Alright, I had issues a while back with water coming in through the tops. As it turned out it was coming in through the black piece in the middle. I took the part up, cleaned it out well and then used butyle calk to hold it down. I put in all of the screws with some butyle calk to make sure that it would seal. I then replaced the rubber. I checked the floor the other day (I now have a brand new interior) and it was wet on the drivers side floor. I think that its the black strip again, but now I'm puzzled as to what I can do to correct it. Unfortunatly, I haven't met a dealer who is capable of working on them.

Are there any secrets that I'm missing? What about that putty stuff thats supposed to go in the corners near the top lock? What did you guys do there?

Any help is appreciated...
Thanks,
Mike

 

water is a major pain to hunt down. It will run all over the place before finally dripping out somewhere far away from the leak.

Mine like to leak at the front seam where the t-top meets the car. The two weatherstrips don't mesh right anymore and left a gap.

Try using a removeable silicone sealer (any hardware store - mom uses it on her windows in the winter) and seal one part at a time. Seal the gap between the glass and the metal strip in the middle. Pour water over the car and see if the leak is gone. Keep doing this untill you seal the leaky spot. Might take a week or so to complete the whole process.

Make sure there isn't a leak at the windshield and that the water isn't running down behind the kickpanel and onto the carpet.

 

You certain that there aren't any leaks where your rear hatch bolts down? I doubt that is likely, but worth a look.

 

same problem here.i have an 82 Z28 with t-tops...have tried contless time to find where the rain is coming in from..think mine is coming in from where the widwon meets the t-tops and leaking from the 2 corners.kinda sucks when u hit the brakes and water goes everywhere all well..really wish it was something easier then spending like 150 on weatherstripping

 

Sometimes I wish I never had T-tops on my car(except for when summer arrives )But,when it rains it pours(inside my car)Just the other day I went to work and it was raining like cats and dogs. Went out to my car at lunch and jumped in and noticed that a brown paper bag that I had left on my middle console had a puddle of water acumulated on it. Took off down the road,turned sharp right and suddenly I was covered in water. Looked like it was coming from under the sun visors. On the way back from getting something to eat,I then turned sharp left,instead this time the passenger seat got soaked Later in the day,I went my moms(she has a steep driveway)as I was leaving her house,I looked backward and noticed that the rear seat was getting wet from above,looked like water was coming from the seatbelt retractor above. Needless to say I was very upset The following parts are the ones that get wet when it rains now. ME!!,passenger front seat,passenger front floor board,passenger rear floor board,rear passenger seats and the lower section of the rear cargo area. My ride is in no way a rust bucket,it is in great shape. Weatherstripping looks fine and no noticable leak spots.One of these days when I get the chance I am gonna seal ALL cracks,holes,screws and I am gonna even redo the entire enterior and while I am at it spray sound deadner all inside the car,especially on the roof area and then use that dynomat stuff. Maybe that will do the trick,oh and mine as well replace all the weatherstripping while I am at it,that way all will be new and hopefully that will solve the leaks and seal out some noise. Sorry so long guys,needed to get it all out just this one time

 

u no i had this prob too. i took the ez way out i bought water proof car cover and now i see the weather report and put the cover on that is the best way to go..cheap and well lots ezer then tryin to fix it
Shaun

 

My Ttops used to leak, now they don't. At all. Unless the "right spots" get hit with a high pressure hose at the car wash, then I get a few drips. But never from rain.

I got some black permatex silicone (turned out to be the exact same color as my paint once it dries!) and ran bead along the entire front (starting at the rearview mirrors along the gasket, along the front roofline, and then down the other side. I'll take some pictures tomorrow if I remember and if I have time during the daylight. It took care of all of my leaks, other than my slightly misaligned windows on the doors (going to fix that one of these days). Just keep sealing things until the water stops!

 

You can find the leaks easier if you dust some talcum powder over the seals, then spray the car with a hose. Dry off the outside (so the drips don't contaminate your results), then remove the t-tops and see where the talc has washed away.

 

I know you guys a not going to like this gut it works get a jar of Vaseline for you single guys this will be easy you probably already have one. Take and put a good bit of it around the seals on your car and close the tops after this spray it with a hose do what ever you can to try and get it to leak and it probably will not this should keep you dry in the winter just remember to wipe them off when you take the tops back off the car in the summer.

 

BirdonFire,

It sounds like your problem was like mine, you need to caulk down the black strip in the middle and that should take care of the problem. Your leak isn't coming from the rubber, but through the body via that black strip.

As for the talcum powder or vaseline ideas, I don't know if that'll work. I think that my problem relates back to the black strip. Could the water be trying to run down through the channel and pooling up where the door meets the tops? if so, whats the best way to correct that, do I have to repack that corner for support?

Thanks,
Mike

 

"Could the water be trying to run down through the channel and pooling up where the door meets the tops? if so, whats the best way to correct that, do I have to repack that corner for support? "

Among my former leaks, the worst one i had was on the passenger side where, as i later discovered, water was running down the pillar inside the plastic, and dripping out right about where the pillar and dask pad meet. This was bad enough where it would leave a puddle on the floor during a bad storm

At first i fixed the symptom and not the problem by sealing that area, which did fix it. Where it turned out all the water ws coming from was all the way up on the roof. The gaskets hada small gap in them right underneath that little black bar above where the tops slide under. Sealed this, and everything else, and no more problems It turned out that all my water wasn't coming from bad gaskets, cause they were installed when the car was repainted (2 1/2 years ago, a year before i bought the car), but water was actually getting between the gaskets and the body, and running every which way. So by sealing the gaskets to the body with my trusty permatex black silicone, my leaks are a thing of the past. Go figure now my hatch is starting to leak

 

so it could be coming from any one of the seems and pooling in my drivers side floor. I keept thinking that the culprit is probably that black bar that holds down the tops. I guess that I'll try to peel it back a little and shoot some more sealant in there... anyone know of a good way to get it deep in without peeling it back too far?

How long does it take to setup when I shoot goo in there? I'm at college so I have to watch the car if the tops are off...

where exactly was the missed spot that you had?

 

http://a4.cpimg.com/image/1E/00/8443...-02440168-.jpg

Ok, this isn't my car, but the two red lines are where I have reapplied wetherstrip adhesive. The black piece in the middle seemed like it was down really tight, and so did the back of it. I didn't see any cracks in the adhesive. even the front roof adhesive seemed to be in good order.

The part running along the door wasn't sealed in that well, so I ran a big bead of adhesive in there. Could that have been where the problem was?

-=-Mike