Alright guys I have a 1985 GT and am currently experiencing some sun roof woes that I have yet to be able to find any mention of online. It appears Im the first one to have this problem or atleast the first one to post about it. I have replaced my gaskets etc to stop the leaking but the other day I went over a bump about as stiff as going over a rail road track without slowing to a crawl. In any case the sun roof latch assemble FELL out of the roof and started dangling. Needless to say I was confused and when I got home I looked at it. The threaded studs that come down out of the roof had over time managed to pull themselves through the metal they had been pinch welded in and now I have two rounded out holes in the part of the roof they once sat in. I attempted to rebuild their home with JB weld but after allowing it to cure the JB weld began cracking and one side snapped out again. The latch now also isnt secured well enough to even hold the sun roof down hard enough to keep water out.
Possible solutions iv thought of: A. Silicone sealent the sun roof in and never touch it again B. Remove the roof pannel and replace it with a hard top pannel C. Remove roof pannel and attempt a real repair from above with after market bolts, nuts, and washers.
Any other solutions any one else can think of? perhaps other people have had this issue? thanks.
The latch now also isnt secured well enough to even hold the sun roof down hard enough to keep water out.
My experience has been that even an open (flipped-up) sunroof will not leak water into the cabin as long as the drain holes in the corners are present and not plugged with debris.
Id replace the roof panel. No panel repair will be strong enough. You can use a new sunroof panel or a non sunroof panel...both fit the same. Sealing the sunroof with silicone never works. Ive even seen people seal the glass in with body filler and still leak. If you keep a working sunroof, its good to occasionally blow the drains out with air. Not too much pressure or you can blow the rubber tubes loose.
I have never seen a Fiero sunroof latch mount work it's way out like that or physically damage itself. I would assume that there was already some sort of issue with the latch assembly itself that accelerated the issue with the keyhole slots - maybe the latch wasn't completely centered, and closing the sunroof or twisting motion of the car overtime worked the bolts out. You're likely going to have to remove the roof panel and headliner and really look in there and see if any other damage to the roof panel itself has occurred.
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Originally posted by Patrick: My experience has been that even an open (flipped-up) sunroof will not leak water into the cabin as long as the drain holes in the corners are present and not plugged with debris.
This is my experience as well. You shouldn't get water in the cabin, even with the sunroof flipped-up (or "popped" open), with it raining, as long as the drain holes are working like they should. Obviously if the rain is coming in from the back at an angle a bit then maybe some drops, but I've driven in very moderate rain, with my sunroof flipped open, and remained dry.
well I replaced my sun roof gasket about 4 months ago and when I did that I drilled the holes in the corners of the sun roof track. So I should have working drain holes. The problem seems to be that now the sun roof in the latched shut position has a 1/16th of an inch of clearence it seems between the gasket and roof. Atleast when washing the car this actually allowed alot of water into the interior and I had to put a car battery on the glass to hold it down to wash it. If I decide to just go hard top how hard is it to swap the roof pannel?
...and when I did that I drilled the holes in the corners of the sun roof track. So I should have working drain holes.
Not sure what you mean by drilling holes in the corner of the sunroof "track"? Are you sure you drilled them in the correct locations?
As stated previously, if your drain holes are present and free of debris, you can drive in the rain with the sunroof popped up and water will not enter the cabin.
I bet I know what happened to it, same thing happened to my car. Previous owner added a few extra spacers in between the latch and the roof panel causing extra stress on the panel. I always thought that my sunroof closed really hard but didn't think anything of it until the same thing happened to me.
I dug through all of my spare washers and bolts and finally found a combination that would catch what was remaining of the roof panel (I also had rounded holes). It was a major PITA to get the latch tight but once I did, I didn't touch it.
It doesn't really close too tight now and I can hear wind noise coming from the back of it when it's shut but like I said before, I'm not touching it. I always either drive with it open or take the glass out. As previously stated, water does not come in the cabin. Drove through a considerably heavy down pour yesterday and stayed bone dry.
My Fiero came to me with this problem. I bought some beefy carriage bolts at Ace Hardware and modified the head with a Dremel until I could *just* slip them into the channel in the roof. I reformed the metal as best I could as well, but that did little good. I used a small amount of blue Loctite to help ensure the nuts don't loosen up again, because it's not going to take much abuse for the bigger bolts to pull through that metal! It's been months, and no indication of new wear.
Get new bolts for the latch. Fiero Store sells them. Get the washers, grommet nuts, and tabs. You should be able to repair with those.
If the glass is damaged, they also have used sunroof glass, or you can possibly find one for sale elsewhere, or buy a fiberglass panel to use in place of the glass, from http://fierofiberglass.com/ .
