The previous Owner of my car, siliconed the sun roof shut. I was told it was because he thought he had a leak. I was wondering,

1. How easy would it be to remove the silicone?
2. How easy would it be to fix a leak in the sunroof or replace the entire sunroof?

Also, the headliner for the car has been removed, I plan on getting it replaced, so should I wait til the headliner is fixed to fix the sunroof, or will it not matter?

This is a 94 integra LS btw.

 

Silicone is easy to scrap/peel out. If the sunroof is leaking you can check it by having a friend run water over the top while you are inside looking for drips. Check that the drains aren't clogged. You probably need a new gasket/seal if the sunroof is leaking, although it could be an alignment issue. Don't bother with the new headliner until the roof is fixed. It'll be easier to find a leak without it, and a leak would ruin a new headliner anyway.

 

Thanks. I plan on it. Is a new sunroof gasket hard to obtain?

 

The sunroof itself cannot keep all the water out. If the headliner is out, you'll see that the entire assembly is a pan with 4 clear drain tubes running out of each corner. These tubes run down the A pillars in the front and drain out behind the fenders. In the rear, they run down the C pillars and drain behind the rear bumper. If the sunroof assembly is in fact leaking, it is because one or more of these tubes has been damaged, disconnected at either end or is clogged.

You can check this by opening the sunroof and pouring water down one tube at a time and seeing if the water dumps out under the car or if it comes out inside the car. Having the headliner out will definitely help you diagnose the problem.

And silicone can be tricky to remove, especially if it's old. Don't be surprised if you lose some paint.

GL.

 

or use compressed air... Less mess

 

That did not occur to me. Have you tried this method? I can see how this might work but it would require an air compressor and the proper fittings to reach the rear drain tubes.

 

you can put hose clamps on the drain tube where they connect to the sunroof drains themselves (sometimes the hoses get loose and dont fit tight enough to seal the water) but you should try to locate the drain tube ends and make sure they are cleaned out. if they are not it will cause water to fill up the drain tube itself and overflow up at the sunroof. on my civic I pulled my trunk interior back and removed the rubber grommet from the end of the drain tube and cut the tip of the boot off to make it bigger and have no more issues, The sunroofs themselves are not water tight,they are designed for some water to get into them but then drain out 1 of the 4 corner drains

 

you can put hose clamps on the drain tube where they connect to the sunroof drains themselves (sometimes the hoses get loose and dont fit tight enough to seal the water) but you should try to locate the drain tube ends and make sure they are cleaned out. if they are not it will cause water to fill up the drain tube itself and overflow up at the sunroof. on my civic I pulled my trunk interior back and removed the rubber grommet from the end of the drain tube and cut the tip of the boot off to make it bigger and have no more issues, The sunroofs themselves are not water tight,they are designed for some water to get into them but then drain out 1 of the 4 corner drains I would not bother replacing the gasket around the sunroof