daremedy

I bought an '01 Civic this past summer in excellent condition. This is the first winter I've had it. A couple of weeks ago we had a major major winter blast and my car got smothered in snow. I don't use the car everyday and its parked outside. So it sat a few days and I let the snow melt itself off the car. When I got back in the car, I noticed the headliner was very damp, especially on the driver's side. Not dripping or anything, but visibly wet. I was a little scared. This past weekend we had another blast of winter, nearly 20 cm of snow landed on top of the car. Again I let it thaw itself out (this time on purpose). The headliner? Not damp at all. I'm just confused. Maybe there was too much condensation in the car the first time or something. I plan on doing a full servicing at the dealership in summer, but I'm not sure whether to act on this now before it gets worse (whatever "it" is) or ignore it. Comments?

Jenna <3

yes you should be concerned, #1 it means your weather stripping is shot, #2 water could have seaped between the sun roof and the head liner causeing mold and otehr damage.

jonfromnsca

You are justifiably concerned to find dampness on or around your vehicle's headliner. That means condensation, a leak or that the sun roof was left open a bit or not closed tightly. Sometimes the seal gets weathered from age, use, abuse or even crows pecking at them.































If you opened and re-closed it after finding condensation there before, you may have solved the problem. Sometimes, a storm accompanied by wind will cause a leak where none will be found during a "quiet" storm as water seeps or "bleeds" and finds its way around, driven by the wind.































Open it up on a nice day and exam it carefully to see that it is sealing perfectly and there are no chunks or pieces missing from the seal as you run your hand or finger along its edge. Look for a warped seal. These seals can be fixed or replaced..This could be costly but some places are very familiar with this problem especially a place that installs them (most autoglass installers). Finding leaks is their business! It may be an easy fix. It may have only been because your sun roof was slightly ajar. It could be more serious like rust around the rim. It is a old car afterall..The Honda dealer would check that for you during a service visit with a minimal charge. What you should do is make it part of your shutdown routine to always make sure that is closed properly when leaving your car. If you want to go to the Honda dealer, just say, while you are working on my car, could you ask the tech. to take a quick look at my sun roof to make sure it is sealing properly and not leaking and to come out and let me know what he finds, so we can look at fixing it if there is a problem. As with any work, always ask what they would charge for doing that before they start...Don't ignore it because a leak there can stain and even ruin your roof liner and lead to more repairs down the road..Have it looked at soon. You don't get moisture inside the roof of a car unless there has been a leak for one reason or ten brutes slept in it with the windows closed!































john