Possible windshield water leak

[crankitup]

We are having a hard run today. I just happened to go out to the RV to get a measurement and found water pooling on the passenger side dash and on the floor. We have a 2017 Winnebago 27PE which is a class A. It is dripping down from the area where the windshield shade is mounted on the passenger side. First thing I thought of was that the windshield is leaking. But there is an outside running light just above the windshield on that side too. Has anyone had this problem? Any ideas where I should start to try and find the source of this leak? Thanks

[Skip426]

I just had to replace my front clearance lights for the same issue .

Cracked lens , water getting through , down the wiring and all over the dash.

[emiddleb]

I'm not familiar with your specific model, but in general, yes, if you have dash water, a marker light leak is a common cause. Water runs downhill, across level spots, always seeking the lowest point, so finding the source can be a challenge. You might have to get into the cabinets/cab above the dash to find the true source.

Also depends on how your markers are positioned on your RV. On mine, they are inset into a recess, not flat on the outside. I had a case where the leak was on the bottom of my marker light. If I was parked with the front slightly lower, the rain water ran out and down the front. If I was high in the front, the water pooled in the recess and leaked at the bottom of the light into the front cap and down on the dash.

[GCSuper]

Running lights are very often the cause. If you remove it and find it wet you'll know that's it.

[Ranger Smith]

Also in the top corner where the roof meets the front cap by the gutter. That is also a common leak area

[US1]

The marker lights on mine are recessed in the front cap and when looking at them from the inside, they are 100% sealed from any form of leakage. I did have a leak ending up on my dash a couple months ago. The plastic trim along the inside top of window was wet. In my situation, water was running down the outside front cap, and then getting behind the rubber window molding, and found an unsealed spot that allowed water to get inside. I simply removed the molding and purchased some urethane sealant from my local auto glass shop (not your box store silicone) and filled the gap between the windshield and RV frame solid with sealant, then reinstalled the molding. Hurricane proof now.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by Ranger Smith

Also in the top corner where the roof meets the front cap by the gutter. That is also a common leak area

Yes that is always a problem area, seems like Winnebago dropped the ball on design work.
I had to dig out all existing caulking, clean inside the cavity well, then I used backer rod (forget size) to create a backstop for new caulking. That was 4 years ago, no water intrusion since.

[Jim18655]

I had the same gutter problem and leak. Water got into the passenger side overhead cabinet and dripped onto the dash. I found the gutter was clogged and water backed-up and got under the roof. I re-sealed the roof to gutter joint along both sides and no more leaks.

[Wild Card]

My gutters went up tight to the front cap, which allowed water to go behind cap and leak around windshield etc. I cut my gutter/rail back 1". I then used 3M 5200 to dam the rail/channel that the roof tucks in so if water gets in the rail it can not go forward. I was only able to cut gutter part of the gutter /rail. I then drilled another weep hole in the rail to allow water to escape if it actually got in the roof radius channel.

However my issue stemmed from the fasteners/brackets and glue system WBGO used to fasten the rear of the cap, the glue failed and the corner of the cap spread...which allowed water to pour in from rain gutter.

Screws, Glues and a dremal tool with cutoff wheel has fixed the issue that was engineered to fail from the word go.

Either way you gotta pop open some areas and look/feel and find the water intrusion.

[crankitup]

Thank you all so much for the replies.When we get a nice day I'm going to take a look at some of these areas and see if I can find the source.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Ranger Smith

Also in the top corner where the roof meets the front cap by the gutter. That is also a common leak area

Super common in Winnebagos. The cap wraps back to join the roof and the sealants at the roof radius dries out and shrinks letting water in.

From there the water runs forward to the space above the seats and drips on the dash or the side arm rests.

Here's a photo of the area to check carefully. I've circled the usual culprit.



On my WBGO motorhome a small hole opened in the caulking in the center of that circled area, right where the rain drip rail ends and the cap radius starts. This fed water directly into the front cap. But only on a long rain when parked did we see any water.

I removed ALL the caulking there and replaced it with the caulking that WBGO recommends - Manus Bond 75. I forced the caulking into the space after removing the factory caulking until it oozed into the inside of the front cap. I haven't had any leaks since. I did both sides even though I only found the hole on the driver's side.

PS. this photo is not my RV it's from YouTuber "AZ EXPERT" he has a number of WBGO roof repair videos. In this video he resealed that whole area and added some screws to pull it tight, hence the sealant oozing out the bottom. And he uses ProFlex Clear Urethane rather than Manus Bon 75.

[Americanrascal]

Our 38 Q has over the years leaked like a sieve from all sorts of leaks around the front area.

I have had good results from a service center using the Sealtech system to identify leaks. May be worth a few bucks to use that.

In the end, though I have identified and resealed virtually every crack, crevice, and attachment associated with the front cap. Even though it appeared to be the cause, the windshield was never the source of water once I dug into researching and finding sources. Marker lights, antennae (both), cap to roof seam, cap to roof downturn, and each side window seal turned out to have deficient seals that had to be resealed.

[WyattBSEarp]

I’ve seen this similar post on many forums. So why, given this inherent design flaw, are so many speaking out against rubber roofs? They don’t suffer from this fiberglass “cap” anomaly...