Rain water leak

[Dolomitejohn]

Hi all. Now having owned my sprint for 30 years I should probably know the answer to this but thought I would ask anyway. I have just driven the sprint on a 100 mile round trip to collect my repaired Furguson VHS video star top loader (thanks Peter). Most of the journey was on the m40. Torrential rain and spray everywhere. When I get home there is evidence of water on the passenger side parcel shelf. Now over the winter I had the screen surround resprayed, so screen out and wiper spindles out. Having resealed the screen myself with more mastic than the mastic factory I am sure it can't be the screen seal. So question, has anybody had leaking wiper spindles? If yes how did you cure it? Thanks all. John

[geeksteve]

Also worth checking bulkhead grommets.. One of mine had dissolved and resulted in similar!

[Matt Cotton]

Hi John.

If you dig out DM issue 200 (January 2021 with the beer on the front cover) Richard Old has detailed a good article on how water can find it's way into a Dolly.

It would be worth checking the seal on the roof gutter - these were sealed at manufacture but can go hard and brittle and let water in. This can run forwards into the 'A' post area (we know how they can rot) and also rearwards and run into the boot area (again another common rot spot)

With your car having a vinyl roof, it may be difficult to find, but a small bead of sealant should do the trick. The area around the windscreen before the vinyl starts is a good first check.

MC

[cleverusername]

Finding the water leaks in the front of my car has become something of an obsession of mine. I am converting a 1500 to a Sprint and I also have GPR wings. In my attempt to beat the leaks have removed the front wings and most of the interior at the front. I seem to have won but it took a lot of work. Starting at the top:

1)New windscreen seal didn't seal properly, so I fill the seal with windscreen sealant.
2)Suspect leak around wiper spindles, removed spindles, new seals and greased seals.
3)Water was somehow getting into the box section underneath the windscreen and there were pinhole leaks in the box section inside car. Had to cut off a 6 inch section off the underside of the box section at each side and found the corners of windscreen surround panel were rotten where it attached to the scuttle. Had to make new sections, weld them in and found holes in the upper part of the scuttle were it meets the windscreen surround. Welded them up.
4)Small bubble on nearside side A-post, which surprise surprised turned into hole. So I had to weld that up and I also found another hole where the bottom of the A-post meets the guttering. That was a real pain to weld.
5)What I would call a plenum chamber on a modern car (the section the fresh air vents run from), had holes in both corner and by the gearbox tunnel. So you guessed it, even more bloody welding.
6)Leak around transmission tunnel, which required addition sealant to fix.
7)I also found rot in the bulkhead, which required yet more cutting and welding.

All this work seems to have done the trick. Lets put it this way, we had a torrential downpour and not a drop made it into the car.

Now it does sound like my car was covered in obvious rot, yet in reality only the A-post bubble in the paint was obvious. I only found the rest by waiting for it to rain and tracking how the water was getting in, then attacking areas I was suspicious of with a grinder.. The paint and sealant was very effectively hiding all the rot.

I hope your car isn't the basket case mine turned out to be but I did find it remarkable just how much rot could be hidden in the front end of a Dolly.

[cleverusername]

Hi John.

If you dig out DM issue 200 (January 2021 with the beer on the front cover) Richard Old has detailed a good article on how water can find it's way into a Dolly.

It would be worth checking the seal on the roof gutter - these were sealed at manufacture but can go hard and brittle and let water in. This can run forwards into the 'A' post area (we know how they can rot) and also rearwards and run into the boot area (again another common rot spot)

With your car having a vinyl roof, it may be difficult to find, but a small bead of sealant should do the trick. The area around the windscreen before the vinyl starts is a good first check.

MC

Personally I would recommend a more aggressive approach. I used a wire bush on a drill to remove all the failed paint, sealant and corrosion in the gutter. Treated the corrosion, primed and repainted it. I know that is a lot more work but I have doubts about applying sealant over paint/sealant that has failed or over corrosion.

[Dolomitejohn]

Hi gents. Thanks for the ideas. I am pretty sure there is no rot, but dry seams might be a cause but pretty surevtheybwere over sealed in 2002 before the respray.
I will somehow seal the wiper spindles (I think the black washers have hardend slightly) and then get the hose pipe out. Such fun...

[cleverusername]

Hi gents. Thanks for the ideas. I am pretty sure there is no rot, but dry seams might be a cause but pretty surevtheybwere over sealed in 2002 before the respray.
I will somehow seal the wiper spindles (I think the black washers have hardend slightly) and then get the hose pipe out. Such fun...

I didn't think mine had much rot and I was wrong. It isn't easy to spot, especially if the dash and the parcel shelf is still in the car.

If water has been getting in behind the windscreen or into the A-post, it will do damage eventually.

[Richard the old one]

Do please tell us if you do find the source of the leak.