Broadway EL damp problem

The rear lower wall is showing there is damp across the full width of the wall, covering an area of approx. 5 inches up from the floor. The dealership from whom we acquired the van carried out remedial work by injecting expanded poly. foam in the gap between the floor and the curved bottom edge of the rear panel.
The thinking was that road water and spray was being sprayed up into the cavity they had filled. However the wall is still showing signs of damp when tested with a damp meter. The van is going back to the dealership next week to be hopefully dried out.

Can anyone on this really superb forum more knowledgeable than I, suggest any other areas as to where this problem might be arising.

Thanks and safe travels to us all.  Ed.

If foam has been injected into the potential source of the problem it would also hinder the drying out process. It could take a long time to dry. By way of an analogy I had some damp affecting the plaster around the front door of our house. I found where rain was getting in snd sealed it but it took several months before my damp meter gave acceptable readings .
Get a damp meter preferably digital and see if the readings are falling over time. Also run a garden hose, not a pressure washer, around the outside and check the damp readings an hour or two later to see if they have increased.

Organplayer, I have checked out my 2010 EL and have no sign of damp but I shall continue to monitor it. I would be interested to hear any updates.

Hi everyone.  Well...this saga is hopefully nearly over with one issue to be sorted. I will eventually keep everyone informed shortly (I hope)

Hi Organplayer, Your last post was nearly one month ago and I am wondering whether you are out of trouble. I have the same problem at the back of my 2009 Broadway EK. I read from another source that if you have a boxed wind-out awning incorporated in your roof there may be water retention in the box that is leaking down to the bottom of the rear panel through the screws that hold the box. He was advised to drill two small holes either side of the box section and that released the retained water. The report referred to a moncoque body. I have not yet checked my awning and it may be irrelevant to both of us.

Looks like you may have a cure, Organplayer. I did wonder about the seal between the the rear and sidepanel. This gives me another avenue to investigate. I bought my EK new some six years ago so I have no warranty now. To replace the rear wall must be quite expensive. Another whole in the pension! C'est la vie!  Thanks for the info.

Organplayer wrote:Hi everyone.  Well...this saga is hopefully nearly over with one issue to be sorted. I will eventually keep everyone informed shortly (I hope)

What was the out come of this please? 

CC

Hi to everyone and especially those kind folk who have sent me p/ms and have shown such an interest in this rather "trying" experience.

To go back to when I acquired the Broadway, I noticed under the rear panel/void, a large amount of gap filling poly expanded filler had been injected closing off air supply to the void under the panel. Asking about this I was told that the manufacturers fill the area with this stuff to lessen the possibility of more serious damage to this area in the event of a minor collision. No mention was made of any damp problem. A while later I contacted the previous owner and had a heartening talk about the van, until I mentioned the matter of any damp problem. He informed me that after handing the vehicle over to the dealers, he received a phone call from the dealers informing him that there was damp in the rear wall, caused by water being sprayed up behind the said rear panel, and asking the previous owner for £750 to go towards fixing the problem. I believed the previous owner when he stated that he was totally unaware of this problem. Hence the true reason why this gap filler had been used.

The van was taken back to the dealers and I complained that I had been deceived, insisting that all the "rubbish" gap filler be removed and the wall be allowed to dry out. I should mention that after speaking to the previous owner, I checked the rear wall with a damp meter which indicated a high level of damp. This was confirmed by the workshop manager when I raised hell. He has now left the dealers. Over the course of the next six weeks whilst they were drying out the wall, we went to the dealers to remove bits and pieces and were told after sometime  that a person from AS had seen the van and pointed out that the cause of the water ingress had been the gaps around the tops of the rear panels where they were suppose to join the side panels, but there had been no mastic in these spaces to prevent water ingress. A wrong diagnosis. The workshop informed me that the rear panel had to be removed, the whole area dried out, and the panel replaced WITH mastic. Surely these gaps around the panel should have clearly indicated the cause of the problem and not put it down to water being splashed up from the road.


 

A second set of internal panels were installed along the rear wall and a short amount at the sides. 

I drove the van home, went indoors for a sigh and a cuppa. A few minutes later my wife comes in and says" have you seen the damage?"." What damage" sez I. Go into the van to see the low locker door under the rear offside seat/bed had been struck with something and the wood veneer splintered in approx. 1inch square. Returning to the dealers yet again to point this out, a new door was ordered from AS. So far we are still waiting, but in fairness I will report when the new door is received. 

In spite of all this hassle, we luv this little "ol buggiiee, and find the convector heater superb.

Apologies for the late update, due to us escaping for a while. Best wishes and safe travels to us all.  Ed