Leaking help

[GwenU]

Hi, Last week we put a hard top on our 1999 1.9 Z3 as we were experiencing the odd water leak and just assumed it was the soft top leaking and we do not have access to a garage (just a car cover) The rain and wind has been pretty bad over the last few days and the car cover was blown off. We left the cover off as it got so wet on the inside. We then discovered the water has been pouring into the car from the front A pillar sill where the window corner meets it.

I have done lots of internet searching and learnt loads more about the car through Utube and useful links and information posted on here. Looking at the rubber at the top of the pillar where the window sits it sticks out both sides far more than I can see on any other car that has been repaired with silicone. I hopefully will post a couple of pictured to show you. Does it look like its worth trying to repair or does it look to far gone/out of shape and I should just bite the bullet and spend out on a new seal? Or do you think it has just been pushed out of shape when the hard top was fitted?

From what I can see without taking the hard top off it is one long seal that goes from bottom of one door up over the top of the window and down to the bottom of the other door. Does this sound right?
Thanks in advance Gwen

 

[mrscalex]

It’s funny you should mention this as I have exactly the same issue I discovered at the weekend.

I’m still trying to figure out how to pull it back in line.

Is the catch tighter to do up on that side? I have a feeling this is what may have distorted it on mine.

Note these seals are around £350 from the dealer!

 

[Sean d]

Hi and welcome, the hard top is not fitted correctly, it should sit tight up against the rubber, release all fitting, tighten the front before locking the rear, in fact looking at the pic I,m not sure there are front fitting in there as its so far out

 

[mrscalex]

Hi and welcome, the hard top is not fitted correctly, it should sit tight up against the rubber, release all fitting, tighten the front before locking the rear, in fact looking at the pic I,m not sure there are front fitting in there as its so far out

I think you’ll find the rubber will distort regardless. If it pulls in tighter than that it can only push out further again.

Take a look at the third picture. That rubber shouldn’t be pushing out. It should mate perfectly to the equivalent area on the top and not stick out at all.

 

[GwenU]

Trying to zoom in on the photo's of when we first got the car with just the soft top i would say it stuck out like this but not quite so bad and the top seemed to cover the rubber. I think I can see a hole in the passengers side or is this the drain hole?

 

[GwenU]

It’s funny you should mention this as I have exactly the same issue I discovered at the weekend.

I’m still trying to figure out how to pull it back in line.

Is the catch tighter to do up on that side? I have a feeling this is what may have distorted it on mine.

Note these seals are around £350 from the dealer!

I think if we get some dryer weather at the weekend I think we should take it off and investigate. The guy we bought the top from fitted it for us as we a newbies to the z3 and to be honest it was not parked on flat ground, but driving it back we had no wind blowing so thought it was a good fit. Yes I did see how expensive the seal is so hoping the rubber isn't to far perished to repair.

 

[mrscalex]

I think the hard top is a red herring. Mine does this with the soft top alone.

But certainly you'll have to remove the hard top to try and fix it. If it aligns with the soft top I think the hard top will hopefully fall in to line.

It might be that the rubber is distorted rather than not fitted properly and that it won't ever go back. Which is a concern as that has to align to be properly water-proofed.

I've broken 3 cars in the last 2 years and despite stripping them all nearly bare I'm realising there are useful bits I've not been taking off. Including this seal! Although how possible it is to fit a used one I don't know. They appear to be bonded in some manner.

@spurs fan in a coupe or @Synclare might be able to help. With part and with knowledge of how they are bonded. The bizarre thing is I've never seen a thread about this particular issue before and I've seen an awful lot of posts! Leak from that point because the plug inside that corner has come loose yes - but this is a different problem.

Mine is about to go in the dry in the garage for a few weeks so I'm not desperate to fix mine. In the meantime I'll probably get another breaker in so can supply my own part if it's a decent one. I'm just not sure it's fixable as I think it's distortion rather than coming adrift.

 

[mrscalex]

@GwenU

I'm hoping we've resolved our issue. It turned out there is a metal hook on the corner of the windscreen and the rubber hooks onto it. Mine was unhooked. It was possibly something I had done when I was stripping the interior out.

If your other side is okay have a look inside the folds at how that attaches. Then check/fix the other side.

If it's not that I can only assume it's properly distorted. But I'll have a little bet that's what it is

 

[Antm72]

The roof looks quite far back whats it like at the top of the B piller ,flush? It should be if its not flush the whole roof is to far back .It may require all fixings to be loosened off and the roof aligned , i can photo mine if you like but it looks a lot further forward as a hardtop by the looks of your pictures. The front fixings are metal plates that locate into the front at the top of the screen they screw to the roof with three fixings each side these may need aligning as well as the rear brackets that have a little movement too .

 

[Sean d]

I think you’ll find the rubber will distort regardless. If it pulls in tighter than that it can only push out further again.

Take a look at the third picture. That rubber shouldn’t be pushing out. It should mate perfectly to the equivalent area on the top and not stick out at all.

Theres a bloody big gap along the front edge on both sides,

 

[mrscalex]

There will be if the corner of the seal isn’t located on the hook as the whole thing gets stretched outwards. Having the effect of pulling the front section inwards.

It may or may not be this. But it’s a good place to start.

 

[Sean d]

There will be if the corner of the seal isn’t located on the hook as the whole thing gets stretched outwards. Having the effect of pulling the front section inwards.

It may or may not be this. But it’s a good place to start.

I understand the the end rubbers look wrong and are probably not located correctly but as Ant says, the roof looks to far back, the rubber will not have stretched that much.

 

[mrscalex]

I understand the the end rubbers look wrong and are probably not located correctly but as Ant says, the roof looks to far back, the rubber will not have stretched that much.

The inference is the soft top was leaking too I think? And that the front of the roof is only leaking from the A-pillar area and not in-board?

There's possibly 2 separate issues here. Badly seated rubber seal. And the hard top not being fitted correctly and causing that gap.

But if you look at the rubber seal you will see it distorts on its run as it nears the corner in line with the hard top gap. So I think the seal has some part to play in this. And perhaps more than the hard top not sitting snuggly. But I agree the hard top doesn't look right.