Leaky Moon Roof

[Charlie Kile]

I have a 1984 touring optioned coupe RQB-3921. Recently It has deveioped a serious leak that is dripping on my left knee. It seems to be coming from the headliner rather than the door or window seals.

From this I am assuming that the moon roof is probably leaking.

How difficult is it to correct this? Does the moon roof need to be romoved? Etc.

Thanks Charlie RQB-3921

[WayneC]

I probably shouldn't reply to this, because I've not had any experience with leaky moon roofs, but I seem to recall that a common cause is a blocked drain tube, which I think exits the moon roof surround channel at the rear and travels through a hose behind the upholstery on the pillar between the rear window and the left side (rear) window. If the surround channel doesn't drain properly, the water finds it's way into the car.

There was a post by someone named "Billy" back in May of 2005 describing how he had problems with (I think) delamination of the moonroof from the fiberglass. He removed the moonroof and made repairs which he outlined in a photo series. If you cannot find that post, I saved it in a Word document I could send you if you email me with your email address. Unfortunately, the document does not describe exactly what the original problem was, and I've forgotten, so I am only guessing that it was delamination.

Another suggestion is to call Dan Boothe at Nostalgic Motors in Wixom MI (but don't use the free 800 ordering number, use 248-349-4884), as he is probably the foremost expert on Avanti maintenance issues...

http://www.avantiparts.net/

Or, with some very careful water testing, using one of those plant-watering cans with the moonroof open, perhaps you can find a tiny leak/crack somewhere at the left front of the surround channel (or between the fiberglass and the channel) that you could simply seal with a bit of dum-dum or epoxy.

1/16/05 update: I tried a search of this forum, but could not find the post I referenced above.

Edited January 17, 2006 by WayneC