leaky windscreen

[CovKid]

Can come in via wiring grommets behind front grill. You need to ascertain source.

[B.A Eauty]

Cheers for that. Yep all the front bits have been off recently.. Process of elimination i guess..

[CovKid]

The most common route is via the top of windscreen rubber where it drips unseen to the bottom. I put roofing mastic beneath the rubber lip when I repaired mine but I used a genuine seal anyway and they're fairly watertight.

[muley]

Genuine VW rubbers needed no sealant as the rubber was a dry seal one from new, if you can still get genuine VW rubber use them as pattern rubbers are a pain in the rear to fit and often leak, 3m makes a very good rubber to body sealant but i cost's a bit, but i never have to reseal anything after using it, good stuff

[Plasticman]

Ah, muley, enlighten me as to why we find rot in the screen aperaature on a vehicle that has not had any previous work nor a screen/seal change.
mm

[Joju]

ok, to update this ...

around september 2011, shortly after I started this thread , a restoring friend of mine helped me take out the glass, cut out the rot, smooth up and repaint the setting, and put the glass back with a new rubber from Günzl.

seemed ok for a bit, then I found water in the footwell again last summer. I filled up the rubber edge with roof sealant.

It still leaks. We have now invested in a large tarp to cover the bus over when it stands for a while ...

[CovKid]

If you ran roofing mastic under the rubber lip from outside and water is still getting in, its coming from somewhere else. And I don't agree with earlier comment about not using mastic. Yes VW didn't use it - and water eventually works its way in, causing the rot. Mastic for me everytime. Its not a job I'd want to do twice. Besides, whilst I have respect for VW they don't get everything right - including the swimming pool behind front bumper....

[Joju]

Hmm, thanks Covkid ... wherefrom however? I checked the aerial, it is not that.

I will report back next time it rains.

[CovKid]

You need to ascertain whether it leaks if just sat there (as opposed to driving rain on a motorway) and then have a good nose. Try looking up inside the dash with a giid torch and see if can find any traces of moisture, or at least follow the trail. It may take a few goes.

[Plasticman]

Hi, am jumping on this, have leak to righthand side but have new schofields rubber and new front screen, with a good tight fit. Isn't always coming in when raining.. Have some new washer jets but they are slack in the holes reckon it's there, go em from JK .. Would another supplier be of a different tight fit?? Suggestions please

The pattern jets are rock hard and crap .screenrubber vewib work well
mm

[Dazco]

Did you use the mastic all the way round the seal ?

[Joju]

mastic all the way round. and quite a lot too.

The water collects when the bus stands in prolonged rain; on the road it seems less of a problem.

I have had a nose around with a torch. It drips onto the inside of the front wheel arches from some point above them; it also collects on whichever side is lowest, so I have assumed there is some kind of level channel it runs down, I think it must be the back of the dash, as I have found small puddles on the black metal behind the rubber.

This did puzzle me, I cannot believe the moisture is getting under the (mastic sealed) rubber, making its way over the metal edge and down onto the top of the dash ... surely it cannot come past the glass edge ...

I had wondered if the bus was just collecting damp air somehow, which is condensing a lot on the glass, of course. It does seem to be quite damp in the bus lately, I could believe it was atmospheric as we spent most of the last year in wales ... it was very damp there ... then the last two months in the Vosges mountains, eastern France.
I have found water condensed on a few metal surfaces, particularly in the metal drawers that the Bundeswehr fitted.

However, it seems a moot point whether the bus has a damp atmosphere because the windscreen leaks, or just seems to have a leaky windscreen because the atmosphere is damp ...

if you have read this far, maybe you can also look at my other thread, about what oil pressure switches I need to order. It seems nobody knows ...

[Plasticman]

can you post up some decent pickies of the areas where you find water etc
mm

[Cableguy]

I've had water coming down the A pillars finding its way into the footwells.
What kind of roof does it have?

[Joju]

it's all metal (see pic) pretty much factory spec transporter.

I will post pics at the next unfortunate opportunity.