"Reinvigorating" Old Dry Sunroof Rubber

[Yotamule]

Ok, so my OEM Rubber on my '95 80 Sunroof is old & dry, but doesn't leak YET. My Uncle (who I bought the Cruiser from) pulled the cannon plug and disabled the sunroof & the assoc. overhead light because it would leak occasionally after opening. He put ArmorAll on it and played with it till he got it to seal again. Its been sealed since about 2003.
I never use the damn Sunroof and just would prefer for it to be permanently sealed and not leak.
After learning more about the system on Mud, I realize that I can't just keep it closed because it needs the drains cleaned out occasionally. So, what should I use to try and "reinvigorate" the old dry Sunroof Gasket so it will seal better and not overwhelm the pan/drain system?

I was thinking to try Liquid Wrench Silicon Spray.

BTW, IS there a way to successfully permanently seal up the sunroof that I'm unaware of?

 

[Sohk2yota]

Wd-40 works from my experience but to most oils in rubbers and they will swell and fall apart just so ya know or call Toyota and get new seal

 

[Kernal]

Do a search for sunroof+gasket. I took the glass out and cleaned the rubber gasket very well with soap and water before applying Syl Glyde, a silicone product from NAPA, might have helped a bit. The gasket is not available by itself, you have to buy the glass which comes with the gasket glued in place. Some people have wrapped a section of bicycle tire inner tube around the gasket, not sure how they did it though, do a search. There is a silicone product meant to swell rubber O-rings slightly, Dow Corning 55 silicone; never used it on the sunroof gasket but maybe worth a try. Definitely do not use any petroleum based products on it.

 

[alex4640]

You can also search for the thread on adding a bicycle tire inner tube to the sunroof to improve the seal. Or you can add a small gauge wire to it like I did. I don't like wire solution very much (although it's working) but it's a stop gap until I can do the innertube fix.

 

[Kernal]

I tried sections of weedwacker string threaded into the slit openings of the gasket but it turned out to be too thick so had to pull it out. Something about half the thickness of that string or even slightly compressable might have worked.

FWIW I looked into getting a copy of the original gasket made up however the minimum order to reproduce the gasket was at least 1000 feet IIRC.

 

[dgerst]

You might try applying some ATP AT-205 Re Seal to a small section to see what happens. It's supposed to expand and rejuvenate rubber. I know it works unbelievably well on engine and transmission seals.

 

[Yotamule]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm kinda hesitant to even open the sunroof now that it doesn't leak and its been sealed for so long now.
I guess debris can get past the sunroof gasket though and plug up the drains, so I guess I'll open her up and try some of the Napa Silicon.

 

[dace voit]

The inner tube fix works great for stopping air noise and it does help to seal the slider against the roof a bit better. The reality is that no sunroof totally seals out all moisture. They just limit the amount of water that can get in there. The rest is up to the drains to evacuate the water that will make it past the seals.

There are some water deflectors that warp over time and will let water get by them which will cause a leak inside the cabin. They are cheap and easy to replace. You should open the roof and clean out the drains and check the deflectors to see if they are warped. The deflectors are held on by a single screw and are in the front corners of the sunroof drain tray. I think they also cover the cables at those corners as well?

Anyway, these two things are common leak points. After that, it may not be the sunroof that's leaking, but somewhere else.

Good Luck!