Aargh! Another T-bar rant.

[IanClements]

My turn since everybody else has had their say. Sick of getting rained on and fixing holes under the carpet, off I went to T for some eccentric holes that make bu99er all difference but at least make you feel like you've tried.

Anyway, 2 weeks later and they're ready to collect - funny story, the woman in front of me in the queue that had had her Aygo broken into had a quote on repairs. Replacement window - £20+VAT, quarter light window - £19+VAT, replacement stereo £2000!!!!!!!

Anyway, I got my holes for £5.50 and went home to install them. But I had the good idea (at the time) of rubbing Instant Gasket into every nook and cranny near the front of the roof panels where it was leaking. This stuff cures into sticky rubber which can be picked off easily in the spring.

Never had I been no more confident that this would do the trick until tonight when it pee'd it down. I got about a mile from work, onto the motorway and you've guessed it, drip drip drip like never before. I also noticed that the door leather was soaked so it looks like I've somehow made it worse, it was virtually gushing in at one point!

Half a mile from home and I hear this crackling noise coming from the window switchgear and the window is edging it's way down! The water had got into the switches and I had to pull over quick and cut the ignition. I had to prise out the switchgear and disconnect to get home.

Surely someone must have a solution? My car apparently had new rubbers 5 years ago.

[mart1975]

as previously stated vasceline does the job well but apparently can rot rubber over time, my mate used it for 10 years with no problems though.
its all i can think of to stop it, silicone spray is just too thin.

[HT]

as previously stated vasceline does the job well but apparently can rot rubber over time, my mate used it for 10 years with no problems though.
its all i can think of to stop it, silicone spray is just too thin.

Sounds like vasceline is part of the answer - surely anything is better than having water pour through like they can do, even long-term rotting seals, says he - who ran a t-bar one summer being reverting to moonroof before wet season

[Chunky Monkey]

I was going to try this but so far *touches a HUGE bit of wood* mies not leaking, what about threaling a length of cat cable inside the rubber seal to act as a buffer.
I've not looks at my rubbers for a while so can't remeber if you can actually get to the end as it were, so this post could be conpletely usless. =D>

[IanClements]

I was going to try this but so far *touches a HUGE bit of wood* mies not leaking, what about threaling a length of cat cable inside the rubber seal to act as a buffer.
I've not looks at my rubbers for a while so can't remeber if you can actually get to the end as it were, so this post could be conpletely usless. =D>

I don't think you can get to the ends to do that to be honest, I heard of people injecting foam rubber into the T-bar rubber though.

[mr2mk1chick]

another idea that you could check is to see if your doors have dropped a bit, as it's my theory that if your doors have dropped a bit the seal between the top window and rubber will not be too good.

HTH

[IanClements]

There is slight play in the door hinges but at over £70 to fix it'll have to stay for now. I notice Jinxy fixed his and it still leaked. I asked the question a while back as to whether the passenger side hinges are the same as the drivers side as that could be a cheap solution; I got no reply unfortunately.

I took another look last night and noticed that the rubber seal at the top of the top of the windscreen pillar was not quite tucked behind the trim 100% so maybe that wasn't helping. Of course it's stopped raining now so I can't really tell at the mo.

[MartG]

There is slight play in the door hinges but at over £70 to fix it'll have to stay for now. I notice Jinxy fixed his and it still leaked. I asked the question a while back as to whether the passenger side hinges are the same as the drivers side as that could be a cheap solution; I got no reply unfortunately.

Cheap fix is to put some washers under the lower hinge to raise the door a little

[MWallace]

Two things I did more or less cured my leaky t-bar roof. The first was picking away all the silicone sealant that the previous owner had smeared all over the roof in an attempt to stop it leaking. All this had achieved was to block the drainage channels at the top of the A-pillars, meaning that any water that got past the edge of the glass filled up the channels and made its way UNDER the rubber seals, and into the car (it sounds like this may be what you've inadvertently done). Anyway, as soon as I cleared those channels of goop the leaking was dramatically reduced. So, the first thing to do when attempting to cure leaks is to make sure the water's got somewhere to go other than into the cabin!

The second measure I took was to cram a strip of window and door draft-stop from B&Q under the t-bar rubber all the way around. This pushes the rubber up a bit and helps achieve a better seal.

Good luck!

Wal

BTW, my driver's door had a lot more sag than the passenger's, but until I did the above fix both sides leaked about the same, and neither leaked afterwards. So I don't think fixing the door sag will help much, if at all.

[oukie]

The hinges are different between drivers and pasengers side doors, i thought about swapping and inverting them but they are still different this i think is to do with a slight change in the lines of the car????? .Dont know if this is correct but as ive got no doors on at mo it is easy tolook at the hinges and thats the best way i can describe them[/quote]

[IanClements]

Two things I did more or less cured my leaky t-bar roof. The first was picking away all the silicone sealant that the previous owner had smeared all over the roof in an attempt to stop it leaking. All this had achieved was to block the drainage channels at the top of the A-pillars, meaning that any water that got past the edge of the glass filled up the channels and made its way UNDER the rubber seals, and into the car (it sounds like this may be what you've inadvertently done). Anyway, as soon as I cleared those channels of goop the leaking was dramatically reduced. So, the first thing to do when attempting to cure leaks is to make sure the water's got somewhere to go other than into the cabin!

The second measure I took was to cram a strip of window and door draft-stop from B&Q under the t-bar rubber all the way around. This pushes the rubber up a bit and helps achieve a better seal.

Hmmm, I know your saying about the drainage points and I didn't put anything on the rear panel joins so that excess water can run off when I driving but it may still be a consideration.

Already put some stuff under the t-bar rubbers to bulk it up a bit a couple of years ago, did the trick at the time.

[Polypedates]

After nearly three years of carefree motoring mine has started leaking onto the top corner of the passenger seat back. From there it soaks down and collects at the bottom of the seat back until it is sopping wet and has to be removed and parked next to the Aga for the day.

I'm using vaseline as a temporary fix until I can try the eccentric rod sockets but it works perfectly. It may rot rubber over time but on 18 year old seals I figured its way preferable to a soaking, steamed up car.

I suggest you use the vaseline until you find a more permanent fix.



If its the petroleum distillates in vaseline that rots the rubber maybe lard would be better....?

[MartG]

at Lard

If you want something that's safe to leave on, try silicon grease

[IanClements]

Crap!! Off to Halfrauds at lunch time for some silicon grease then.

[IanClements]

Right, the grease is on, all I need now is some rain to test it with. The forecast said something about cats and dogs earlier and I'm sure I heard her say there was a special flood warning for MR2 owners - or maybe I'm just getting paranoid!

[snail]

I'm off to get some silicone grease myself in the morning. I hope slapping a load of that on fixes things for a while

[Tiamat]

Possibly teaching you how to suck eggs here, but with regard ot the eccentric rod sockets you have fitted them round the right way haven't you? They are angled to help pull the roof down so if you got them in wrong it'll make the problem worse.

[IanClements]

Installed them down and inwards. Worth checking tho. Strangely enough when I put them in I noticed that for some reason the rear passenger side already had one and was in the wrong way.

[John R]

I've got a coupe' so I've not tryed this but, at work (aircraft repair) we use a special 'synthetic rubber lubricant'. It comes as a tan coloured grease, and we use it to stop 'o'rings going hard when exposed to the elements. you just work it into the seal.

If anyone wants to try it, I'll stick some in a syringe and put it the post, if it works I'll get more, if not, nothing ventured nothing gained...

First couple to PM me...


John

[snail]

PM'd