Technical Leaky Panda

[jayjay03]

Hi

I have been having a few problems with my 3 month old Panda Dynamic Sound (without the sunroof), but the main one that is bothering me is this one...

Whenever we have heavy rain, the centre of the roofliner (the raised part where the light sits). gets very wet.

Now, my local Fiat garage have had it twice. The first time they thought it was the Windscreen and as a result replaced the screen, the seals and the roofliner only for it to rain two weeks later and the same problem occur. This time they think it is the drivers door seals and have ordered new seals for the door although I am not convinced due to two reasons.

1. The last time it happened the car was facing up hill, unless the water collects somewhere and has nowhere to go but the light housing then I cannot see how the water can defy gravity and tun up hill.
2. The other reason is that it ONLY appears that the central part is getting wet and nothing else I have checked the rest of the roof and there appears to be no water sitting anywhere else.

I was wondering if any other Panda owners have had similar problems and if so what was done to resolve this?

Many thanks

 

[Nuova500]

That is bad news, Im sure it has to be screen related, even if they replaced the seal there could possible be a problem still. Ask them to do the screen again and this time put some screen seal in as well, if it still leaks the problem is elsewhere but I cant for the life of me think where!

 

[Deckchair5]

I'm not a Panda owner but what about your aerial or roof bar mounts? Aerial mount leaking and saturating the roof lining is a favorite on Bravos

 

[darkcircuitUK]

I would think it was the aerial mounting leaking.

 

[Nuova500]

aerial is mounted at the rear of the roof on Pandas!

 

[jayjay03]

Hi

I had a thought about the roof rack bars, I will suggest it to the garage when I take it in to have the door seals fixed.

Many thanks.

 

[Deckchair5]

"aerial is mounted at the rear of the roof on Pandas!"
Yer I know. Then the water follows the easiest route downhill along the aerial cable to wherever that goes. Has to be aerial mount leak or roof bars

 

[Jai]

yeah but jayjay said the car was facing uphill, so the light fixture being at the front of the roof panel would be above the level of the antenna mounting

as for the roof rails, they are way out on the sides, and the under side of the metal of the roof has a double curve (transverse and longitudinal)

it all sounds very odd,

since your roof liner is knackered and is due for replacement, i wonder if a ribena solution poured onto the seal where the windscreen mets the roof might be worth a try to see if it starts going purply on the inside

 

[Deckchair5]

It depends how uphill it is, slightly uphill and it''ll be worse, rain runs to the back, more water down the aerial mount. It'll need to be significantly uphill to get the interior light above the aerial mount base.

Barring sitting with your sou'wester on and getting a hose pipe on the roof, one of these does the job well! Just push it up hard into the roof lining to see where the source of the Nile is
http://www.diynot.com/shop/Damp_Detector/16039