94 Air/water leaking

[sgbuick]

I was looking at a 94 Caprice (similar to RM), seems to have 2 body issues:

1. Lots of road/wind noise coming from the drivers door, sounds like it is open on the highway, even though all doors and windows were closed
2. The inside of the trunk lid is all wet, looks like some kind of condensation and it drips all over when the trunk lid is opened

Anyone have these issues before? Car only has 74K miles, leather seats, seems very nice otherwise, no rust or dents, etc.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by sgbuick

I was looking at a 94 Caprice (similar to RM), seems to have 2 body issues:

1. Lots of road/wind noise coming from the drivers door, sounds like it is open on the highway, even though all doors and windows were closed
2. The inside of the trunk lid is all wet, looks like some kind of condensation and it drips all over when the trunk lid is opened

Anyone have these issues before? Car only has 74K miles, leather seats, seems very nice otherwise, no rust or dents, etc.

normally the door rubber needs repair,sometimes the door may also need alignment...look for were the rubber has touched the car body if you see gaps this is the noise...also any weatherstiping sticking out from the exterior car body..

the trunk will need all coverings removed and dried out then use a hose and inspect ....passenger side of rear window and also the rear wheel wells need close inspection for leaks...

do you live in the rust belt?

[Blt2Lst]

Originally Posted by sgbuick

I was looking at a 94 Caprice (similar to RM), seems to have 2 body issues:

1. Lots of road/wind noise coming from the drivers door, sounds like it is open on the highway, even though all doors and windows were closed
2. The inside of the trunk lid is all wet, looks like some kind of condensation and it drips all over when the trunk lid is opened

Anyone have these issues before? Car only has 74K miles, leather seats, seems very nice otherwise, no rust or dents, etc.

Sounds like you need to replace your rubber door seals, that should seal up the door gap and eliminate the wind noise. I need to do mine also and they are readily available. For my 89, i have seen the pair listed for $79.

As for the trunk area, if there is condensation underneath the trunk lid, maybe the seal is gone or maybe water is leaking in from somewhere else and the water is just condensing under the lid itself.
Is your trunk carpet all wet also? if so look for leaks elsewhere.

Good luck

[sgbuick]

OK, I didn't buy that car, I got a 96 Caprice, but it seems to have the same loud road noise thru the door, as did my 96 Roadmaster I had before. This one has a dry trunk, though. I did notice a gap in the weatherstripping directly behind the mirror, looks like the piece that goes down the side of the window over the mirror doesn't go all the way down to the door sill. Would that cause a lot of wind/road noise?

Checked the local salvage yard, and every other one there has the same gap! Maybe a design defect? Anyone else have the same problem and fixed it? Car only has 70K miles and was garaged for 13 years.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by sgbuick

OK, I didn't buy that car, I got a 96 Caprice, but it seems to have the same loud road noise thru the door, as did my 96 Roadmaster I had before. This one has a dry trunk, though. I did notice a gap in the weatherstripping directly behind the mirror, looks like the piece that goes down the side of the window over the mirror doesn't go all the way down to the door sill. Would that cause a lot of wind/road noise?

Checked the local salvage yard, and every other one there has the same gap! Maybe a design defect? Anyone else have the same problem and fixed it? Car only has 70K miles and was garaged for 13 years.

this rubber over time shrinks slightly...On my vehicle I used dow 795 sealant, this product has a great amount of flex and with this used to close that gap the wind noise will reduce greatly..

I also sealed the window rubber so that little water could enter the door cavity..along the top of the door on the ends of the window sweep...

use some tape and see how this improves the noise problem first..

[sgbuick]

I tried putting black electrical tape over the gap, completely covering it, barely made any difference. This leads me to believe that it's coming from somewhere else, but I see nothing unusual about any other w/s, no rips or anything.

Actually it's a big gap, about the size of a thumbnail, the vertical part does not go down far enough and the one under the window doesn't go far left enough, leaving a large hole by the bottom corner of the window behind the mirror. All the Caprice's in the salvage yard are exactly the same, go figure.

The noise starts at about 30-40 mph, and steadily increases as you go faster.

I'm not entirely sure if the noise is coming from there or the inside door w/s

Can you elaborate on how you sealed the rubber with the Dow 795 stuff? Where did you put the sealer?

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by sgbuick

I tried putting black electrical tape over the gap, completely covering it, barely made any difference. This leads me to believe that it's coming from somewhere else, but I see nothing unusual about any other w/s, no rips or anything.

Actually it's a big gap, about the size of a thumbnail, the vertical part does not go down far enough and the one under the window doesn't go far left enough, leaving a large hole by the bottom corner of the window behind the mirror. All the Caprice's in the salvage yard are exactly the same, go figure.

The noise starts at about 30-40 mph, and steadily increases as you go faster.

I'm not entirely sure if the noise is coming from there or the inside door w/s

Can you elaborate on how you sealed the rubber with the Dow 795 stuff? Where did you put the sealer?

using a piece of flat rubber as a backing material lay the piece in postion and then coat the area...as the sealant cures over a few hours smooth surface with a piece of plastic coated with silicone spray..

the other area I have seen to be a problem is where the door latch is located...this area the weather strip is not making contact, with the door frame...I used a adhesive backed foam on one side and increased the height of this door mounted rubber seal so that it made contact with the frame...

I use a silicone grease applied to these rubber seals and the rubber is soft, so that the door closes very tight, to the weather and when the rubber does not make contact with the frame the grease coating will reveal this problem more so when looking at the door frame area..

the other area would be any exterior areas that stick out beyond the car body..like windshield weather stripping,or door weather stripping at the roor line etc....