1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Replaced my headliner the other day. I found one in really good shape at a j-yard and pulled the entire assembly - fabric, shell and sunroof bottom. To transport it from the yard to my house in my 4 door I had to slice the backing midway near the sunroof corners and fold it in half, to later be reassembled with fiberglass. The reassembly went smoothly. Pulling the old, stained and torn unit was straight forward as well. Looking at the back of the unit being replaced, I could see water marks near the front lip area of the sunroof. Darkened trails where water dripped and ran down toward the front of the car, which was then absorbed into the mostly paper backing and through to the cloth itself. That explained the stains. But where exactly did the water come from?
Well, the sun roof unit is held in place with 4 bolts, one at each corner. Along the perimeter of this sub-deck is a foam/adhesive seal, pressed up against the roof, which you can see and feel just under the front (sides too) lip of the sunroof opening. I reasoned that the seal had simply become degraded (the car is over 20 years old) and could no longer keep water from dripping down onto the headliner backing. One option would have been to remove the four bolts, lower the sunroof assembly and either replace or refurbish (somehow) the seal. My guess is that if the sunroof assembly was seperated from the roof it would permanently damage the seal and would require a costly SAAB replacement part. Instead, I simply tightened the bolts, and applied a layer of clear silicone sealant along where the foam met the roof. Prior to application I cleaned the area with acetone to remove dirt and grime. Of course, I won't know how effective my fix is until the next rainy season here in SoCal. I'm wagering it will be fine. New headliner looks perfect too!
posted by 198.81.26...
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