Cabriolet Roof Seal Gasket?

Hi

I have a 1989 clipper cabriolet and I have a leak on both sides where the roof seals above the door meet which is dripping water onto the front seats.

I have read the buying guide posted on the website and on page 12 it mentions that there should be a small gasket where the roof seals meet, but I cannot find any reference to these gaskets anywhere.

Does anyone know what the part number is or whether I have just misunderstood?

Many thanks

Pete

I have an 89 clipper with the same problem.

I thought it was due to the actual roof seals, perishing/ becoming deformed. But haven't spent a lot of time looking at it. Just closed the door quickly and only open the window if its dry.

il have a look sometime and workout the problem.

its just a length of foam strip sandwiched between the metal seal holder and the roof. vw still sell them but i just bought a big roll of draft excluder stuff off ebay. iirc it was 3mm thick, maybe 5mm?

but carefully lift the roof fabric up first and take a peek inside the roof frame U section. if its wet in there its your roof that has gone porous not those seals

I had the roof replaced about 7 years ago and it has been off road in storage for the last 6, so fairly sure the roof is not pourous it certainly still looks like new,  but thanks for the pointer I will be out with the hosepipe to check!

What seems to be happening is that water is getting in at the handle end and then running along the inside of the first seal and then dripping where it meets the 2nd seal. The buying guide implies there is a small gasket between the 1st and 2nd seal, which I do not remember it ever being there and I have owned the car for nearly 20 years!

Regards

Pete

ah, ive seen it recommended that the foam strips i mention above are left slightly long and folded up, this helps stop that. on my cab i had nothing there and it didnt leak from that point, just thru the gaskets and finally thru the roof itself! what it was on mine the sewn seam along the edge was actually a real seam, and it had a strip of fabric bonded underneath to seal. this had come away and was letting water thru. the replacement roof i bought this seam was fake and moulded into the roof fabric instead

on the front rubber seal there is a line of mastic in between the seal holder and the rubber seal from the front to around half way down

I have just lifted the hood as you suggested and I can see the foam between the roof and the frame, looks as though it has probably had it.  I just checked the invoice and there is no mention of new gaskets, so I guess the ones on their are probably original.

Was it a fairly easy job to replace them? I think I have the part number now (155871431), do you know how this differs from the draft excluder you mentioned?

cool should be an easy fix, i remember now on my cab i geve the seals a slight tug at the ends so they would sit together snug in the gaps if that makes sense?

for fitment its simple, carefully tease out your rubbers from the holders, then there are some screws to undo and thats it. only tricky thing is if you look at each end of the seal carriers there are little plastic clips, so you have to take care when pulling the seals you dont snap them. what ui do is start in the middle then you can slide them out from under the clips.

as for the vw part above, the only difference really is mine came on a big roll, vw stuff comes in lengths of 560mm by the looks of it. oh and my stuff was grey, dont know what colour vw ones are

Thanks mate, looking at what I can see of the seals they are brown, but they could just be rotted!

Job for the weekend, if the weather holds :-)

Cheers

Pete

Just an update, managed to get 6 new seals from VW and fitted them at the weekend and it seems to have done the job.

On removal it appears the seals were not replaced when the hood was done and the seals were missing from the first 6 inches of the roof, so no surprise it was leaking.

Thanks for all your help!

hello!

I've not been on here in a while, but thought I would post here as I am experiencing exactly the same issue ('89 clipper cabriolet) where water leaks in at the handles. I've read through all the entries on this page and can understand in principle what I need to do, but a quick breakdown-for-dummies would be hugely appreciated : )

I'm thinking that I'll order the gasket bits and use the silicone mentioned in this thread: http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=bodywork-fittings-and_2%2Fclassic-door-leak-cabrio

Self-maintenance isn't exactly my strongest suit, but I'm really keen to resolve this issue whilst it's dry outside. Plus I'm thinking of taking the car with me on a permanent move to Switzerland in the summer, so need to get it sorted ASAP!

Cheers,

Alex

simples, first remove the rubber strips. to do this pull them from the middle till they come out of the slots, then slide the ends inward till they're clear of the plastic clips at the ends. then the rails are held on with a few screws

Hi

First check whether you have water onto of the frame, i.e. between the roof and the top of the metal part there is a gully there and if you have water above the metal then the roof has gone porous. You can re-seal it as a temporary fix (see bottom of this post).

To replace my gaskets, I unscrewed the Philips screw on the rubber at the front and then pushed the seal towards the front so as not to break the clip that holds the seal at the other end. Then using a screw driver I prised out the rubber from the frame starting in the middle. The rubber just sits inside the frame and comes out fairly easily.

There are then 3-4 screws that hold the frame to the roof, unscrew these and the metal frame part comes away and you should now see the old gasket.

I cleaned all this up and then used the new foam from VW (in hindsight draught excluded would probably have done the same job), at the same time I put some additional rubber inside the rubber seal, i.e. filled the insides up slightly,  as mine are original and had over the years softened, I did this to make the seal between the window and the seal better.

I then simply reconnected the metal over the top of the gasket and prised the rubber back into position.
The rear ones are the same process.

All I used was a Philips screw driver and a flat head and the whole process took about an hour.

The leak was solved, but I still get drips from behind the g clips, using a hose pipe I can see that the cause is the perished rubber across the top of the windscreen, and that is more of an issue to replace - as my Cabrio is garaged and only comes out when the sun shines, I have decided to live with it and carry a towel for the front passenger seat if I park it anywhere it might rain.

As a side note, I used a 303 hood cleaner from Polished Bliss and then the 303 hood sealer for Vinyl, just in case the roof had gone porous, looks good and should protect the roof for a while. If you are going to Switzerland, then it might be worth giving Richard at Polished Bliss a bell as you will need to consider sealing the roof to deal with the winters over there.

Cheers

Pete

You run the risk of splitting or going through the seal with a screwdriver.

Apply sillicone around the front screw hole and backwards about 2 inches, before you refit the rubber seal. Leave the Gasket hanging over the edges and fold up over the rubber seal edges, this take sup any gap between them.



Next you may need to adjust the roof J hooks to pull the hood down onto the header seal better.



Make sure the A pillar drip rails that run down the sides of  the windscreen are aligned properly.
Apply some silicone under the lower edge of the header seal



make sure the hood is properly aligned at the corners.

what non setting mastic do you normally use chortle?

Just use silicone sealant.

I need to re do the windscreen top seal on mine, it has some non setting stuff on 

Just use silicone sealant fella.
Roof and gutter sealant has been used as it non sets, but can be messy.
I would just use sillo to be honest.

Just mask off under the edge before hand.

Can anyone please tell me the width and approximate thickness the foam seals should be?I remember doing this a few years ago on another cabby and bought the pukka seals from VW but it wasnt anything special and this time I'm just going to buy self-adhesive neoprene off Ebay.Car is in paintshop otherwise I could have measured my own.
Thanks
Mick

my stuff was 25mm wide, and 4mm ish thick

Thanks for that!