Water Leak on an AIR COOLED!?!!

[shortbloke]

Decided to move the van back under the car port today as it had been sitting on the drive getting wet for the last week.

The Mrs moved the van forward and I noticed liquid coming from the back under the van, on closer inspection the liquid is coming from join/seal where the large pipe joins the heat exchanger on the offside.

The liquid looks like Water its a tiny bit oily looking (just the lovely rainbow pattern when its on the floor ) but as its running off the v oily heat exchanger im not totally surprised.
It is clear and not thick, and doesnt smell of anything, so Im ruling out, oil or fuel. Looks more like water !?

Had a lot of rain over the last week since its been on the drive and exposed to the elements, so Is it possible for rain water to "leak" into the system, through air vents etc.
It only seems to pi$$ out when reving the van, which made me worry it was petrol orginally - any one got any ideas or had similar experiances, MOT due in just over a week and im on holiday next week (not in the van!).

Any help or ideas appreciated!

[dugcati]

A tiny amount of water an look like a lot when it's being forced out of small holes/cracks etc - I would guess that as you say there is ingress somewhere but it's very odd how it's getting into the heat exchangers/warm air pipes!

[CovKid]

Although fair to say that condensation has often been the downfall of many an Aircooled - beetles particularly. Think heater channels....

[shortbloke]

thanks v much for the replies guys, it was prob about 2x one square foot puddles and appeared to have stopped eventally but looked like Niagra Falls early doors!!?

Tis under shelter for a week now or so, so will take a look when i get back before the MOT gets booked, will jack it up and get it on the axel stands and try and work out whats occuring.

Any other ideas much apreciated.

Cheers folks

[dugwiththevwbug]

probably water collected on the trays at the bottom of the air vent snorkels and when you moved the van the water flowed out over the heat exchangers.

water collecting in the bottom of the snorkels is where the seam rash comes from on the panel that the rear bumper end caps fix to. always good to clean out the trays at the bottom of the snorkels boxes as leaves dust and general crap lays in there with water and winter salt spray starts the corrosion of ( or makes it worse lol).

RE oily heat exchangers sounds like you need new rocker cover gaskets cheap as chips and easy to do.

regards doug

[dugcati]

the only other thing I can think of is.. and to me this really is a very long shot.... is that water going down into the engine bay via the air vents on the back of the van and sitting on the tinware then when moving the van/starting engine its getting past the tinware/engine bay seal or being sucked through the cooling fan over the engine and then off the heat exchangers and onto the floor...

dunno if al that is possible to occur though!

[Helga]

Mine has the same issue - water getting into the air vents and collecting in the trays and making it rust! Any way of stopping this water ingress? It seems such a stupid design! My problem is that my drive slopes to the side, so whilst the left snorkel bottom is dry, the other one has pools... My plan is to drill some extra water escape holes closer to the side of the van PLUS use chemical metal to make a sort of chanel at the edges so the water doesn't collect in corners... how does that sound?

[CovKid]

Sensible. Chickenkoop and I now look at all rust spots on the T25 with the same approach, never replacing anything before considering a way to improve water drainage otherwise it ends up being done all over again at a later date.

Incidentally, today I was once again faced with water on the cab floor and it was only when I stood on a chair at the front that I discovered rain was running off the roof and coming in via the top outer edges of the windscreen seal (not the bottom), running down behind the seal until it finally emerged on the cab floor. Today I squeezed a tube of aquatic sealant in there and cleaned up. Now drying cab mats and hoping that will do until I finally pull windscreen out next year for a full refit.

[Helga]

ah yes, windscreen - I have no leaks as yet but plan, on a warm day... so next year now... to put aquatic sealant round the rubber too BEFORE it leaks!

[Hightopfrog]

Hi, Did anyone find a way to stop the rain getting in through the rear air vents?? My recently purchaced wbx van is parked on a spot with a very slight fall to the nearside, and fills up on the rear platform at the bottom of the nearside air stack until it flows over the edge everytime it rains. Eventualy the remaining pool of water leaks out through the seams (unless I get to it first). I too have concluded that the tin worm on the seams is most likely to be as a result of the water lying there, and it's eating into the plate at the bottom too. Clearly the vent grills point the wrong way (upwards) and collect the rain. I've had a lengthy look on the web for downward pointing grillls but to no avail. I've now resigned to the fact I'll need to drill a few drain holes and treat them to some serious rust proof paint, but I really would like to stop the rain getting in in the first place.

Any solutions anyone??

G.

[dugcati]

yea - somewhere on the forum - might be in the wiki? someone got a sheet of magnetic stuff to cover over the vents; this mod was to stop the 'drip' in the night syndrome when it's raining though....

[Hightopfrog]

Cheers Dugcati, I can see where that would come in. Its not really a workable solution for day-to-day use though. What a daft idea eh? designing a system that collects water and channels it into a vehicle. Where's my drill??

[Cruz]

DRIP DRIP DRIP DRIP