Club 80-90 Forums

I have a leak, and i can't work out where it is from.

Water is coming in at this seam: (apologies for the terrible picture)


When I look at the area above, it looks like there are cracks in the seam sealant:

did a temporary fix by putting some duct tape over it to see if that kept water out, but it wasn't very successful.
However I can't recreate it by spraying water on it - it only seems to happen when it rains.

Could this area be the issue?
Is this a common problem with a known culprit?


The rain rails are not in great shape and at some point in the past, somebody has simply topped up the sealant in the rain rails to cover it up - but not in this area - at least I think this looks original, or at least older...

Any ideas?

 

My idea is that the cracks in the sealant that’s you photographed are a red herring. My guess is that, in common with a lot of other high top vans, the roof is rusting away under the hightop. I hope I’m wrong, but my van leaked there too, at the very same seam. When we took the roof off it was not a pretty sight. See my thread in restorations section...

I feared that may be the case, but was trying really hard to make it a simple fix .

I think I have seen your build, but going to go and have another look.

Just bought a couple of scotch brite grinder discs to get rid of the sealant and have a look...

Just looked at your rustoration thread - i really bloody hope it's not that bad. If it is, I think I may take it out back and shoot it...


I have just dug out some of the sealant, and it is not as bad as I suspected... however it is further down where I think it is worse.
It is really tough going as i am just digging it out with a stanley knife and screw driver at the moment, and the awning rail is about to get in the way.

I think I am going to have to take the interior roof panels out to look at it properly which I really didn't want to do.

This is what I can see so far. Is the layout of the metal normal? it looks like there is an extra fold in there - but never seen another one. Is this a botched fix in the past?

E D I T: Just got to the point in this thread where you can see the rails, and this metal flap looks normal. at least some good news...

Hmm. Other side not looking too clever...

front right is bad. and worse, it has clearly been botched in the past as the flap of metal is not even present as rust.. it has clearly been taken off and a load of sealant lobbed on top.




I don't have the time, the space or the tools here to do this.

Can anybody recommend somebody in the UK to fix this?




 

Good news is you caught it before it got worse

As you found duct tape over the rear hatch does not help. I tried that and could see it coming in above that area. I also resealed the skylights to rule those out.  I think you are on the right track thinking it is getting under the sealant on the side gutters. Mine too far gone and now sold as a parts donor but even at the end it did not leak every time it rained.  What angle I parked the van made a difference.  Could see a previous owner had tried filling the gap with clear silicon but that will just make it worse so best advice is find someone to deal with it now while just (relatively) minor.

RogerT wrote: ↑04 Jul 2020, 12:11 https://alanhschofield.com/ourparts/pro ... 7310A.html

I've been eyeing those up... If i had my garage at home with all my kit, is have a bash myself.

No way I'm paying to do it it here. Would bankrupt me. Only option is to take it back to the UK and find somebody to do it for me I think.