2002 Roadtrek 190 Versatile - 11/6/23 - Front Window Leak

[kurtfranz]

Found a leak in the front top right side of the roof where the windshield meets the roof line just to the right of bracket that attaches the visor to the ceiling.

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I noticed it when I saw small drops of water on the door panel and the dashboard. I touched the headliner and it was like a wet sponge. My first thought was that the windshield was leaking. The PO has really "lathered" on the clear silicone sealer around the entire window roof seam, so I figured that was a problem area. In order to get to the root of the issue, I removed all of the silicone sealant and cleaned the are around the entire windshield where it meets the roof line.

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This took some effort as silicone is actually tough to remove as the "residue" remains and has to be removed. I carefully used a razor blade and elbow grease to get it all off. Then I masked off the Fiberglas top and applied a neat bead of black adhesive sealer around the entire windshield - all the way down both pillars to the hood cowl. I wanted to be certain that I did not miss anything.

I let this cure for a day then got the garden hose and proceeded to give it a good test. I figured that I would be good to go, but to my displeasure it was exactly the same as before. Obviously the leak originated some place else and I was kind of stumped. Then I realized that the only other place that water could enter was via the "gutter" where the Fiberglas top meets the van. There is a seal there and when I checked it out I noticed a small hairline crack that ran intermittently along the entire gutter/channel. As a test, i put some small shop towels in the gutter and hosed it down. No leaking, until the towels were saturated.

Now that the source was identified and the corrective action could be taken, I had to remove the awning so I could access the gutter/channel so the sealer could be applied.......

More to come .....