Damp around sliding door seals?

[seth]

Got a question about the door seals, not the infamous leaking windows...

I've often noticed damp along the bottom of the inside rubber door seal on the sliding doors on my 2011 T5.1 Caravelle. I assumed it was due to the leaky window problem I'm incrementally solving, but now believe it's the seals (since the window leak problem can no longer be a cause.). When I checked in the prolonged torrential rain earlier today, there was damp on the outside of the 'outside' seals (to be expected) and on some of the side plus the bottoms of the inside of the 'inside' seals.

Cleaned and silicon greased the seals, No damage to any of them. No apparent difference to any of the tailgate or driver/passenger door seals, which don't have damp.

So far as I can tell, damp seems to be able to seap in when it's raining heavily. If the far inner seals went directly outside I'd imagine wind was driving rain in in some areas, or even just in limited places place and then capillary action spread it down and along the bottom. But there are an additional set of seals on the outside of the van.

If there were a leak in the top seal I can imagine it dripping on the inner seals then making its way around. But I can't see any damp ingress at the top when I see dampe further down though. This includes today when there's been hours of heavy rain and gale force wind.

I can't really see a way for water to get anywhere which seems likely to give the dampness along the bottom. And I can no longer get water to to drip down from the tired and leaky OEM sliding windows to cause it.

So I'm interested if other people notice this and if they have suggestions for source? Or comments on the 2 ideas I have so far for remedying - replacing the seals (sounds like the non OEM stuff on ebay is just fine), and adjusting the doors so they pull in slightly tighter (I can only see one place to do this, the lower bracket).

?


It's not enough to be a problem inside the van, although it really shouldn't be happening. I've never seen it with any other vehicle. And it's a pain when it freezes and you can't open the sliders until they thaw out!

 

[Crazymind]

I am sure I have see this discussion before here on the forum. If I remember correctly water ingress on the slider is quite common. Coming in from the rear latch area. Or from the leaky window, water dripping through the slider panel to the bottom resulting in damp in the area you have described.
You should double check as well under the side step. On my Old T5 water ingress and damp managed to create the perfect conditions for rust

 

[seth]

I am sure I have see this discussion before here on the forum. If I remember correctly water ingress on the slider is quite common. Coming in from the rear latch area. Or from the leaky window, water dripping through the slider panel to the bottom resulting in damp in the area you have described.
You should double check as well under the side step. On my Old T5 water ingress and damp managed to create the perfect conditions for rust

Thanks... couldn't find anything other than a few passing comments. Currently totally stripped out so being meticulous hunting issues down. Luckily the steps are mint. The worst this seapage has caused is long term rust marks from where paint has been abraded on the bottom of where the slider touches the seal over the years.

I've got a feeling that I am wrong about the top seal - the one that runs along the top of all the doors. Would only take one worn out/not tight enough spot and it'd have this effect, and it's quite hard to see what's dry or not when opening doors with heavy rain! Going to investigate how to adjust how tightly the doors close.

 

[Crazymind]

Replace the seal with a new one and check after a few weeks…