[Heideisadog]

Hey guys! I know this may seem silly, I own a soft top, I should expect water to get in...
But I have had this problem for quite some time now and I'm thinking its time to resolve it.
I'm hoping to start this post so people can show how they have stopped water from getting in there car, or the common locations that water gets in.

To start off, I need a little help!

When it rains or I wash my car I get a steady drip of water right onto my acelarator foot/pedal, I initially though it was coming through the seal where the folding windscreen meets the top of the firewall or door frame, so I sealed that up.
Still continuing to drip. I have had a further look behind the dash and it seems to be running under the dash along the back and then I can't see any further.
I'm thinking it may be coming from the air grille at the top rear section of the bonnet and coming into the cabin from there. Has anyone come across something like this?

If you don't have answers to this but may have tips for other leaks feel free to post it!

-should have got a hard top they say...

[cairns27]

Hard tops leak also, I'll give ya a carton to fix my leaks when you're on top of yours..

Bye

[Heideisadog]

Hahaha I don't mind it leakling anywhere else, just I need to accelerate and I don't like a wet foot...
Missing to stop the leak is a go.

[alien]

Wet foot is a leak from the air grille at the front window.. those drains block up and then the water goes through the heater vents. I fitted one of the LROR "bonnet scoops" which stops a lot of water even getting in (and leaves from blocking it). I also vacuumed out the heater, and disconnected the heater hoses behind the dash above the steering column and cleaned them out (they were full of leaves too). Beware - your hands are going to get cut up pretty bad by the plastics =)

Otherwise - i've lathered the front corners in sikaflex to stop rain coming in at +70km/hr and yearly i give the inside of the soft top a spray of waterproofing stuff, cos when the soft top is wet for a long period of time, the water does eventually wick through and drip inside the cab.

[Heideisadog]

This is boss! You're the man Alian! Thank you!

That's exactly what I thought!
How'd you get into the heater box? Is there a place to clean it out from or just take the heater hoses off and go through there?

That's great, was thinking about waterproofing the inside of the soft top, do you have a product you'd recomend?

[alien]

Heater box requires a hole saw =)
http://www2.izook.com/?page_id=258
I covered the hole on mine with clear acetate from some retail packaging so i can see inside with a torch to check how dirty it is now.

Taking the hoses off behind the dash means taking off the plastic cover under the steering column and practicing some yoga/contortion-ism to get your hand up to the hoses, which just pull off. I blasted mine out with a hose from the front vent to get out about 1kg of leaves and debris!

Waterproofing spray - there's a Selleys product at Bunnings meant for camping gear etc, about $15 a can. Takes 2 full cans to do a whole soft top. I also spray on the outside anywhere there's stitching going through the top.

Mine now only has a single leak which drips on the passenger side floor, only in heavy rain, and maybe 1 drip every 15mins. It's a bit annoying that it's there, but doesn't affect me so i've not gone looking for the cause.

[Heideisadog]

That's an awesome read! Very helpful!
I'll check out my heater box and get one of those scoops made or order one from lror.
I'm kind of excited to pull it out and see what's in there!

My soft tops in great condition but definitely wouldn't hurt to give it a good coat of that stuff!

Hopeful this fixes it!

[alien]

Just remember - pulling those heater hoses off under the dash is easy... getting them back on, not so much =) I foresee a lot of cursing in your future...

[Heideisadog]

So I made this a while ago, and followed all that you had to say. About a handful is leaves came out of the heater piping and all looked to be reasonably clean and dry. Since then it had not been driven in the rain until last week when it poured everyday.
It started off being all good... And then the water came back.
So to completely write off it being from the heater/ air ducting, I plastic taped the air vent grille that's on top of the fire wall off so I had no air/rain flow through it. Next time it rained, still got a wet foot.
I had a much closer look into it and it looks like water may be coming through the windscreen seal.
Has anyone had this issue and how can I seal it up so it won't leek!

Thankyou

[shep]

http://auszookers.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... t=wet+foot

[jdk81]

^i think he tried that with tape

Once the heater box has been sorted, then consider replacing the windscreen seal, and if a soft top, replace the seal between tub and the windscreen frame.

[Heideisadog]

Yeah tried that one!
Okay Thankyou, just searching for where I can purchase the windscreen seal from. Not having any luck online for a sj70 seal. All I can find are for earlier models.

[shep]

It is just a glass seal. Take a bit into a rubber shop and they will have a direct replacement. I used to run a glass factory and sold the same seal for $4.50 a meter.