Rear Airfoil Removal

[Dale777]

Does anyone know the procedure for removing the rear airfoil? How do you get access to the bolts/screws holding it in place? I need to remove it to get access to the entry point for the wires from the airfoil, since I think I have a water leak at that point.

[Dale777]

Does anyone know the procedure for removing the rear airfoil? How do you get access to the bolts/screws holding it in place? I need to remove it to get access to the entry point for the wires from the airfoil, since I think I have a water leak at that point.

[zinom]

Dale, the spoiler is connected to their brackets by pop rivets under the clearance light lenses. You will have to remove the two screws holding the lenses then you'll see the pop rivet heads and will need to drill them out. BUT, before you go through that be sure the leak isn't coming from somewhere else. On my '05 the wires come out through holes in the end cap at the left and right vertical surface of the spoiler. It appears that all that is below those holes (which are plugged with caulk) is the engine compartment and nothing interior to the coach. I had a leak into the bedroom; which was easily corrected by resealing the connection between the end cap and the roof with lap sealant. Good luck. Matt

[Jim A]

The spoiler is not sealed in any way. The clearance lights are not sealed, and neither are the pop rivets. Or the pop rivets that hold the brackets to the top of the cap. My backup camera wires go into an open hole with no sealing whatsoever. All of these go into the engine compartment. The wires may be potted, but that is probably more for strain relief than sealing. Even if the wire seal leaks (and it probably does), it would leak into the engine compartment, not the inside of the coach.

I agree with Matt, that the end cap seal is the more likely cause of a leak in that area. The caulking on mine was badly cracked. Both end caps were very poorly caulked. So was the caulking around my unused satellite radio antenna, which I believe was the cause of my remaining leak.

That said, I should mention I was almost a member of the lost spoiler club. If you are looking around that area anyway, look for cracks on the spoiler brackets. They will be where the bracket is bent at a sharp 90° angle where it attaches to the spoiler.

[Dale777]

Thanks for the suggestions about the airfoil. The leak I have is in the PS rear-most corner of the bedroom. The leak is still there in a driving rain, even after I re-caulked the rear end-cap. I scraped out the old caulk, and applied new caulk, but still have the leak. I'm now looking for any other entry point. I have a rear ladder installed by the factory, so I wonder if the attachment points might be a place for a leak?

[dgerstel]

The 2 uppermost attachments are over the inside of the coach.

[SteveS]

Dale - My money's on the ladder hold down points on the roof. The problem can't be from the wires to the clearance lights. You might also make certain something isn't coming in through the air conditioning and running along the top, between the insulation and roof, and showing up at the rear before it manages to seep through. Good luck.

[zinom]

Dale, the leak on mine apeared as a puddle on the street-side nightstand (right rear corner) and we cleaned and recaulked both the end cap connection and the two ladder sockets; so the leak could have beeen from either. When you put the lap sealer over the ladder sockets be sure to let it cover the whole thing and seep into the crack where the ladder actually goes into the socket. As a member of the lost spoiler club also, do check the spoiler brackets. Again - good luck. Matt

[jams001]

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[Retiredfields]

I had three broken screws which hold the molding in place, over the joint between the sidewall and the endcap. Mine was in the upper area, near the roof and I ended up with a puddle of water on the bedroom nightstand. I tried caulking, but that did not solve the leak. I pried up the plastic cover, over the moulding, and replaced the three broken screws with stainless steel screws of a larger size.

Problem solved. It appears that when the sun heated that area, the thermal expansion broke the screws head off. The only thing visible from the outside was a small bulge in the trim covering the joint.

For those of you with cracked caulking, of which I had plenty (I don't know where WRV came up with that stuff), "Kool Seal" does a great job. It is water based, comes in a large tube for a caulking gun, cheap, and adheres to anything. I re-covered all of the roof joints that WRV did.