Help me find this 'weird' leak on my Duetto

Hi once again to the forum (I'm still sorting my heater out),

Our Duetto has the nearside facing West. After the vans been sat & we've had a spell of rain (like we've had recently), there's no visible leak 'anywhere' inside the van. However, shortly after driving off, my poor 6 year old gets a 'soakin' in the back as about 3-4 tablespoons of water runs down from near the sliding door. But, its not coming from the sliding door.

We've pin-pointed the spot where the water is dripping from which I've circled in the attached photo. The big question however is, just exactly where is it getting in, to get there?

Outside the awning & the rain rail 'seem' dry. So, can you help me pin-point this leak?

The yellowy stuff is glue by the way.

All the best


Ian

Are there any rain gutter fixings on that side in the vicinity of the leak ? If so, it maybe coming in through one of them just as it did on my Harmony above the windscreen in a similar quantity as you experienced.

My cure was to undo the screw/s (black plastic?) and pour in some Captain Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure (no its not a joke, it really does exist ref Amazon) until it overflows slightly. Re-insert screw/s and tighten whist wiping away the excess liquid as its rubberised and difficult to get off if you leave it. It sorted my leak out.
It might not be that at all but its a good starting point.
Also, make sure the drain slots at the ends of the gutter over the windscreen are free of muck so there is no excessive collection of water in the gutter.
Worse case, slight roof separation from the van's metal body but Dutto is far more experienced than me and I'm sure he'll pick this up anyway.

The leak in my (much older) van drove me nuts. It came downwards and wetted the kitchen window top recess, then pooled on the worktop.

Cue window inspection, gutter sealing, a bit of panic and absolutely no success. Until I took it in for a Hab service and the older mechanic said 'It's your roof window drains - they're full of leaf-soup'. Sure enough, he cleaned out the manky leaf mould and it hasn't happened since.

Point of the above is, that it was coming in nowhere near the places I suspected. It had crept along from much higher up, as well as downwards.

Good luck with your search.

We have just had our Topaz sorted after a leak from the awning bracket. Ours was the rear one and was running down in the bathroom, more so when we drove and the water ran towards the back.
If you have an awning, could it be from the front bracket?

Hi Ian.

Had a similar leak on an AS symbol that I had. The problem was the sliding door was ever so slightly lower at the back edge when the door was shut.( it was hardly noticable ) Disconnected the top of the door checked all seals where OK ( carefull if you do this the door is very heavy and will swing outwards) then played about with the alignment. Whether by accident or design it cured the leak.

Good luck with yours. Whisky.

whisky wrote:............. Whether by accident or design it cured the leak.
...........

My money is on "accident"!

Ian

O.K. thanks for all your comments. As usual, its raining today (what a pleasant change). I've been out & had a detailed look. What I can see is rain dripping down from the awning at the front into the rain rail. The water is coming out the front of the rail, down the windscreen. But, what 'must' be happening is that some is getting in there through one of the screws maybe. Looks like some 'Captain Tolley's' is in order of the day!

Thanks again.

Now all I gotta do is get that heater out!

Hi to all, I hope you had good Xmas'

I'm reviving my thread because my little tiny drip from the sliding door has turned into 'BLIMEY I'VE GOT A SWIMMING POOL IN THE FRONT CAB' without any input from me at all!

It's not quite as bad as that but it's 'bad' especially as we've had so much rain recently.

Basically, (the vehicle is stationary) rain is getting in and I have a very wet carpet mainly In between the front seats where the hand brake is. What I think is happening is that water is getting in & running down those pillars (next to the front drivers/passenger seats) and collecting in between the seats as there is a natural dip in that area.

So, has anyone experienced this before ? I've had my windscreen replaced as I thought it might be that (& it was delaminating anyway), but things still remain.

More importantly, has anyone taken their rain rails off, it looks like a simple 'unscrewing' job, but, I have this strange 'autosleepers' feeling there might be a lot more to it than that.

Finding leaks is very difficult. You should be looking at rails, windows, roof vents, aerials and any fittings fitted to the van. Its wise to remove the offending item and re-seal it. Its also better to use the same type of sealer as was put there by the manufacturer. So for rails etc then its mastic or something like sikflex.

Good luck it can take a lot of finding.

Would you 'adam and eve' it- I've now got a small leak running down the inside of the toilet compartment in my Harmony- unfortunately Mrs H found it first when it was too late for her to take, ahem, avoiding action- if you know what I mean !!!
I suppose its hardly surprising as the van is parked broadside onto any easterly weather.

I've got the cleanest gutters 'in the world', as J.Clarkson would say, but there is the window seal, a roof vent and possibly a hidden awning fixing to check. I know the gutters are working a right or left turn produces a waterfall down the windscreen if it's been raining felines and canines.
Good job I've got a spare bottle of the Captains finest.

Just a thought, we've inherited a perspex roof over our kitchen extension and ice gets under the corner of the flashing and lifts it just enough to let a dribble in down the kitchen wall. That leak was much worse last year because of an accumilation of debris which is a theme in some of the previous posts.

Ice in mucky van gutters could have heaved a joint or fixing ?

I just thought I'd reply (again) to my own post. It turned out to be, 'the windscreen'.

I had a new screen fitted, but, he didn't fit it properly, hence the leak didn't go away, it got worse.

You've just reminded me that on my Dorset I had a leak over the windscreen (right into Mrs H's lap!!) turned out to be a loose windscreen that had been recently replaced, it would actually 'give' in its mounting if you pushed it from inside you could feel the movement, and I had stamp my feet at the fitters before they'd re-fit it correctly !

When i brought my van i noticed that under the water heater vent had a lot of rust under neath- i didnt take too much notice and carried on. It was an old van afterall. A couple of years after buying the van i put the water heater on to give it a 'run' as i dont normally use it. We had water gushing out from underneath the heater.
I lifted up the seat etc. to get at it and the cold water intlet conector (not pipe)had split.
But more worryingly there were signs to indicate that it had a slow leak probably for years as there was a lot of rotton insulation,
Although we were lucky the leak had never come inwards it had dripped down between the internal ply panel and the external wall of van. On further inspection the sill in that area was rusted more than in other areas. I wondered if that had caused the rust on outside?
We managed to fixed it ourselves and all is fine now.
I would advise others to check their connectors especially if you have lots of rust in this area.

scovell001 wrote:Hi to all, I hope you had good Xmas'

I'm reviving my thread because my little tiny drip from the sliding door has turned into 'BLIMEY I'VE GOT A SWIMMING POOL IN THE FRONT CAB' without any input from me at all!

It's not quite as bad as that but it's 'bad' especially as we've had so much rain recently.

Basically, (the vehicle is stationary) rain is getting in and I have a very wet carpet mainly In between the front seats where the hand brake is. What I think is happening is that water is getting in & running down those pillars (next to the front drivers/passenger seats) and collecting in between the seats as there is a natural dip in that area.

So, has anyone experienced this before ? I've had my windscreen replaced as I thought it might be that (& it was delaminating anyway), but things still remain.

More importantly, has anyone taken their rain rails off, it looks like a simple 'unscrewing' job, but, I have this strange 'autosleepers' feeling there might be a lot more to it than that.

Hi I've just noticed your post,as I have been looking through to see if anyone else has a similar problem to me. We have just this last 2 months had a problem with water soaking the carpet between the 2 front seats and cannot see where it is coming from. I see you say it is from the windscreen ho does it track to the carpet we can't see any way it is able to get there as Etty has always been very dry inside.

I'd be vary wary of removing the gutter rails, however it's worth backing off the plastic screws over the windscreen and pumping in some Captain Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure,(then re-tighten, of course !) the water may be dribbling down behind the headlining and into the door A pillar then onto the carpet -just a thought ?
Maybe its coming in through the windscreen rubber and dripping down behind the dashboard - just another thought ?