Hi everyone,
Just in the middle of insulating my T6 van and noticed a cup size amount puddle of water in the inside of the rear quarter panel cavity on the passenger side. The arrow on one of the photos shows where it is when you are inside the van and where it is on the outside of the van.
The cause of the water ingress is the rear quarter panel pressure vents. The perimeter seal on the pressure vents is not good enough and rain water seeps behind it. When the water gets into this space it sits there for a long time and if not dealt with, it will cause serious corrosion damage.
I have seen this when I did a T5 up a few years ago. One side had lost a lot of metal and had to be welded.
Removing the pressure vents is difficult. They fit in the space with clips and are easy to put in but annoyingly hard to remove. Mine were already falling apart (plastic was very brittle) and this is a 2017 van. In the end, I had to contend with them breaking apart as I got them off.
A thumb size area of rust was developing on the driver's side cavity so to be sure on this I cleaned it up and sprayed Dinitrol 3125 cavity wax inside the cavity as you can see in the photo. Make sure you get to all the internal edges. You could use Waxoyl or similar. I just prefer Dinitrol as it works very well to slow down the corrosion rate.
When the new pressure vents arrive I will fix them to the bodywork using Soudal Fix All on the rubber seals. This will stop rain water getting behind the seal.
If only VW used a better rubber seal it would be much better!
I will see if my local VW dealer can get them in for me quickly.
The VW part number is 7E0819181 and this part is also fitted on the T5 and other VW vehicles.
It's actually a good idea to remove the bumper every few years to remove accumulated mess that ends up there.
Removing the rear bumper is not too tricky. Take your time and go steady with the plastic. I cut my hand up quite badly so make sure you wear some decent gloves!
Just in the middle of insulating my T6 van and noticed a cup size amount puddle of water in the inside of the rear quarter panel cavity on the passenger side. The arrow on one of the photos shows where it is when you are inside the van and where it is on the outside of the van.
The cause of the water ingress is the rear quarter panel pressure vents. The perimeter seal on the pressure vents is not good enough and rain water seeps behind it. When the water gets into this space it sits there for a long time and if not dealt with, it will cause serious corrosion damage.
I have seen this when I did a T5 up a few years ago. One side had lost a lot of metal and had to be welded.
Removing the pressure vents is difficult. They fit in the space with clips and are easy to put in but annoyingly hard to remove. Mine were already falling apart (plastic was very brittle) and this is a 2017 van. In the end, I had to contend with them breaking apart as I got them off.
A thumb size area of rust was developing on the driver's side cavity so to be sure on this I cleaned it up and sprayed Dinitrol 3125 cavity wax inside the cavity as you can see in the photo. Make sure you get to all the internal edges. You could use Waxoyl or similar. I just prefer Dinitrol as it works very well to slow down the corrosion rate.
When the new pressure vents arrive I will fix them to the bodywork using Soudal Fix All on the rubber seals. This will stop rain water getting behind the seal.
If only VW used a better rubber seal it would be much better!
I will see if my local VW dealer can get them in for me quickly.
The VW part number is 7E0819181 and this part is also fitted on the T5 and other VW vehicles.
It's actually a good idea to remove the bumper every few years to remove accumulated mess that ends up there.
Removing the rear bumper is not too tricky. Take your time and go steady with the plastic. I cut my hand up quite badly so make sure you wear some decent gloves!
