Ottawa Fiero Club Forum

Has anyone else had this problem except me and and a buddy from work.  Would a new seal solve the problem???  It's starting to happen more and more.    Your help is appreciated guys :).

you are not alone on this one :)  There are a couple of things you can check/try......

1.  take a look at the tabs that hold the sunroof in are they rusted or are the bolts that hold the tabs to the sunroof rusted.... mine were nasty so I replaced them all and the sunroof fit a lot snugger afterwards.

2.  see if you can get your hands on some sunroof spacers.  They go in between the latch and the roof panel.  It helps ensure the sunroof is snuggly in place.

3.  I picked up some silicon emulsion at our local car dealership (Bennets if you live in carleton place), it's like 5 bucks for a bottle.  It brings the life back into the weather stripping, and helps it seal better to the glass.... this assuming that your weatherstriping is not torn, if it's torn, well you'll have to replace it.... you can still get them from GM.

4.  If you've got a good seal around the weatherstripping then there's only one other thing I know of.  You'll probably want to drill the drain holes in the drainage chanel.  GM released a technical service bulletin at one point which recommended drilling four holes in the channel under the weatherstripping, to prevent water from becoming trapped between the seal & the channel (and rusting out the channel).  1 hole at each corner, 3/16" diameter.  I attached a pic to show what I mean.

I'm gonna be doing number 4 to my car this summer, I just have to get the sunroof out of my car again.  I used castor oil on the weatherstripping last summer and it would appear that the roof has baked onto the weatherstripping :( so I suggest using the stuff I mentioned in number 3 and don't use castor oil or you may end up with the same problem I have.

-S

My solution barbarack but effective. Park only on hill when raining or use a opened garbage bag across roof held in place with closed windows. May look stupid but so does a wet ass from sitting on wet seats. Dan

Thanks alot guys, really appreciate it.

Before you replace the seal try wiping it down over and over again with Caster oil, it makes it expand and then seal better.

See comment above in Kitten's post re: using castor oil and having the glass become stuck to the weatherstripping.

We tried that on both cars last fall after I found an article which suggested that it was a good thing... never again.  Cleaned the weather stripping, wiped on the castor oil, let it sit for a while (doors etc. open), and removed the excess.  Even after doing so a sticky residue persisted.

The sunroof is going to require some careful work with a putty knife or similar tool to unstick the seal from the glass.  The door glass hasn't become stuck to quite the same extent, but if left in the hot sun for a while you can see the glass & seal trying to stay together while you open the door.

the trick to avoid that is make sure the treated seal does not sit too long. I had the same happen to the roof seal but it doesn't sound nearly as bad, mine was a bit sticky and the doors haven't been a problem at all, really snuffed out that annoying whistle. Might have something to do with the excess oil left on the seal, maybe wiping excess off before putting window back in might help. Also when I did mine I had the roof out pretty much all day so the oil really soaked into the seal before being compressed again.