Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:54:51 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Rear hatch leaking water into my Westy?
In-Reply-To: <4d1b79350801211326w324b2737r4aaf480d4668b584@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I'm very impressed jim, very astute and thorough.
I'm a nut about cleaning door gaskets and leaves n' junk out of places, but
I've been wondering how water got INSIDE the rear hatch door.
I wasn't going to comment even, but wanted to add about a nice little trick
for shot rear hatch struts. You get a piece of white pvc pipe from the
hardware store, about 10 inches long, that stuff that's about in inch
outside dia.
Then you undo the 'rod' end of one strut, put the pvc pipe over it, connect
the rod back........
* and lube those pivot points !* ...........and when you open the hatch, the
piece of pipe falls into place and locks the strut in the extended position.
After you try to close it a few times forgetting to lift up the piece of pvc
a bit........you remember, and from then on you just open the hatch, it
stays put, and you just have to reach up and 'release' the pipe to close the
hatch.
A perfect 50 cent improvement/upgrade/repair.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jim Felder
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 1:27 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Rear hatch leaking water into my Westy?
In my experience, there are two places you should look.
Open your hatch (or prop it open in your case... don't forget the
time-honored method of clamping a small pair of vice-grips on the rod where
you want the piston to stop, but just be sure your pistons are already shot
if you use this approach) and get a scrubber and clean the surface of the
rubber seal where it goes across the top of the hatch opening inside. Now,
clean the painted surface of the top where the seal mates to it when the
hatch is closed. It takes surprisingly little dirt in this area to cause a
leak. Clean out the "tray" up in the body recess above the seal while you're
at it, all those leaves and sticks you never see don't help.
Second, check to see if your rear window seal has a joint at the bottom
center like my 83 does. If there's a gap there, you will definitely wet your
mattress... I've watched it happen. Go get some black silicone sealer and
masking tape. Mask the top and bottom edges of the seal and squirt in the
sealant. Come back in about an hour when the sealant isn't gooey anymore and
remove the tape. You may have to cut with a razor blade against the glass to
get a nice edge to the sealant.
Jim
On Jan 21, 2008 2:50 PM, Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@mac.com> wrote:
> The rear hatch window seal, like your front window seal can start to
> leak. It's one possibility.
>
> On Jan 21, 2008, at 3:26 PM, neil N wrote:
>
> > Hi all.
> >
> > Last week I opened the rear hatch and found it would close part way on
> > its' own. ?? I put in new supports just over a year ago. Shouldn't
> > happen I thought.....
> >
> > My theory is that water gathered and froze, adding extra weight. Today
> > in warm sun, water ran out of bottom of hatch and it functions as it
> > used to. Mystery solved. But rear matresses are kind of wet. Water is
> > getting into van.
> >
> > My Westy is parked on an incline with rear end pointed downhill.
> > Recently weather has been cold.
> >
> > Where are the typical water leaks points on the rear hatch?
> >
> > Water normally gathers in rear hatch bottom and drains out when opened
> > when parked on incline. Is this normal?
> >
> > IF it isn't a water leak, could it be that with a frozen chunk o ice
> > at the bottom of the hatch, any "new" water coming in would overflow
> > into/onto the rear?
> >
> > TIA, and hope my questions make sense!
> >
> > Neil.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia - "Jaco"
> > http://web.mac.com/tubaneil
> >
> > Engine swap beginings: http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
>
|