Rotten W123 sunroof drains

[Grrrmachine]

Finally took the headlining off my W123 to trace the sunroof leak, and the spout from the sunroof tray tp the rubber drainage hose has rotted out completely. Anyone got any suggestions on how to repair this? I was thinking of using a plastic funnel to replace this spout and moulding it in with fibreglass/putty - I dont want to have to weld!

 

[television]

Are you going to take it out, or work in the car, how far does the rust go

Malcolm

 

[severn]

I repaired one before. Use some copper pipe, as used in household plumbing i think its 15mm. Cut a section and put it through the hole in the sunroof tray. Then flare the end over to stop it pulling through. Work it till its nice and flat then seal it with a good silicone sealer to make the joint watertight. I Had to repair all the outlets but it worked fine

 

[Grrrmachine]

I hadnt thought of that - thats a great idea. It was only the nozzle (from the tray into the rubber hose) that had rotted, so the tray itself is firm enough to use silicone on. Im trying to do this without taking the whole tray out, because it's too much of a palaver

 

[ddentrec]

Do not try to remove the tray! Have been there, done that. Relatively easy to take out, but you will not be able to put it back in without messing up the headlining, which needs to be peeled back upto the rear passenger seat.

Monster job.

 

[Grrrmachine]

yeah, that was my sentiment. Ive got the headling as far back as I can just by removing the passenger sunvisor - that's enough room to work with for now. Just got to wait for it todry out enough for me to gel it up...

 

[Grrrmachine]

Just as an update for anyone else searching on repair advice: The drain nozzle in my sunroof tray had rotted out. To repair, I used 15mm diameter copper tubing pieces - 1 x 45degree turn (about 2 inches long) and a connector to increase the diameter from 15mm to 18mm. This increase fits into the Merc rubber drain hose perfectly, so no little dribbles. Sealed all the gaps with liquid-rubber. Make sure to use plumbers tabe on the copper joints.

 

[beekeeper]

Hello

Just had to deal with the same problem.

The sunroof frame came out completely and had to be welded.Rear windscreen had to be removed.Apparently the bad tube could easily be replaced by a B&Q tube...which was much cheaper..and does exactly the same thing. Indeed putting back the headlining is a big job, I still haven't finished with it but I might change it soon anyway, mostly because of all this water that i had coming in the car. Doesn't look great anymore.
I did contact Mercedes to get a quote for a new frame but apparently you can't get them at all...and I assume it would be hard to get a decent second-hand one in this country.