Water Leak Mystery

[Polishilldav]

I have a 2017 Thor Aria 3601. When the bedroom slide is in I am getting rain water leaking in the coach.
It seems to be running down the bottom Syntech gear rack and dripping on the floor.
I have caulked around the holes in the gear rack but have not solved the issued. I have also installed new tube seals on the outside of that slide...still no luck.
Looking for ideas.

[NRF]

Originally Posted by Polishilldav

I have a 2017 Thor Aria 3601. When the bedroom slide is in I am getting rain water leaking in the coach.
It seems to be running down the bottom Syntech gear rack and dripping on the floor.
I have caulked around the holes in the gear rack but have not solved the issued. I have also installed new tube seals on the outside of that slide...still no luck.
Looking for ideas.

Does this happen after it has rained and you pull in the slide? If so, it is because water is standing on top of the slide and then drips inside once the slide is retracted. If it happens when it rains outside but the slide is in, then the seals have a breach and I would suggest the ol' garden hose test after inspecting the seals, especially where two pieces of seal come together.

[TXiceman]

Check the upper corners of the slide cut out.

Ken

[Teblues]

I have the same year, make, and model, and had the same problem. It was driving me crazy. I caulked everything I could see, put in additional gaskets, and it still leaked. Finally, I caulked the trim on the outside of the slide and that solved it. Water was getting behind the trim and into the slide. It then would run down the tubing into the bedroom. There is supposed to be caulk inside the corner of the slide to prevent this from happening, but many times during manufacturing it gets left out. I did take mine back to Wakarusa and told them my problem, and they knew right away what was wrong. They recaulked all the slides and everything else on the sides. No water leak since then.
My coach is at the dealer waiting for a new PDM or I would have taken pictures.

[Polishilldav]

Thanks for the input. I put all new seals on the outside of the slide because one was cut short and have slipped down creating a gap at the top of one side.
I did not however caulk. Have you caulked in the track that the outer blub seal slides into? If so, I caulked at the top of each side as we are due to get rain tomorrow. If this works I will do the rest of the verticals, ran out of time today.

[Teblues]

Yes, I did. Make sure trim on the outside is caulked also.

[Polishilldav]

Well my short term fix didn't work. Rained last night and slides leaked.

So I am headed to Florida next week and when I get settles I will pull out the vertical blub seals and caulk the track and slide back in. I will also caulk around the outside trim piece.

If you have time to send some of your pics I would appreciate it.

[Teblues]

My coach is still at the dealer waiting to get the PDM installed. Hopefully next week, and then I will send some pictures.

[TheDustyGeek]

I had what sounds like an identical problem on my Miramar. It happens when the slide is in and there’s a heavy enough rain. Eventually, I boiled it down to three separate problems:

1) The slide awning is too short for my sofa/dinette slide. The carefree measuring instructions clearly state how to measure, and the awning is 4” too short. This causes water running off the roof to drip onto the top bulb seal which runs down the seal and eventually finds a weak enough point it drips on top of the slide and runs to the end behind the drivers seat. This is much more pronounced if I’m parked nose down and in heavy rains. I still need to order the proper size awning to solve this one, but leveling the coach in my driveway has helped considerably.
2) A very poor sealing job on the slide windows. Both the foam seal and caulk-over sealing they apply had a gap which would allow water into the window opening, run down the wall and across the bottom of the slide to a drip point. When more nose down, this turned out to be the front and innermost corner of the slide. When more level, it would drip out of a wire hole that goes from the floor and up under my dinette seat about in the middle of the slide (and run across the floor to the same corner).
3) poorly cut (short) bulb seals left large gaps of 1” or larger at either end of the top seal.

I’ll have to check out adding some caulk (I usually use Geocel Proflex) to the top and side edges and corners of the frame area to see if that contributes at all. It wouldn’t surprise me.

Adding the larger, properly-sized awning to my bed slide (which was about 6-8” too narrow) made a huge difference on that one

I’m curious to see how this turns out for others.

[Polishilldav]

Well we got to Florida last week and before an all day rain I caulked the outside perimeter trim on all four slides. I did not caulk the seal track.
With all slides in the coach did not leak through some heavy windy rain. I am hoping this has solved the problem.
Thanks for all of the input.

DK

[triplewide]

Originally Posted by TheDustyGeek

I had what sounds like an identical problem on my Miramar. It happens when the slide is in and there’s a heavy enough rain. Eventually, I boiled it down to three separate problems:

1) The slide awning is too short for my sofa/dinette slide. The carefree measuring instructions clearly state how to measure, and the awning is 4” too short. This causes water running off the roof to drip onto the top bulb seal which runs down the seal and eventually finds a weak enough point it drips on top of the slide and runs to the end behind the drivers seat. This is much more pronounced if I’m parked nose down and in heavy rains. I still need to order the proper size awning to solve this one, but leveling the coach in my driveway has helped considerably.
2) A very poor sealing job on the slide windows. Both the foam seal and caulk-over sealing they apply had a gap which would allow water into the window opening, run down the wall and across the bottom of the slide to a drip point. When more nose down, this turned out to be the front and innermost corner of the slide. When more level, it would drip out of a wire hole that goes from the floor and up under my dinette seat about in the middle of the slide (and run across the floor to the same corner).
3) poorly cut (short) bulb seals left large gaps of 1” or larger at either end of the top seal.

I’ll have to check out adding some caulk (I usually use Geocel Proflex) to the top and side edges and corners of the frame area to see if that contributes at all. It wouldn’t surprise me.

Adding the larger, properly-sized awning to my bed slide (which was about 6-8” too narrow) made a huge difference on that one

I’m curious to see how this turns out for others.

What year and trim is your Mirimar?

[TheDustyGeek]

Originally Posted by triplewide

What year and trim is your Mirimar?

It’s a 2018 37.1.

[triplewide]

Originally Posted by TheDustyGeek

It’s a 2018 37.1.

Thanks, have not had this problem on my 2016 34.2 ..... yet.


I need to check out the awning length on mine.


Thanks for posting