Water Leak Rear Pillar by Tailgate

[It_was_all_yellow]

First time away in the van in sunny Wales where it’s been raining everyday!

While thats not an issue for us, the van seems to not love this weather!

In the middle of the night we had a few drips come in from around the roof crossmember and N/S rear pillar.

I checked the next morning and found loads of built up muck in the top of the open tailgate so thought that could have been the cause.

It’s now pouring with rain again now and while the drip from the top seems to have stopped, the drip from the side has continued.

The attached picture shows in red where the water is. The green is where I’ve now put a bin bag over the seal.

It seems like the water is just appearing in the lining!? I've looked at other posts and seen holes in this area. I can feel the highest one through the lining and its not wet.

The vehicle is sitting slightly to the N/S so more water is going to that corner. I’ve looked at the seal and can‘t believe anything would get through it as there’s no movement at all. Could it be the hinge to the tailgate?

If my bin bag seal holds the water back, what should I be looking at to fix this?

This is my first van but I did have a Defender so I’m used to water leaks!

 

[Spaghetti]

Check the bolt holes/roof rail mounts as they have been known to leak.

If you’ve got a poptop, check around the hinge mounting plates.

 

[drinfinity]

Mine leaked in that area after I fitted the carpet. I had banged the door seal on too vigorously. I pulled the seal out away from the van a little all the way round, and it seals fine now.

 

[It_was_all_yellow]

Thanks for the tip! It does feel like the seal has been welded on so I’ll have another look at that when the rain stops…which by the forecast is sometime tomorrow

 

[It_was_all_yellow]

Seems it’s coming from the tailgate side!

The curtains are soaked and I can literally see water running down the inside of the tailgate on the lining.

 

[It_was_all_yellow]

Ok….

so I couldn’t stand watching water running into the van so I had to get out and have a look!

what I found was so simple and ridiculous I couldn’t believe it!

On the tailgate side, it seems when they did the conversion and lined it, they lined it too far across so the lining was past the seal and slowly soaking up all the water!

Then on to the van side…. I did notice before that the seal was very tight.

The reason for this was because once again the lining had been carried across the lip of the seal to the ‘outside’!! Once again slowly acting like a sponge and bring water inside the van!

I’ve now stripped the lining from the seal and have duct taped the tailgate side as a temp fix so let’s see how that works out.

I’m soaked but confident this was the issue so hopefully worth it! Watch this space!

 

[DXX]

Who did the lining? Maybe they were allowing for a future upgrade to LWB?

 

[It_was_all_yellow]

It was done by a company who I believe are no longer in business!

The conversion was done well…maybe this was just an oversight

 

[It_was_all_yellow]

Found some extra leaks around the sliding door, front passenger door and discovered the limit for the pop top before that starts leaking! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯