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Leaking a-pillar rubber gutter channels?

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:05 pm
by PASHN8
Guys,

Currently running a hardtop at the moment, and have noticed in heavy rain, water dribbles from under the rubber a-pillar gutter/seal inside the cabin and drops onto my right thigh at a steady rate.

Does this mean my a-pillar rubber gutter/seals are clogged and not draining properly down near the front of the door frame?

Anyone had this, or is there a way to remove the seal and enlarge the channels, or make it drain better?

Dino.

Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:18 pm
by Moggy
I have this exact problem on my car. It's awfully annoying when there is a drip of freezing water on your leg every few seconds! I haven't actually fixed it (What's the point? It never actually rains in Brisbane! :roll: ), but I noticed when you open the door and pull the a-pillar seal into a slightly different shape it improves things for a while. I think the seal just needs replacing with a younger version...

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 12:43 am
by PASHN8
Ok, I spent about an hour this evening, pulling the seals apart gently, and with a toothbrush and some boiling water, cleaning all the dirt/muck out and flushing all the drainage channels around the windscreen.

Water started of draining very slowly, but by the end was flowing quite freely with dirty water coming out the bottom of the sills!

Big improvement, so I will report back next big rainfall, which in Melbourne..... should be anytime in the next couple of days! :mrgreen:

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 1:26 pm
by sharyl
Thanks for the info... let us know if it helped! I'm also getting sick of my butt getting wet everytime I jump in my car without realising it had been leaking!

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:40 pm
by phatMX
pashn8 any luck? or hasn't it rained yet. I have the exact same problem (just put a hard top on) and it drips on my leg when raining.

I poured some water into the channel at the top and it ran to the bottom no worries... though that was only a small amount..

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:06 am
by PASHN8
SUCCESS!!

Just got home from a pouring rain trip, with wipers on fast, was about 25 minutes, and the roads were soaked! Not ONE drop of water ran over the rubber and on to my leg, i'm pretty impressed, so far so good!

Tomorrow will be the real test, as the car was under a carport before the trip in the rain tonight, but tomorrow it will be out in the carpark at work in the rain all day, so will have a lot of stationery water on the roof with no movement to agitate it, so will report back tomorrow night.

Dino OVER AND OUT! 8)

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:21 am
by Garry
What is this stuff you call rain?????? :shock:

Re:

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:32 am
by Astroboysoup
PASHN8 wrote:SUCCESS!!

Just got home from a pouring rain trip, with wipers on fast, was about 25 minutes, and the roads were soaked! Not ONE drop of water ran over the rubber and on to my leg, i'm pretty impressed, so far so good!

Tomorrow will be the real test, as the car was under a carport before the trip in the rain tonight, but tomorrow it will be out in the carpark at work in the rain all day, so will have a lot of stationery water on the roof with no movement to agitate it, so will report back tomorrow night.

Dino OVER AND OUT! 8)


can you point out which bits you cleaned?? I did some poking around in the car last night and couldn't see anywhere that is clogged up... maybe if i actually cleaned something it would have done something but i dunno.... a picture and a point please.

Re:

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:32 pm
by Hot Rodders
Garry wrote:What is this stuff you call rain?????? :shock:

Wet stuff that falls out of the sky. Just like the wet stuff out of taps. Believe it or not, it has been pretty dry down here in Mexico.
Rain, we complain when we have it and complain when we don't! :roll:

Re:

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:15 pm
by daridah
Hot Rodders wrote:
Garry wrote:What is this stuff you call rain?????? :shock:

Wet stuff that falls out of the sky. Just like the wet stuff out of taps. Believe it or not, it has been pretty dry down here in Mexico.
Rain, we complain when we have it and complain when we don't! :roll:


Wish you hadn't said that!! It's been raining all afternoon!! hehe

Re:

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:37 pm
by PASHN8
Astroboysoup wrote:
PASHN8 wrote:SUCCESS!!

Just got home from a pouring rain trip, with wipers on fast, was about 25 minutes, and the roads were soaked! Not ONE drop of water ran over the rubber and on to my leg, i'm pretty impressed, so far so good!

Tomorrow will be the real test, as the car was under a carport before the trip in the rain tonight, but tomorrow it will be out in the carpark at work in the rain all day, so will have a lot of stationery water on the roof with no movement to agitate it, so will report back tomorrow night.

Dino OVER AND OUT! 8)


can you point out which bits you cleaned?? I did some poking around in the car last night and couldn't see anywhere that is clogged up... maybe if i actually cleaned something it would have done something but i dunno.... a picture and a point please.


Again, caught in a major downpour today, not a drop!! :)

Will take some pics over the weekend to highlight what i've been talking about.

Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:30 pm
by jules
Please do.

It rains here once a year, and I get wet.


Jules

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:25 am
by shelleriffic
I'd be interested to see photos as well. My NA has an extremely old and dying roof (soon to be replaced in May) and I seem to get little pools of water in the rubber seals that drips inside after heavy rain - very annoying. I figured it was because my roof is so old, it's shrunk slightly and the sides don't cover/sit where they're supposed to over the top of the window area where the rubber seals meet the windows.

Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:22 am
by Garry
Yeah, as the roof shrinks the water gets in under the sides of the roof and fills up the seals with water. Only solution for that one is a new roof.

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 1:17 am
by Astroboysoup
yeh so... how are those photos... its gonna rain heavy over the next few days