Club 80-90 Forums

Van has been stood on the drive for a week (I know, I know...) and when I got in today, there was a nasty musty smell.

Investigation revealed a very wet back end, with water sat on the engine cover. It's a campered up high top, but the walls weren't wet and the seal round the tailgate looks fine.

On top of the engine cover is a plywood board with some thick felt on the underside. Both parts soaked through.

On top of that is a carpet. Bone dry, except in the back nearside corner.

So, where does this water come from

A very scientific investigation reveals that if I pour water in the gutter rail at just the right rate, it trickles out of the end and snakes off *inside* the air vent thingy on the side. I don't think it's meant to do that.
It then seems to disappear altogether (magic!) in that it never arrives at the bottom of the van. So, it looks like rain water is getting in the vent, and magically popping out again at engine-cover height. I can't really see how!

Hopefully someone else has seen this and can point me in the right direction. Failing that, how do I stop the water from the gutter trickling into the vents. Surely that's not supposed to happen. The water is following the 'curve' of the body panel and almost running uphill to get to the vent!

Oh, and is there an easy way to get green slime off plywood?

Ta.

Water does trickle into the air vent. Are you sure there are no holes of rips in the tailgate seal along the top as ours had a small one and leaked in

my dripping solution http://www.club80-90.co.uk/wiki/index.p ... ia_Library
slime of plywood, jetwash? or sand it down then varnish to prevent reocurrence, or replace plywood. I would possibly look behind the panels to check for rot, maybe wheel arch etc under bed to see if it is getting in further away and 'wicking' its way to the engine hatch cover, take the cover off and dry it out next to radiator and see if water occurs again without it.

rear seat belt mountings?

wardrobe screws?

seen things "fixed" to the inside screwed right through the panel into the air duct before?

or is it coming through the engine lid seal?

the walls dry quicker than the floor where the water sits.....

tailgate seals often leak at the top corners.

Good ideas there Mocki.

Think you might have it with the screw idea. There are a couple of rusty looking screws poking into the air duct from the inside walls. No screws visible on the wall in the van though, so I'm guessing that they've glued carpet over the top of some wood... The water probably runs between the wood and the van body and down to engine cover level.

I suppose the only option is to rip off the carpet, take the panels out and make the van look a right mess now. Or maybe I'll just dry it out and hope for a sunny summer! Lazy me you see....

If I do decide to rip it all out and replace, what is the 'official' way to attach interior trim to the walls? I'll go and see what t'wiki can tell me about interiors.

Cheers.

wellllllllllll,
if it was me, which it isnt, i would be painting those rusty screws that stick through to the turret, sealing the threads so that the water cannot use that route..... and waiting and seeing, you may well cause more work than a little by ripping things off in your search..........

just a quick point in that the high tops are riveted on at the back on some models and these do tend to let water in over a period of time,which then runs along the inside channel untill it finds a point to come out

Ref: the above post I had about a gallon of rain water (I am not exagerating) swishing about in the channels of the hightop. After much routing about it turned out the windows in the high top had not been sealed properly after its respray. Ended up drilling 2 small holes in the front of the high top at gutter level, it drained bothsides for about 5 mins and looked comical.