Date:         Sat, 07 Dec 96 21:09:21 CST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <JWALKER@ua1vm.ua.edu>
Subject:      Re: Windshield rain water leak?

On Sat, 7 Dec 1996 12:23:40 -0600 you said:
>   My '84 vanagon GL drips water from the inside body behind/below the fuse
>block to the carpet left of the driver's left foot. I assume this is leaking
>from the windshield, not the wiper or antenna mount? The PO mentioned
>repairing extensive front end damage.
>   Would removing the portion of the dash over the instruments reveal a
>better look than what little I can see from below/under the dash?

not really. you can look with a flashlight, from around the steering wheel
column, up over the fuse box, and see the bottom area of the windshield.
even without front end damage, this is a very common problem ... the rubber
gets old and dry and pulls away from the metal body. my 88 never-been-
wrecked is doing it, and my old 80 bus did it.

>   Is there a windshield sealent that might fix this?

yup. check at a body shop supply place (that sells supplies to the body shop
places that fix your car dings and fender benders) ... check the Yellow
Pages .. and get a product called 3M Heavy Duty Drip Chek (in a blue box).
this is a grey ooze  that fills in the gap between the rubber and the metal.
you'll need to get some 3M General Purpose Adhesive Remover as well, to clean
up what oozes out from under the rubber. and a plastic Bondo spreader (to
stick under the rubber gasket, to pry it out far enough to squirt the ooze
under it). :)

but you'll need to do ALL around the windshield ... it might be leaking in
from somewhere other than that one little corner.  good luck.

joel