Our 1998 Disco 300Tdi used to get very wet inside after heavy rain. There was always a puddle on the load space cover and the headlining was soaked through and if you was unlucky you would get a wet head when driving! After reading many threads on forums all over the place the majority said it would either be the alpine windows or the glass seal on the sunroof.....

So i started by removing the alpine window surrounds, first removing the rear speaker pods then the window surround, but both sides were pretty much dry. I then decided to remove the full headlining to see where the water was coming from. The headlining comes out pretty easily on your own, id already removed the alpine surrounds. Remove the grab handles, alarm sensors and interior lights, then remove the front map pocket. The lining will then be held up by the sunroof surround trim and winders (and other little bits i may of forgot about). Remove the winders and the trim and you should be able to carefully lower the lining down and remove it via the back door.

The front sunroof was fine, just a little water round the drains which i sealed back up with a bit of silicone.

Seeing as it was so wet it must be easy to find the leak! I sat in the back while the roof was soaked from the outside with a hose pipe. The water wasn’t coming through the glass seal it was coming from the body seal between the sunroof and roof. So i decided the sunroof had to come out! I unscrewed the torque bits holding the underside of the sunroof. I had to drill a couple out because one was seized solid and the other just went round and round but didn’t undo. The bottom section then just lowered down and the top section just lifted out to leave a hole in the roof.

The only tools used to remove the roof was, electric/battery drill, couple of screwdrivers & torque bits.

The boots are not mine though! This is my girlfriend’s car. Before i could lift the carpet up and fold the seats forward i had to remove 2 dog cages, 2 other pairs of shoes, 3 umbrellas and 2 coats!!!

The only evidence of rust under the carpet was a bit of surface rust and paint bubbles which i rubbed down and painted before i put the sound deadening and carpet back.

I re-sealed the drain joints with black silicone to make sure they are water tight. I removed the remains of Land Rovers body seal for the top section of the sunroof and put some clear silicone on and set it back in place on the car. I then ran a bead of black silicone round the bottom section of the sunroof, lifted it up and screwed it back together and it sealed against the body nicely. I just filled in the holes of the two screws i had to drill out.

The glass seal was fine so just cleaned it up and put it back in. I had to adjust the winder slightly to make the glass close tightly against the seal.

Once it was all done i put the head lining in the hall against the radiator to allow it to dry out for a week. Leaving the head lining out allowed us to use the disco for a week whilst watching out for more leaks!

The job probably took me about 5 hours, but i took my time and didn’t rush anything with plenty of brews as it was a sunny but chilly November day. You will need someone to help you to put the head lining back in as its too big to hold it up safely on your own whilst trying to fasten something up, only takes 10 mins to get it back in with a helper.

Touch wood its been bone dry inside since i did this fix so should be good for a few years to come.