Water leak

[Kief]

OK, looks like I need to tear some stuff apart... I have the jack removed and the holder is filling with water and spilling over on the floor/carpet and the two rear drains from the sunroof may be plugged as well, fixed the front two last winter and the carpet in the front is dry(er).
Did they ever make a US '80 series without a sunroof?

 

[TrickyT]

Just another affirmation that the fix that TLCnoob and 96r50 posted for the leak in the DS rear quarter panel - the one that gets the jack all wet and rusty - works great. I've been chasing this one for a while, and once again the search feature of Mud found just the information I needed.

In my case, the leak was in the vent assembly. When parked on a slightly uphill and off-camber slope, water runs across the roof, then rearward along the gutter, and dumps out right above the vent as indicated in the picture below. The fix was to disassemble the vent, clean the rotten weather stripping off of the vent, then re-assemble using a bead of silicone sealer. Result: leak gone!

 

[96r50]

Glad that worked for you Tom! I know I was getting pretty frustrated with the leak.

 

[TLCnoob]

Cool! One year and 3 months with a dry jack...and counting.

 

[Enigma]

When parked on a slightly uphill and off-camber slope, water runs across the roof, then rearward along the gutter, and dumps out right above the vent as indicated in the picture below. The fix was to disassemble the vent, clean the rotten weather stripping off of the vent, then re-assemble using a bead of silicone sealer. Result: leak gone!

Awesome info! My jack is all rusty and I've been trying to figure out where this leak was coming from. Thanks.

 

[Old#7]

Man I love the search feature!!!! I have the same problem. I took the bottom portion of the sliding window gasket out (just peeled it up) and tried to clean\figure out where the leak was coming from. Did the silicon around the trim piece tabs below the window and still have a leak! I think this will fix the problem! Thank you MUD!

 

[SiRaDuDe]

Is there supposed to be a drain hole at the bottom of this area?

If so where?

If not can one be drilled and what would be the best area?

 

[CJF]

Is there supposed to be a drain hole at the bottom of this area?

If so where?

If not can one be drilled and what would be the best area?

Why would you do that rather than fixing the leak and keeping the water out in the first place?

 

[SiRaDuDe]

Why would you do that rather than fixing the leak and keeping the water out in the first place?

Yes, Leak will be fixed, but since I read somewhere that the rear sunroof also drains to this spot, woudnt there be a darin hole also?

 

[CycloSteve]

You could pull the grommet which surrounds the sunroof drain line...that would give you a nice very large hole, and once fixed, you can then put the grommet back into place. Easy to find under the rear quarter panel. I would not drill anything.



Steve

 

[JohnVee]

I thought I'd update this thread with some pics. I also had a leak into both rear quarters (lots of people only mention the DS with the jack, maybe because they can easily see into it and never check the PS). It's really easy to fix this issue but there's a good chance you'll break something small and probably expensive if you don't know what you're getting into.

I'll post some general info here and will update my build thread soon with more details (most of which are already explained above in this thread). Pay attention to removing the side vents because it's really easy to break off the tab surrounds. You need to remove the nut from inside the vehicle, push outward on the bolt, then move outside and slide the entire assembly up when the bolt is clear of the body. The vent must go UP and follow a slight curve towards the front of the truck. If you're lucky, you'll have an intact weatherstrip around the vent. Don't try to remove the flap vent piece (held with 2 screws) under it if you don't have to - there's a molded clip that holds it in place from behind pretty damn well. I didn't have to - its gasket was fine.

Then you can remove the 2 end caps from the quarter belt trim and slide it towards the front of the truck to remove it. It might help to open the rear door for clearance. Note how fragile looking the white clips are. I used a scraper to gently pry them from the center by pushing towards the window and up at the same time. You might notice the remnants of the tiny paper gasket that surrounds each one.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/nc-olde-north-state-cruisers/687059-johnvees-80-thread.html

 

[knoll0351]

Thank you 96r50 for very descriptive step by step! Very helpful, now lets see if that was my problem after all.

 

[Tredwards]

Found my leak in rear on drivers side after looking for several weeks. Took taking a hose and finding it. Source was from gasket around gas filler cap and side marker light. Fixed up and leak gone. All started after new paint.

 

[Baranof]

I thought I'd update this thread with some pics. I also had a leak into both rear quarters (lots of people only mention the DS with the jack, maybe because they can easily see into it and never check the PS). It's really easy to fix this issue but there's a good chance you'll break something small and probably expensive if you don't know what you're getting into.

I'll post some general info here and will update my build thread soon with more details (most of which are already explained above in this thread). Pay attention to removing the side vents because it's really easy to break off the tab surrounds. You need to remove the nut from inside the vehicle, push outward on the bolt, then move outside and slide the entire assembly up when the bolt is clear of the body. The vent must go UP and follow a slight curve towards the front of the truck. If you're lucky, you'll have an intact weatherstrip around the vent. Don't try to remove the flap vent piece (held with 2 screws) under it if you don't have to - there's a molded clip that holds it in place from behind pretty damn well. I didn't have to - its gasket was fine.

Then you can remove the 2 end caps from the quarter belt trim and slide it towards the front of the truck to remove it. It might help to open the rear door for clearance. Note how fragile looking the white clips are. I used a scraper to gently pry them from the center by pushing towards the window and up at the same time. You might notice the remnants of the tiny paper gasket that surrounds each one.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/nc-olde-north-state-cruisers/687059-johnvees-80-thread.html

I think you need to pull the vent down after clearing the bolt stud from the body. The top clip did not have a stop on either side but the middle clip has a stop that will only allow it to go down not up. I ended up breaking the clip on the vent side because I pushed it upward. Oh well! just don't want this to happen to anyone else. This is a great forum though and has helped me figure out how to fix my leaks.
Cheers

 

[IH8DCTraffic]

I have this leak also. Traced it to the groove just inside from the quarter belt molding clips. My leak doesn't appear to be from the quarter belt clips. I can't tell if the water is directly from the window or draining down this seem from from the vent duct assembly. As this vehicle is 17 years old, thinking about replacing both side's duct assembly and the quarter belt moldings; or should I just patch it as others have done.

 

[Baranof]

I have this leak also. Traced it to the groove just inside from the quarter belt molding clips. My leak doesn't appear to be from the quarter belt clips. I can't tell if the water is directly from the window or draining down this seem from from the vent duct assembly. As this vehicle is 17 years old, thinking about replacing both side's duct assembly and the quarter belt moldings; or should I just patch it as others have done.

I would check the quarter molding first that is where my leak was at. The vent assembly is easy to break and costly to replace (I know from first hand experience). The quarter panel has paper gaskets that allow water into the side panel storage area where the jack is stored. you can remove the quarter panel strip by using a skinny pair of needle nose. Reach up from the inside directly below the quarter panel strip and pinch the clips with the pliers pushing upwards. There are foam stickers on either end of the quarter panel strip that will need to be freed up prior to removing the clips. Once the clips are free use some silicone caulk around the holes and replace the quarter panel molding. I broke mine removing it and replaced it with an new one and the new foam gaskets leaked so I had to follow this process to re-remove the molding and seal the holes with silicone. The end result is no leaks.

 

[JohnVee]

I think you need to pull the vent down after clearing the bolt stud from the body. The top clip did not have a stop on either side but the middle clip has a stop that will only allow it to go down not up. I ended up breaking the clip on the vent side because I pushed it upward. Oh well! just don't want this to happen to anyone else. This is a great forum though and has helped me figure out how to fix my leaks.
Cheers

I meant to update my post #31 a long time ago but completely forgot until recently. In looking at an unmolested exterior vent panel, you WILL break one or both clip mounting tabs by sliding the panel in either direction. The tabs are U-shaped, and the open ends face each other. See the pic below. I thought my lower tab was open ended and the top was U-shaped; I guess it wasn't. That could explain why people disagree about sliding them either up or down - depends which one is broken already. I didn't see any access inside the vehicle to push out the mounting clip from inside the body so I guess the panel has to be pried out with the clips still attached like the rest of the internal trim pieces. The clips are smaller than the other trim piece clips, and white instead of red or yellow. They also have a square or slightly rectangular head instead of round. Their material seemed to be a lot less flexible than the red or yellow ones, so care should be taken if trying to pry them out of the body while still attached to the vent panel.

Am I completely overlooking a different method to remove the vent panel? I mean besides fire...

 

[Bluetribal]

You can remove a small nut at the bottom of the plastic piece from behind the plastic lower interior panel. Then you can punch out a clip at the top by removing the 3rd safety belt connection and plastic trim piece behind the belt. Then just at the edge of the head liner you can get a brass drift and punch out the plastic body mount. Then you are just left with the middle U shaped piece and you pull down on the entire piece to remove it.

Finally got around to adding photos and figuring out which way to pull on them to remove the middle section.

 

[ih8mudkinkaid]

You can remove a small nut at the bottom of the plastic piece from behind the plastic lower interior panel. Then you can punch out a clip at the top by removing the 3rd safety belt connection and plastic trim piece behind the belt. Then just at the edge of the head liner you can get a brass drift and punch out the plastic body mount. Then you are just left with the middle U shaped piece and you pull down on the entire piece to remove it.

Finally got around to adding photos and figuring out which way to pull on them to remove the middle section.

Thank you! Just did this to remove the louver.

 

[spartan]

Truly amazing how much time and effort goes into these over-engineered " trucks ". This could be a NASA think tank. Happy Holidays everyone.