The quest for a leak proof top begins

[Whoomba]

I finally decided to dive in to repairing the water management bag / folding top drain. The top has been leaking for awhile. Both sides, below the front drain have leaks. The part isn’t available anymore (GM sucks) and the dealer wouldn’t touch it (not so crazy about him anymore either) so the only choice is to fix it DYI. Got the top off and checked it out first, the way the water bag is installed is terrible. It’s all wrinkled up and just kinda wadded in. And why is the front drain not the lowest point?

I put a light under it and you can see the light shining through the holes.

I have the Kent products recommended in the SB to patch it. I’d like to figure out how to do away with all the folds and raise the bottom up so it flows into the drain instead of puddling. The inside edge moves up and down with the top so it needs to flex but it’s not much. “Jump out there stark nekked” as my brother says.

[Whoomba]

Took it out today to do some planning. There’s several folds on top of each other and the section right around the drain is very brittle. The rest of it is flexible. I decided to cut the inner folds so it would lay flatter. Made a last to shape it around, coated the seams and the holes with the sealer, worked in a piece of fiber glass mat and we wait. It has a 16 hour cure time so I guess I’ll do the inside tomorrow.

[Whoomba]

Got a flashlight and shone it through the bag. Everywhere there was a wrinkle was a crack. The material is brittle. More patches. Going to fill it with water today.

[Whoomba]

Bench leak test pass and back in the car leak test pass. The main areas where it was leaking was by the two front drains and on the corners, both areas wadded up, wrinkled and cracked. The water from the area by the front drains ends up in the back floor board and the water from the corners ends up in the battery well fyi. I put this on here because when I did a search I didn’t find any info on these. Now to put it back together.

[joekono]

Great post!!. The "battery well" comment makes me nervous because I just changed the battery for the first time (it's a 2014 at 53600 miles). It was dry when I pulled the battery out but I noticed a bit of water in there when I went back to put in some Dynamat. Although, I'd rather have a bad new battery and just replace it than a have a leak. Good work!!

[Whoomba]

Got the top back on the car and waiting for rain. I washed it twice and hosed it down one other time. Water came in the passenger door when I had something stuck in the rubber along the window. I did see that other SB talked about that. I thought I had that part fixed. Time to take the door panel off again.

[Whoomba]

I’m calling the top good. Now to the doors.
This spot at the front of the window wasn’t putting enough pressure on the door so I pushed a piece of backer rod up it.

The piece of strip that’s on the vent window wasn’t making good contact either. I pushed a piece of tube up the area in blue and a small piece of backer rod up the piece in red.

This one posted sideways. This is the rubber piece between the door and the inner door panel. It’s supposed to stop the water from running down the inside of the door into the cab. It doesn’t. It’s got a sticky strip in the wrong spot. I added a strip along the edge of the metal opening so the water ran down in the door to weep holes at the bottom.

Looks like it’s working.

[Whoomba]

I still had some water from the drivers door. Took it apart again and found this.
It’s not at the bottom where I suspected. It ran down above the speaker and still managed to find an opening.

Added another piece of the 3M Strip-caulk along the edge of the metal and good to go, I think for the last time. We’ll they’re sideways again but anyway.

[Whoomba]

I’m calling it done. I put it back together today.