Rear window leak

[lojoma]

Hi folks,

I have water dripping into the rear bath. It is exiting into the camper between the window frame and the interior wall skin.

I first removed and replaced the caulk around the window. That wasn't it.

My next suspects are the lights above the window. I haven't resealed those yet, but I don't see any obvious way for water to get in there as-is.

Other possibles would be the plumbing vent and the roof vent. The gasket on the plumbing vent is pretty old, so I have one on order (well, 2, one for the other vent up front). But that seems unlikely to have water go to the back window from there (?).

I can't get up to the roof air vent until I can get a taller ladder. But I'm not seeing anything immediately obvious in the photo. But it would seem water would could run down from there.

Other clues: I took off the bath room light, which is right above where the water is dripping, and the insulation and interior wall there are dry. Also removed the 12 volt outlet to the left of the light, and that was also dry behind it. This makes me think it's more likely to be the exterior lights right above the window, as they are below the level of the interior light.

The amount of water coming in seems to be more than I would think those little lights could leak, though.

Any ideas?

[Daytonacoupe]

Start with those running lights above the rear window. On my 1987 they were the source of a worse leak than the ceiling fans. I'm down to a bare shell so when it rains the leaks are visible.

[s1000pre]

The right side window had a leak. It was caused by a pin-sized hole in the factory calking in the top edge of the window. It doesn’t take much!

[s1000pre]

The right side window had a leak. It was caused by a pin-sized hole in the factory calking in the top edge of the window. It doesn’t take much!

[lojoma]

Ok, will get those lights resealed and see how it goes. Thanks.

[88Limited]

It's very likely that there's no sealant in between your aluminum body panels. Look at the second picture where the three overlap. That should be sealed with a sealant called acrylar. Take a loot at this thread: https://www.airforums.com/forums/f45...ry-116214.html


Edit: in the third picture it also looks like your missing sealant around the fan housing. All potential leak points.

[lojoma]

good information, thanks!

[lojoma]

Today I worked on the lights. A possible/likely culprit is the big freaking hole where the screw/rivet once lived and is now just an open pass into the camper. The lower side weep holes were caulked over on all 3, but this one had that big hole, so I'm guessing water gets trapped into the lens and goes in that hole.

You can see how ugly the caulking was and my (hopefully nicer!) job today. Oh, and it was some kind of silicone at that. Ugh.

Advice, please, on whether those side holes should be caulked over or not. I think not to allow water to escape but can be convinced otherwise.

[lojoma]

Still had the leak after resealing around the marker lights, so I just took the lights off and caulked up the holes for the time being. Need new lights anyway.

Also got a new gasket for the plumbing vent and replaced it. You can see how bad the gasket and the caulk around the pipe were.

Also got up there and checked the air vent. On the AC side of it, the sealant was detached and water was pooling under it. Seems the most likely candidate. It took forever to get all the old stuff off, but I did and resealed it with Dicor. Photo is before it finished self-leveling.

We shall see.

[richard5933]

Interesting to see that your lights are caulked around the edges like that. On my 1994 Excella I replaced the OEM lights this year, and they were all mounted with neoprene gaskets.

I used a laser machine to cut new gaskets when installing the new lights. For good measure I added a daub of caulk around the wires and on the screw holes before reinstalling. Made for a very clean install.

[lojoma]

Getting new lights and will fit with gaskets.

It occurs to me looking at the plumbing vent that there is no way for water that gets in to escape. Shouldn’t there be a weep hole at the bottom of the metal shroud?

[richard5933]

Mine has a weep hole.

[Camper Crazy]

I had a leak at the bathroom door in my '72 overlander; my first step was to recaulk the seams on the roof. It fixed the leak and was pretty to do with some tape (to keep it neat) and some caulk for aluminum.
CC

[lojoma]

Update.

So far I have replaced the gasket for the plumbing vent, removed the lights a and caulked around the wire holes, redid the roof air vent with Dicor, and sealed the seams with Acrylic-R. Still have the leak though maybe not as bad.

Ordered Captain’s creeping crack cure for the rivets.

[lojoma]

I think I finally have stopped the leak. I ended up with a few small "missed" areas with the Acryl-R. I went over every rivet I could get to with the Captain. I found about 3 thirsty rivets. I did all the rivets a second time and finally, no water coming in the window. Yay.

[majorairhead]

Originally Posted by lojoma

I think I finally have stopped the leak. I ended up with a few small "missed" areas with the Acryl-R. I went over every rivet I could get to with the Captain. I found about 3 thirsty rivets. I did all the rivets a second time and finally, no water coming in the window. Yay.

Three cheers for Captain TOLLEY'S

[88Limited]

Originally Posted by lojoma

I think I finally have stopped the leak. I ended up with a few small "missed" areas with the Acryl-R. I went over every rivet I could get to with the Captain. I found about 3 thirsty rivets. I did all the rivets a second time and finally, no water coming in the window. Yay.

Awesome! Glad you got it fixed. Remember, tollies is a temporary fix, keep checking them or replace them.