damned leaking roof

[john neville]

so, ive got this 1981 W123 200, bought it in the summer, was described as being classic white. On inspection it appeared to be more like classic orange AKA rust. Anyway, it had FSH and it ran wellish so I took. (twas a mere £280 so had to take it home). Mrs hates it, calls it the big tank.
A bit ot t cut and a small amount of filler and primer on the worst areas has provided first aid for now.
When I bought it I asked the seller if the sunroof worked and he didn't know. He hadn't opened it in the three years he and his band had used the car as a work horse to ferry the bands gear.
To my surprise the roof opened and shut fine.
October rain now pounds the car and the water drips through the roof lining onto the drivers seat.
Is it just the seals and how easy are these to replace/get hold of.
Another problem is the chrome and rubber seals on the doors windows. Both are shot and the rain is just running into the door, of a morning massive condensation problems inside. Again how easy is it to get hold of the trim.
Love the car, so do the kids, however I need to solve these wet problems sooner rather than .......shucks, the doors have fell off.

All advice welcome, also advice on noisy tappets and horrible front wheel noise that gets louder over 60mph and on right hand down turns (its not the bearings or a sticky brake).

Cheers to all.

 

[Pooh_Bear]

John,the leak in the sunroof is a common problem,caused by the drain holes blocking.The outlets for these are located behind the aluminum gutter trim,to the rear of the back door's.They have a tendency here to clog up with bit's of old leaves ect.HB

 

[Andy]

Hi All

"Hunny Bear" what about the front drains. You may find more than you bargined for. First though polke an old coat hanger and with the sunroof open you will see the holes at the front corners. Give them a poke out. If the water starts to run out from the front wing then great. As hunny bear has said check the rears a little more difficult to get at from memory. If water persists, you will have to remove the panel above your head. Open sunroof take, remove the small chrome self tappers you will see.Remove the sun visors self tappers as well. On the plastic holder flick out the little cover you will see when you look closely. That will allow you to gain acess to the self tapper. Remove the the rear view mirror, by giving this a good hard yank!! Then remove the self tappers for the surround of the RVM. That should be it. You may have to pull it towards you to get it down. You will then be able to see the front pipe drains for the s\r. Check for corrosion. If its corroded then this is where the real propblem starts.

To gain access to the rear. Remove the door seals. The rear quarter interior panels are clipped in. You need a big screw driver to GENTLY pri the panel out of the clip. Its almost certain you will break one. Once down you will see a couple or three little black clips holding up the roof linning remove them and you should see the pipe drain. Estates are a litttle different but same principle.

Hope this helps.

Good hunting!!!!!!


Regards

Andy @ www.mercedesservicing.com