Club 80-90 Forums

Yeah I've read the posts, water in the footwell, your windscreens leaking. So at the first little puddle I bought some windscreen mastic, little bead all the way round. Looked good I thought. Next day, puddle on the floor. Ok, maybe I could do a better job. Ran a bead of said mastic all around the bodywork to seal joint. Ran it smooth with my finger, looked good, that'll sort it. Next day, more puddles on the floor. OKay, Mastic out again, ran a bead between seal and glass, ran it smooth with my finger, looked good.

Left it for a few days, sealant looks good from the outside, good as in a nice tight seal, not good as in a nice clean job. Inside, big puddle on the floor!!

I thought the seal looked good all the way round, tight to the bodywork and tight to the glass, so I would say this isn't coming from the windscreen.

Could it be the windscreen wipers? the jets? the ariel? or is it still the windscreen and am I overlooking something.? Could it be the roof? I have a hightop. Could it be leaking somewhere up high and finding it way down to the floor without touching the headlining?

Any help greatly appreciated, even if that's just to say it STILL the windscreen...

We had water coming into our passenger footwell when we got our van which was from a leaking skylight in our hightop - the sealant had failed between the skylight frame and the roof.

Mastic is never a cure for leaks - unless you have already repaired/welded the source and/or fitted a new seal wherever the leak is. If water is getting in, you need to find out where first. Water coming in nearly always means cracks, rot or damage somewhere.

Thanks, for replies so far. I have been waiting to try and catch it in the act. Which I have!

So I at least know where it's dripping from, It's dripping from the big structural cross member that runs underneath the dash, painted same colour as van. This has a split at the bottom, which on mine at least, isn't sealed and in places flares slightly. Water is dripping from the inside of this cross member through the flare in the seam. I don't know how it gets into that cross member. I pocked my endoscope around but I couldn't see anything wet.

I checked the windscreen again and I still think that the sealant has done a good job and sealed bodywork to seal and glass to seal. I smeared it all over, it's not pretty but it does look sound. The culprit in my mind is the windscreen wiper holes. Those black plastic surrounds don't sit flush to the bodywork on mine. Are they supposed to. I'm thinking of sealing them up too.

I should also say that since sealing the windscreen, the volume of water leaking in has decreased substantially. It's no just a few drips, whereas it was puddles before. I don't doubt that the windscreen edge is in a bad way, but I have no way of dealing with that now. One for the summer and after a bit more practise welding,

Well I was right, it wasn't the windscreen. At least, not after I sealed it.

I bit the bullet and took the dash out. No obvious signs of leakage, so got my helper to spray the van with water whilst i looked for a leak. It turns out it is leaking from the roof, with the water coming down the inside of the A pillar, and dripping from a point near the nearside windscreen corner. No obvious holes in the roof, but I suspect there is ingress just behind the join with the hightop and or, it's near the gutter rail and its coming through with capillary action.

That probably explains the volume of water, because when came back to it today, there was probably 1.5 litres of water on the floor.

I'm not ruling out other leaks because the front cross member had water pooled in it on the drivers side.

Good news though. I had assumed that the windscreen edge would be bad but actually it was in much better condition than I thought.

pandkh wrote: ↑21 Feb 2015, 15:38 Well I was right, it wasn't the windscreen. At least, not after I sealed it.

I bit the bullet and took the dash out. No obvious signs of leakage, so got my helper to spray the van with water whilst i looked for a leak. It turns out it is leaking from the roof, with the water coming down the inside of the A pillar, and dripping from a point near the nearside windscreen corner. No obvious holes in the roof, but I suspect there is ingress just behind the join with the hightop and or, it's near the gutter rail and its coming through with capillary action.

That probably explains the volume of water, because when came back to it today, there was probably 1.5 litres of water on the floor.

I'm not ruling out other leaks because the front cross member had water pooled in it on the drivers side.

Good news though. I had assumed that the windscreen edge would be bad but actually it was in much better condition than I thought.

Been a few years now but did you end up fixing it fully? I’ve now got the same problem but I know I have a leaking skylight in my high top so I’m hoping it’s just that

Common problem, I have had the same issue for ages, thought I worked out where it came from around windscreen etc, patched but it came back. Do you have any rust bubbles near corner of windscreen as that is a normal culprit, not sure about leaking skylight is the source as I would have thought the trail would be a bit more visible. Send PM to previous member as threads tend to get lost especially after a few years.