Sliding windows belt molding (1 Viewer)

[Herrett]

Last week I sealed my sunroof and after watching a YouTube video I replaced belt moldings on all 4 doors. Wet carpet has gone away even after running through the car wash 3 times. But I do have some water in the tool compartment. As a first step I am going to replace the belt molding underneath the sliding window. I assume the process is different than the door windows. Can someone post a link to a video and or instructions. I’ve read all the past posts and understand it could be the hatch weather seal or the vents but I thought I would start with the belt moldings, odd it’s leaking as I’ve owned the LC for 27 years and never opened the sliders. Thanks in advance for any help.

Robert

 

[Kernal]

There are ?4-5 small clips underneath the belt molding (moulding) on the top of the quarter panels that push down into holes in the top of the quarter panel. To remove the belt molding you can use a very thin plastic tool (even a credit card) to pop the rivets up and out of the holes. Or you can push the clips up from inside the cavity after removing the Cargo area panels. One source of a water leak into the quarter panel cavity is due to very thin gaskets under each clip that deteriorate with age allowing water to get past and trickle into the quarter panel via the small holes for the clips. One method to seal the holes is to push a very small button of butyl rubber (3M window weld ribbon) under each hole.

Water can also end up dripping onto the Jack and into the plastic holder and/or straight down into the quarter panel cavity.

One other source of a water leak into the quarter panels (cavities) are the tail lamp buckets. Those buckets were originally sealed with a rope of butyl rubber sealant and IME the original application may not have been applied well enough to make a water proof seal and/or the sealant has shrunk or come loose. Any leak will likely be small but over 25 years you may end up with some dirt and water damage on the bottom of the quarter panel cavities. Need to remove the tail lamp assemblies then the tail lamp buckets to fix the issue. This allows better access to the quarter panel cavities if you want to clean them out well.

One more bit of trivia, the molding leak (if from a front molding clip hole) can trickle forward onto the cargo area floor and also into the "dog leg" (front of the wheel well into the rear section of the rocker panel) or even down into the floor of the rear seat area. I noticed this when I had my carpet removed and it rained that evening, next day when the rear door was opened I found water on the front section of the rear cargo area floor and the floor gutter near the rear seat foot well area. I traced the trickle of water directly back to the front hole for the quarter panel belt molding. FWIW

The smallest diameter (1/8" x 1/4") 3M Window Weld Ribbon Sealer (butyl rubber) works well to reseal the tail lamp buckets. IIRC I found it a easier (better result) to stick the butyl rope on the body first (around the opening for the bucket very close to the inside edge of the hole) then push the bucket in place instead of trying to place the butyl rubber on the bucket first.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40068348/

 

[Herrett]

Thanks! I also found this video.

 

[Kernal]

Silicone will work but IME makes it more difficult to remove the molding (or anything else it's stuck to) in the future. The 3M butyl rubber does not cure or harden so easier to remove but it still seals the hole.

 

[Herrett]

Thanks. Ordering tomorrow.

 

[Kernal]

On the one hand, if installing new molding, the original mini-gasket may be fine for ??years, or, if you use it for holes/clips on the new molding IME you only need a tiny button of butyl rubber in/over the hole before pressing the molding into place. If you use too much it can/will squeeze out from under the molding and look like sheit. The other option is to press the butyl rubber button up from below under the hole for the clips once the molding is in place. It can make a bit of a mess when cleaning it up but any paint-safe mild solvent will remove the excess.

 

[Herrett]

Thanks!

 

[FirstToy]

I had the same issue but actually more water was leaking through the rear vent assembly. It presents as a leak in the tool/jack area and the belt trim might just be a smaller problem.

Fix: Rear Slider Window Louver Leak – in 10 complicated steps

This write up is about as detailed as I can make it, it was a pain in the A$$, but worth it. Water inside your truck has no business being there. As proof this worked, it rained 12hours last night, a hard driving pacific coast rain, and there was zero ingress. I found a few very helpful thread...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Herrett]

Thanks for the heads up on the vents.