of the roof so that the catch really could not pivot. I got it to seal alter a lot of trial end error with a new weather strip but the rule now is, don't open the sun roof!
I suspect the only real solution is to somehow get a curve back into the roof, especially along the back edge. I think that short of removing the roof, the only real way to do that would be to remove all the trim etc around the opening and then insert blocks of some sort between the roof panel and the metal roof of the chassis to force the roof back to a curve that matches the curve of the glass.
That's all just theory though, maybe someone could try it but I'm not going to disturb my sunroofs unless I REALLY have to!

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Anything I might say is probably worth what you paid for it, so treat it accordingly!

Dave

www.ltlfrari.com

JOE 4RE SEP 11, 06:13 PM
SUCCESS.... after years of not driving my Fiero very much due to a leaking sunroof, I FINALLY DISCOVERED THE PROBLEM.

Mine had a severe gap at the latch when closed that I was never able to get sealed. I removed the weatherstrip and inserted a section of vacuum hose thru the middle of the weatherstrip along the sides and back edge and reinstalled the weatherstrip but still had the gap. I removed the latch handle from the glass and noticed that the ears were bent, so I purchased and entire used assembly off eBay and replaced the latch handle on the glass WITH NO VISIBLE DIFFERENCE. I stuffed a bit more rubber gasketing material into the gap just to curb the water intrusion as well as not driving the car very much at all until I could find the solution.

Well after keeping her put up for well over a year, I finally got tired of not being able to enjoy her so I resolved myself to finding the problem once and for all. I pulled all the extra gasket material from the gap, removed the glass, removed the weatherstripping and removed the vacuum hose from the center of the SIDES of the weatherstrip (left the section along the back and about 3/4" around the corners toward the front ) and then reinstalled the weatherstrip and the glass panel into the opening. I depressed the latch keepers of the roof mounted bracket and inserted the latch ears into the slots and then tried latching the roof. It sounded like it was trying to latch but wasn't pulling down like it should. I looked closed at the ears to make sure they weren't bending and noticed that it looked like they were kicking out of the slots as the glass was trying to latch rather than staying in place and "camming" over. I removed the trim plate for a better view and sure enough they were being kicked out rather than rolling around like they should.

Since I had bought the ENTIRE roof latching assembly, I decided to try replacing the roof bracket as well to see if the "new" one would kick away like the old one. With the "new" one in place (minus the trim panel so I could see the latching action) I depressed the tabs, inserted the latch ears and VIOLA, THE PANEL LATCHED INTO PLACE TIGHTLY!!! I was almost afraid to unlatch the panel to replace the trim panel, but the trim panel went back on with the panel secured into position.

I hope this helps others who are having issues with their VistaRoof leaking!

GOOD LUCK
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JOE 4RE
'88 Fiero GT
Med. Red Metallic
loaded 5 speed

[This message has been edited by JOE 4RE (edited 09-11-2017).]

Patrick SEP 11, 07:49 PM

quote
Originally posted by JOE 4RE:

SUCCESS.... after years of not driving my Fiero very much due to a leaking sunroof, I FINALLY DISCOVERED THE PROBLEM.



It's great that you've returned after an absence of four years to fill us in... but we need pictures!