I need to remove the headliner to diagnose a leak into the passenger compartment. I am tired of getting wet! Any pointers on removing/replacing the headliner? I have the factory manual but it does not cover this topic.

Thanks!

 

Its easy. Take out all the plastic trim, the morror, sun visors and any other things holding it on. After that pull it down and angle it this way and that until you can pull it out the rear door.

Do you have a sunroof? If not then your leak is in the windshield or the weather stripping around the door. If you have a sunroof it could be leaking around there also.

Those are the only places it can leak since the roof is metal...unless the roof is rusted and has a hole in it.

take your time and check everyting before you go to pulling.

 

Thanks for the info. I do have a sunroof and I expect that's what the problem is. I have had the car into the dealer and a body shop and no one can tell me where the leak is coming from (I don't think they are looking very hard, my dealer is terrible!) The water runs out of the trim on the pillar on the driver's side right next to the rubber gasket for the automatic seat belt track. If it's REALLY raining, it pools in the headliner and pours out various places.

 

yeah i would say its from the sunroof. and since you have a sunroof you have to take the trim around it off too. good luck

 

Sunroof is your problem. I'm just finishing up fixing the leak in my '90 Maxima SE. Sunroof isn't designed to seal against water. Water is designed to drain into a drain pan and then into 4 drains - two front, two at extreme rear close to back windshield. The drain down the 'corner posts'. If they get plugged, or there's enought leaves, etc in the drain pan, it overflows into your sunshade - which of course dumps a quart of water down the back of your neck when you hit the brakes <Grin>. Since yours is running down the front inside pillars, look at the front drains first - you can see the front ones just by sliding the sunroof back into the roof. Don't bother with pulling the headliner, won't help at all.

I had to pull my sunroof glass, shade, etc in order to blow the entire area out with 125psi compressed air - including the rear drains which you can't see or even feel; they are outside the sunroof tracks at the extreme rear corners. A human arm is too big to get all the way back to the rear to even feel them. If mine still overflows, I'm going to have to find the bottom ends of the rear drains and try blowing them out from there.

Blast Nissan for not putting the sunroof assembly into the 'factory' service manual - took me forever to figure out how to get it apart - then its not bad.

Email me if you tackle the job and have trouble - it's all fresh in my memory right now.

 

Oddly enough, It is NOT the sunroof as I had suspected. I pulled the headliner and it is seeping around the windshield seal at the top. All of the sunroof drain tubes are clear. It looks like the windshield may have been replaced (incorrectly) by the previous owner, the seal does not look right. I am very glad that I did not pay the dealer the $1200 he wanted to charge me to "fix" the leak by replacing the sunroof.

Thanks!

John

 

Just how tough a job was that headliner removal? After approaching the leak fix from the other direction (sunroof removal), I'm starting to flip opinions on where to start. It will be even more that way if I find out that the rear drains are still plugged and haven't accomplished my primary goal in the project (stopping the leak). To be fair though, I had other reasons to start on that end - broken cam brackets were preventing sunroof retraction, and was very lucky to find a talented welder that could sucessfully weld pot metal. Sunroof mechanicals got a much needed R&R/lube also.

 

It was much easier to remove than I thought it would be. I had it out in less than half an hour. Just remove the dome light, sunroof controls, rear view mirror, handles, and sun visors, then just pop the headliner out. It attaches to the roof with little plastic connectors that act like snaps.

To remove the handles, sun visors, etc. just pop the plastic covers off and unscrew them. To remove the dome light you have to pry out the lens and unscrew the base.

I have not pulled the windshield off yet, probably this weekend. I am concerned about rust behind the failed windshield seal...

John

 

Thanks for that info, going to do mine this weekend... i've got a sunroof too but i strongly suspect that's not the problem... 9 out of 10 times i was told the leak is coming from the windshield as it was replaced (and the person that did it, did a very poor job, as there is rust running all along the top of the seal area). The real question is:

-Do I have to remove my windsheild to address this problem? or can I just add a sealant to the "leaking" areas of the glass? (I was told the windshield has a good chance of cracking if it is removed)

Thanks in advance.