Slider channel water collection & premature roller failure - cured.

[Graveydogg]

Hi All. A few weeks back I had the roller on the sliding door fail / disintegrate through corrosion. Although this was only a 5 year old van, it seemed a common problem. Through searching the forum I also discovered another common problem - sliding track channel water collection. This was something I’d increasingly noticed over the three years we’ve owned our van. Looking at where the water was coming from I then realised that the outer door bottom seal was not only blocking the door’s inner drainage holes and also trapping water draining around the door into the channel. Last week I took the bold [and hopefully not foolish ] measure of cutting the bottom section of this seal at the corners and removing the bottom section and f seal. This now seems to be allowing water to drain out effectively- exactly like the cab door arrangement where the seal is discontinuous at the bottom. Is this a widespread design flaw?

 

[PhillH]

Hi @Graveydogg how have you go on with water collecting since removing the bottom seal from the door? I have the same issue.

Cheers

 

[Graveydogg]

Morning Phil. After ~ 6 months it’s definitely been a whole lot better. We live on a 1 way street so when we have to park on the right hand side it means that the camber tilts the van the ‘wrong’ way, in which case, with heavy rain, some will find its way into the bottom channel. But on the flat and when it’s parked on the other side of the road, it stays dry. Also , not having the seal there means the water can escape when the van is more level.

 

[PhillH]

Morning Phil. After ~ 6 months it’s definitely been a whole lot better. We live on a 1 way street so when we have to park on the right hand side it means that the camber tilts the van the ‘wrong’ way, in which case, with heavy rain, some will find its way into the bottom channel. But on the flat and when it’s parked on the other side of the road, it stays dry. Also , not having the seal there means the water can escape when the van is more level.

Hi @Graveydogg thank you for getting back to me. I will give this a try. Unfortunately where I park the van, rain always seems to get into the bottom channel.
Thanks again

 

[EdH]

Hi All. A few weeks back I had the roller on the sliding door fail / disintegrate through corrosion. Although this was only a 5 year old van, it seemed a common problem. Through searching the forum I also discovered another common problem - sliding track channel water collection. This was something I’d increasingly noticed over the three years we’ve owned our van. Looking at where the water was coming from I then realised that the outer door bottom seal was not only blocking the door’s inner drainage holes and also trapping water draining around the door into the channel. Last week I took the bold [and hopefully not foolish ] measure of cutting the bottom section of this seal at the corners and removing the bottom section and f seal. This now seems to be allowing water to drain out effectively- exactly like the cab door arrangement where the seal is discontinuous at the bottom. Is this a widespread design flaw? View attachment 197621

View attachment 197622

Hi, just noticed the same issue on my campervan. Any chance if you could post a photo of the "finished product" just to get a visual idea of your solution please. Have you completely removed the bottom seal? Many thanks in advance.

 

[roadtripper]

See here for a thread of ideas

Sliding door lower roller guide / channel holding water

Hi all, looking for some advice. I have an issue with the sliding door bottom roller guide / channel holding water when the door is closed. If I open the sliding door after any rain or wash then quiet a lot of water runs out. It is also casing the channel to rush. I replaced the sliding door...

www.t6forum.com

Including mine with just a small amount of dense foam

Sliding door lower roller guide / channel holding water

Hi all, looking for some advice. I have an issue with the sliding door bottom roller guide / channel holding water when the door is closed. If I open the sliding door after any rain or wash then quiet a lot of water runs out. It is also casing the channel to rush. I replaced the sliding door...

www.t6forum.com

 

[Graveydogg]

Hi, just noticed the same issue on my campervan. Any chance if you could post a photo of the "finished product" just to get a visual idea of your solution please. Have you completely removed the bottom seal? Many thanks in advance.

Hi Ed

Here’s some photos of where I cut and removed the rubber.

It’s interesting to see some similar posts elsewhere now.

Water will always get into doors eventually- that’s why all vehicles have the drainage holes. Even with buildings and their glass facades (curtain walling) these have drainage paths and holes for water to escape. But the thing with the t6 is the extra seal and rubber along the bottom is trapping the water from escaping. Take a look at the front doors and you’ll see - no rubber along the bottom.

 

[DXX]

When I first got my van (2016 MY) I pulled the plastic sliding door step out and found water underneath. Their was a longitudinal channel in the body from behind the NSF wheel arch liner that was open all the way through to the sliding step. I plugged this at the wheel arch with mastic and drilled a hole in the plate at the step to allow the water to drain.

 

[EdH]

Hi Ed

Here’s some photos of where I cut and removed the rubber.

It’s interesting to see some similar posts elsewhere now.

Water will always get into doors eventually- that’s why all vehicles have the drainage holes. Even with buildings and their glass facades (curtain walling) these have drainage paths and holes for water to escape. But the thing with the t6 is the extra seal and rubber along the bottom is trapping the water from escaping. Take a look at the front doors and you’ll see - no rubber along the bottom.

View attachment 248577

View attachment 248578

I have done the same now, but noticed that the water was still collecting as my van is parked on the side hence the rain water was jus collecting there. Now I am parking the other way and no water can collect. Rather bad design to be honest and wonder will there be a water ingress when going on a wet road, but as you have also noticed there is no bottom rubber seal on doors anyway.

Drove an MOD Ford crew cab last weekend and they have much better sliding door mechanism design than VW in my opinion, the slider on the bottom is elevated and there is a large plastic lip.