Passenger Leak / Vapour Barrier

[yyz_bobby]

HI all

Posted this in a few places as this was pretty big as far as DIY projects go for me.

While back I noticed water in the passenger well. (After a drive through car wash).

Did the usual thread read and youtube and thought first place to check would be the vapour barrier and take that moment to do sound proofing.

Below the pics are:

Pic 1) area of leak and area behind panel where i found the tape missing from the membrane.

Pic 2) panel off, I applied new butyl tape and after some time ran water down the outside window side. Noticed water coming from the hole. Occurred to me after that this is where the panel clip goes in.

Q - with the panel clipped in here would that water stop coming through?
Q - is it normal for water to go into the door like this? Is there not a window motor within the door?


Pic 3) I broke some panel clips during this process.

Q - anyone have recommendations in the UK where I can get these from?

THanks
Bobby

 

[Old-Duckman]

Glad you fixed the issue, personally I would NEVER take a convertible thru an automated car wash...just asking for trouble IMO. As long as water doesn't get in when driving in the rain, I'm happy.

 

[yyz_bobby]

Glad you fixed the issue, personally I would NEVER take a convertible thru an automated car wash...just asking for trouble IMO. As long as water doesn't get in when driving in the rain, I'm happy.

Not sure if i have fixed it, time will tell. Ihope the new butyl tape i put will hold and seal.

Yeah - i rushed to wash it at a drive thru (only had it 4 weeks now) but won't do that again. Learning the detailing side so i can look after it myself.

 

[Chris_D]

Get clips from dealer. Theyre cheap enough and made to correct spec.
Check your windscreen scuttle too as it’s also a common ingress point.
Just dine mine after wrongly assuming a new pax vapour barrier would stop the swimming pool i was experiencing in the footwell.

 

[yyz_bobby]

Get clips from dealer. Theyre cheap enough and made to correct spec.
Check your windscreen scuttle too as it’s also a common ingress point.
Just dine mine after wrongly assuming a new pax vapour barrier would stop the swimming pool i was experiencing in the footwell.

What is the window scuttle?

I got all the clips i needed from https://www.vehicleclips.co.uk/

 

[Chris_D]

Get clips from dealer. Theyre cheap enough and made to correct spec.
Check your windscreen scuttle too as it’s also a common ingress point.
Just dine mine after wrongly assuming a new pax vapour barrier would stop the swimming pool i was experiencing in the footwell.

What is the window scuttle?

I got all the clips i needed from https://www.vehicleclips.co.uk/

It’s the long plastic panel that covers the wiper mechanism.

 

[Tommo61]

I've got exactly this leak! What tape did you use, a flat strip or round bead and what size? also what's the difference between the white and yellow clips? - I've re-ordered a pack of white, but not sure if the yellow are the same size? Thanks.

 

[Tommo61]

I've got exactly this leak! What tape did you use, a flat strip or round bead and what size? also what's the difference between the white and yellow clips? - I've re-ordered a pack of white, but not sure if the yellow are the same size? Thanks.

All sorted. I bought a 15m roll of 20x2mm tape thinking I may have to replace the whole membrane, and potentially have some left to do the driver's side too. In the end I just needed a 10cm piece inserting where it had come away!
We've had a few torrential downpours over the last few days and it's stayed dry as a bone. All very straightforward, following this procedure to get the door card off https://youtu.be/Djgcv-VpCW8, disconnecting the battery first. I forgot to lower the window, so had to reconnect it half way through to get the glass out of the way. Luckily the membrane was intact and had just come unstuck round a bolt at the bottom of the panel. The old tape is very sticky to remove, so I used a blunt knife to cut across the section being replaced and picked it away, then rolled it into a a ball to lift any remaining tacky patches. A bit of rubbing alcohol cleaned it up after that.
The weak spot seems to be where the tape and panel traces round a bolt. There is only tape on the top side of the bolt, so I added some more to completely encircle it.

Here are a few pictures:

 

[Roberltd2]

Also may be worth thinking about are the drain channels running down above the front of the doors. I read somewhere on the Forum that, over time, these tubular rubber drains lose their rigidity, become a bit crushed and as a consequence, rain water ends up in the floof pannel.
The post I followed advised inserting a plastic tube of the right diameter into the "crush area" and then, the theory goes, the drain channels would work properly again.
I tried this out last year on the off (driver's side) and it does seem to have worked.
Haven't got round to doing the passenger's side yet as I only had enough of the right tubing to do the driver's side at the time.
About 4mm o/d, semi rigid plastic is as best I could describe it.
I'd gone down this route of investigation only after I'd dismantled the door cards and inspected the membranes only to find them in perfect / factory fit condition.
Robert.