Door Seal Air Leak

[Dan_public]

On our TS, the upper portion of front door seal seems to have an air leak. The air leak is a bit noticeable at speeds over 50mph and gets fairly load at about 58mph.

I'll post closeup pics when I get home, but this is the upper portion of the door seal closest to the windshield. I.e. the upper portion that angles back. You can see this in the pic below.

Notice that the seal in the vertical portion sticks out slightly from the door and is a bit whitish at the bottom. This portion is fine. No air leaks.

Now look at the angled portion of the door seal. It's not obvious from the pic, but it's in shadow because the seal is not squashed flush with the door when closed. This is where the air leak is occurring.

Has anyone experienced this? How did you fix this? Is this a door adjustment? Does it need a new seal?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks and regards,

Dan.

p.s. One of the nice things about a DP is that they are so quiet at speed. That is, except for the air leak. The overall quiet coach makes the air leak very noticeable.

[Dale F]

On my 06 Select there's a Teflon piece that is air actuated when the parking brake is released. That Teflon piece goes up an leverages a pin that is on the door to wedge the door inward to reduce air noise. I had to adjust the pin in the door because the Teflon was not engaging properly. Depends on your door, but this could be a possibility. Do a search on the travel supreme site and you'll see a few ways to fix it.

[Dan_public]

Originally Posted by Dale F

On my 06 Select there's a Teflon piece that is air actuated when the parking brake is released. That Teflon piece goes up an leverages a pin that is on the door to wedge the door inward to reduce air noise. I had to adjust the pin in the door because the Teflon was not engaging properly. Depends on your door, but this could be a possibility. Do a search on the travel supreme site and you'll see a few ways to fix it.

Dale,

Thanks. I'll give it a look tomorrow.

Regards

Dan.

[La-Z-Boy]

Dan,
I have had the same problem in the past.
The Teflon wedge loosely wanders from the outer edge of the door Jam to the inner edge. If it is on the inner edge, when you release the parking brake, then it is driven up on the wrong side of the post on the door. Causing the door to be pushed outward instead of drawn in snugly. Try taking your finger and moving the wedge to the outermost position before you close the door, and that should solve the problem.
Hope this helps, good luck

[Dan_public]

Hi. I got some new pics on the door sealing issue. It turns out that it may be a combination of issues.

In the first pic below, you can see that the door seal completely seals the gap between the door and the door frame on the lower half of the door, but does not on the upper half. (The lower half is bleached from the sun.) I'm pretty sure that's part of it.

The next pic shows a closeup of the door from the inside. Now that I look at this, I'm wondering if the bottom half of the door actually has two separate seals - one that you see from the inside and one that you see from the outside. I'll take a look this Friday. (We're heading for Long Beach WA for a long weekend. Yeah!)

The third pic shows a top view of the inside. I don't know what that rubber patch 1/2 way down is for.

The next pic is a closeup of the door "buttons". I think this is related to the remote locking system, but I'm not sure. Remote locking is another issue I'm having, but that's a different post.

The fifth and sixth pics show the door locking mechanism. This may be related to the issue because the door locking mechanism is weird. At least to me. The door has two locking mechanisms:

• A deadbolt that comes out of the door and goes into the striker plate in the door frame. This can be locked manually with a lever on the door and (I believe) when you click the lock button on the remote control.

• A claw-like mechanism in the door (pic 5) that closes around the bolt that sticks out of the door frame (pic 6).

Where this gets odd is that the bolt sticking out of the door frame slides up and down. If the bolt is not moved down, the claw in the door can't grip it properly when the door is closed and then the door is loose. It latches, but it's loose.

I'm wrestling with this trying to figure out what's happening, but one possibility is that the door frame slides down and cause the door to be come loose after the coach is moving.

If it sounds like I'm perplexed, it's because I am. I have NO experience with door locks, much less RV door locks.

Do any of you nice folks have this kind of setup? Should the bolt in the door frame move up and down? Is the door seal in the upper part of the door messed up? Part of it missing?

Any suggestions or info would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks,

Dan.

p.s. Yes there are two screws in the door striker plate that are broken off. It's not clear, but I think that the installer over-torqued the screws. Last weekend, while examining the plate, I noticed that two screws looked loose. I took a screwdriver and tried to hand tighten them. After a gentle turn, the heads snapped off! Given this and a couple of other over torqued screws I've encountered, it may be that part of the air leak issue is due to the a poor remote lock installation.

Door seal from the outside:


Closeup of door seal from the inside:


Top view of the inside:


Closeup of Door "Buttons":


Close up of door locking mechanism:


Closeup of door frame locking mechanism:

[rsflight]

We had air noise issues. I traced it back to the old rubber gasket on the main door. As the rubber aged it took a set that allowed air leaks. Use a 1" wide piece of paper and close the door onto it. If the paper pulls out easily, the gasket isn't sealing properly. Try this at many places to determine the extent of the gasket leakage.

I solved the noise problem by adding a rubber shim to make up for the compression lost in the old gasket. I placed a 1/8" thick adhesive backed rubber strip on the body door frame sealing surface. This is now on 3 of the 4 perimeter sealing surfaces. Now even in the strongest cross winds, the door is tight & quiet. The down side is that it takes extra effort to latch the door completely. The other option is to replace the entire door seal with a new one from the door manufacturer at greater cost. Leaky car doors are tested and shimmed in a similar manner.

[4x4crazy]

I think Dale is correct. Make sure that the pin at the top front of door is actually engaging. I had to adjust it out and that took care of the problem. You may have to add to the pin. This has been discussed in the TS forum. Check it out.

[Dan_public]

Originally Posted by 4x4crazy

I think Dale is correct. Make sure that the pin at the top front of door is actually engaging. I had to adjust it out and that took care of the problem. You may have to add to the pin. This has been discussed in the TS forum. Check it out.

Dale and 4x4,

I don't see a pin. Where is the pin exactly?

Thanks,

Dan.

[Dan_public]

Originally Posted by rsflight

We had air noise issues. I traced it back to the old rubber gasket on the main door. As the rubber aged it took a set that allowed air leaks. Use a 1" wide piece of paper and close the door onto it. If the paper pulls out easily, the gasket isn't sealing properly. Try this at many places to determine the extent of the gasket leakage.

I solved the noise problem by adding a rubber shim to make up for the compression lost in the old gasket. I placed a 1/8" thick adhesive backed rubber strip on the body door frame sealing surface. This is now on 3 of the 4 perimeter sealing surfaces. Now even in the strongest cross winds, the door is tight & quiet. The down side is that it takes extra effort to latch the door completely. The other option is to replace the entire door seal with a new one from the door manufacturer at greater cost. Leaky car doors are tested and shimmed in a similar manner.

Bob,

I'll give this a try too.

Thanks,

Dan.

[4x4crazy]

It looks like a 1/4" bolt sticking out from the front door jamb next to the front window. It is about head height. It's not quit long enough for a good seal. I actually drilled a hole in in the center of the pin then installed some washers and a screw to hold them in place. It added about 1/4" which took care of the problem. Mine was a 06 select so yours could be different.

[Dan_public]

Originally Posted by 4x4crazy

It looks like a 1/4" bolt sticking out from the front door jamb next to the front window. It is about head height. It's not quit long enough for a good seal. I actually drilled a hole in in the center of the pin then installed some washers and a screw to hold them in place. It added about 1/4" which took care of the problem. Mine was a 06 select so yours could be different.

4x4,

I don't see anything that looks like this. Thanks anyway.

Dan.