Another day, another leak.
This time, however, it’s been sorted. And it’s not what I originally thought it was.
To be fair, it wasn’t so much letting water in as letting the outside air rushing in.
Summer time wasn’t so much of a problem, because it was warm. The only real pain in the backside was the noise.
(and let’s be honest… old Landys aren’t exactly known for their silent ride – and that’s without added wind noise)
It was a bit like the window was cracked open a bit. Annoying but not the end of the world.
And I’d had previous attempts at sorting it, but never got it right.
The rear right side door seal was obviously a bit duff because that’s where it was. But not amount of poking around could sort it.
Did you know, the door seals are hollow? I didn’t, until a forced a length of cable down it so as to expand it out thus curing any bad seal.
Turns out it wasn’t that. Either that or I needed to force a load more cable inside the seal.
Funny thing was, after messing around trying to expand the seal, then hosing it down to see if it still lets water in, and then having to mop the interior up yet again, it dawned on me maybe it wasn’t the seal.
(I’ve even adjusted the door hinge slightly, to pull the door tight shut – but no bueno on that fix, either.)
Here’s how I was unscientifically testing to see where the leak was…
Tucking a length of ‘blue roll’ in the top of the window and then blasting it with a hose. The idea being, where the leak was would show up with water on the blue roll…
…which didn’t turn out so well.
Several attempts later and it still hadn’t gone according to plan. I was either in the wrong place or the leak was everywhere (which it wasn’t)
Then I noticed it…
The window seal (the felt channel the window slides up and down in) at the rear of the window (next to the quarter light glass) had a massive gap at the top. The felt channel had slid a third of the way down into the door.
A flat ended screwdriver prized it out, I gave it a good yank upwards, then refitted the felt seal back into the frame.
Now the same needed to be done with the top seal, because it’d somehow moved out of place and left a decent sized gap at the top of the window.
After a bit of messing around, and a few failed attempts, it was job done. A blast with the hose pipe, and a blast up the road, proved that neither water nor air can get in.
No more wind noise and no more cold air on my neck.
All that time and thought given to what was ‘obviously’ the problem turns out wasn’t the actual problem.
I’d use the phrase ‘think outside the box’ but nobody wants to hear corporate speak here. But it makes a good point…
…things aren’t always as they seem. And if at first you don’t succeed, start digging around other stuff. Or something like that.
Old Landys Rule!
Phil.