Don't worry, after years of Land Rover ownership, I'm fully aware that they all leak to a certain extent, but this year, the 65 year-old hard top on my Series II seems to have reached new heights (or depths) of water 'ingress', but I've not really worked out where it's coming from!

It's parked outside, slightly nose down and so inevitably most of the water after anything more than a light drizzle sits in the internal front gutter until you move off, but where once it was bearable, it's now really rather annoying. Parking on the flat just means there's water sitting in the internal gutter from front to back!

There is absolutely no evidence of water coming in and running down the inside of the roof, but evidence that the previous owner has run some kind of 'putty' or sealant along the joints where the three strengthening ribs meet the roof skin. Over time, some of this has come out, but I'm not sure that's my problem.

I presumed that the obvious place was the external gutter and that water was coming in where the roof and gutter are riveted together. Again, it looks like some previous material had been applied here (looked almost like 'dum dum' putty), but that had long since hardened and started to break up and so, although it sounds mad, I bought some adhesive flashing and stuck a thin strip of that inside the gutter (not visible). If anything, it seems to have made things worse, but it's also not quite as adhesive as I thought it would be so the water COULD be getting under still?

I'm at the point where I'm considering removing the hard top and fitting a tilt for the winter as I know from experience that they are more watertight than most hard tops, but wondered if anyone else has had similar issues and actually improved the situation somehow? I know others have completely dismantled and resealed and rivetted their hard tops back together, but this is also my daily driver and so needs to remain in use. 

Most of the water on my one comes in at the joint between the roof, screen and doortop front corner.
The gutter inside my vehicle stays dry but that corner leaks and then it runs down the screen, door pillar and floods the floor.

Hard to know what to do to stop it.

Craig.

In my truck cab I realised a lot of the internal water was condensation collecting in the internal gutter/channel.

I'd be tempted to experiment with butyl tape as a replacement for the brittle dumdum.

Definitely not condensation and although there are some leaks from the joint at the top of the screen, the majority of the water is definitely just collecting in the internal gutter as soon as it rains for more than a few minutes. Butyl tape is an interesting idea - thanks.

Clean out the external gutter, remove all the old hardened sealant and apply a liquid rubber or bituminous paint/sealant. Cover tve whole gutter in it, a couple of coats. You usually see the sort of stuff advertised for use on flat roofs, gutters etc.

Worked a treat on both my hard tops, although when parked nose down the Carawagon still lets water into the footwells. Recently found this is capillary action and it runs under the external gutter and along the angle which holds the top door seal. There is a gap where it meets the screen frame and it seems to be coming in there. My inside gutter is perfectly dry though so the sealant did the trick on that.

Thanks Calum. I'll give that a go. I'm not fussed about the few other leaks around door tops etc, but it's great to know your method sorted the gutter issue for you. 

Don't discount what the PO did.

He did it for a reason, and it hasn't leaked until recently when some of his sealant has come out.

I had the same mysterious leak on a SI Station Wagon.

 Memory says it was something to do with those ribs.

If you think the water is finding it's way in by capillary action try "Captain Tolleys" creeping sealer - it looks and feels a bit like thinned PVA solution and creeps everywhere - when dry on your fingers it forms a second skin. Normal classic car use is to seal around windscreens and cracked rubbers. May take several applications but very easy to do providing it is dry. Available on ebay, etc and quite economical as you only use a tiny amount.
Gary

I removed the roof from the gutter, and reattached it with a good measure of sealant. And about 150 pop rivets.

It no longer leaks.

Chris.

I took the roof off and stood it on all four sides in turn. Poured water in between the roof and gutter - from the back now! Where the water came out was where the leaks were - a lot more than I had anticipated.

Seen here with a puddle!

I found that once I'd stripped out the old sealant and before applying a new lot, a good squeeze of each rivet with a rivet squeezer helped - a fair few had come loose over the years, particularly over the front doors - possibly due to repeated door slams.

I had one hard top there I found that the alloy roof panel had corroded through on the flange bend where it met the channel so was leaking there. 

My hard top leaks from a barely visible crack on the inside, just above the rear view mirror. It is hidden from above by the central rib and undoubtedly stems from years of walking on the roof.

Captain Tolleys has worked before for me too, although I haven't yet attacked this leak with it.

Well, two coats of rubber paint later, and the internal gutter of the Series II is completely dry. I went for Gorilla Waterproof Coat & Seal Liquid Rubber Coating from Wickes and, after clearing out all the old stuff from the external gutter, applied one coat. That alone provided a noticeable improvement, but a second coat applied after a few days means that the internal gutter is completely dry - despite the torrential downpour we've just had here! Thanks everyone for the advice and in particular to you Calum.   

Quote from: Calum on Sep 09, 2024, 09:38 AMClean out the external gutter, remove all the old hardened sealant and apply a liquid rubber or bituminous paint/sealant. Cover tve whole gutter in it, a couple of coats. You usually see the sort of stuff advertised for use on flat roofs, gutters etc.

Worked a treat on both my hard tops, although when parked nose down the Carawagon still lets water into the footwells. Recently found this is capillary action and it runs under the external gutter and along the angle which holds the top door seal. There is a gap where it meets the screen frame and it seems to be coming in there. My inside gutter is perfectly dry though so the sealant did the trick on that.

Great stuff!