TheSamba.com :: View topic - Winshield leaking, water going into heater channel...

Wed Feb 02, 2005 10:41 am

I recently discovered that my 65's winshield was weeping water to the inside, down the defrost tube and down into the heater channel. This has formed some rusty water and surface rust that I can see through the sliding cover that shoots heat at your feet. Other than obviously installing a new seal, what would you folks recommend I spray in there to kill any possible rust from continuing after I dry it out?
The car is super solid with no bubbles at all in the hinges or heater channels, so this has not been happening for long. I definitely want to stop any of that surface stuff inside from continuing. My buddies say that the Ospho is crap in humid prone areas like the heater channels.

Wed Feb 02, 2005 11:27 am

There are weep holes in the bottom corner of the windshield that allow a little water to trickle in as well but it goes down the trunk jamb and into the heater channel. 64+ cars w/sunroof also drain water here as well so it is not unusual to see moisture along the bottom of the heater channels. In your case you have a leak into the inner heater "tube"
This may seem a little extreme but here's what I had to do to flush out mouse nests. I'd think you'd do the same if you wanted to clean out the heater channels & tubes really good. I'm not sure what year VW started this, but in most bugs, the very rear end of the heater channel right at the torsion tube had a round plug in it that is a press fit and then seam sealer brushed over it until it doesn't even show. In my two 2004 Mexican cars they simply have a metal plug snaped in from the outside with a little black tar gooped on.
Get the plug out, then open up a hole in the front just small enough to get a small hose in and then I'd flush it all out with clean water while the nose of the car is as high in the air as you can get it. The problem you have however is the water / rust / junk is in the heater tube where my mice nests were not just the heater channel but in the tube.
You need to take apart the Y pipe under the back seat and take the heat tube off between the heat exchanger and the body and then channel the water to flow out of the car through the heat tube hole. Force water into the louvers up front and let it drain out the back, then do the heater channels.
Dry it out either by leaving it all, forcing air in the channels or driving w/the heat on. I'd then go after it with POR-15 thinned a little and an undercoating wand to reach WAY in. Then reassemble.
The problem is if you don't clean all the loose crap out by taking it all apart the POR-15 will seal all the crap in and lead to accelerated problems.

If you got the leak fixed and blew into the louvers with compressed air to get the sediment moved and dried and maybe get in there with a bottle brush them more compressed air, I don't see a big problem maybe just POR-15 the localized area as i'd assume most of the water that came down the defroster hose would have made it's way out the front louvers not all the way down the tube.

Thu Feb 03, 2005 3:25 am

thanks very much for the advice I have the exact same problem on my '60 .. didn't think it was to bad until we had HUGE amounts of rain last night and came out to car to find big wet puddles surrounding the heater vents..

People suggested to me to replace windscreen seal and squirt fish oil down there which is meant to seal against rust.. but I was wondering whether it was alright to do that without removing the rust that was in there first..

Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:21 pm

Mon Feb 07, 2005 8:01 pm

do any of you with this problem hear a "sloshing" kind of sound sometimes when you drive too? i've been trying to figure our what it is on mine (just heard it after a big rain + i need new seals) and maybe this is it!!

Tue Feb 08, 2005 2:05 am

.. i've also recently heard sloshing noises! Usually I just assume its petrol in the tank.. I've had the car open for the last couple of days to help it dry out but I'm sure there's still water trapped in there..

Also with the fish oil thing.. apart from spraying it down the windshield holes and into the door pillar... should I also spray it into all the heater vents?

Tue Feb 08, 2005 2:46 am

anyone ever tried "redesigning" the heater channels?

i mean, if you live in a place where you don't need to use heaters, the heater channels are just another part vulnerable to rust. my heater channels are shot, and so are my side members and floorpan.

instead of just having them repaired or replaced, i'm thinking of removing them altogether and installing something that does not accumulate water, or at least, drains water immediately.

Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:25 am

heater channels are an intragal part of the body, also the point at which the body mounts to the chassis so I don't see how you'll live without them. Later models have two drain holes in the heater channels one in front of the door, one to the rear. When replacing them, welding damages the paint inside them. I've had good luck POR-15ing the inside by pouring / sloshing (what a mess) and letting it dry well. After welding to the car I make a round hole at the rear and run a long undercoating wand way up to the front and give it a nice even shot of yellow gooey wax based body sealer as used on late model VWs. My '04 Mexi even came factory with this done to it.

Tue Feb 08, 2005 5:38 pm

is that gooey wax sealer readily available?

Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:02 pm

Hi Glandnut,
The only way to stop the water and thusly the rust is to cut out the old windshield seal, remove all rust and weld up all holes in the windshield frame. VW used a sealant to seal the windshield seal to the body. We use roofing tar on our VWs to seal this area by painting on a thin coat. Not only does it seal well, but it repels rust, and lubricates the seal as you pull it into place. Then wipe up the excess with kerosene or a non-abrasive hand cleaner.
Not doing this resulted in our replacing windshield seal about every 6 months or less to try to keep out the rain in our PNW of USA. Since using roofing tar, have over ten years of no leaks in our VWs!
Eric&Barb