Scuttle panel re-seal

[Bigfella70]

Morning all,

I’m going to remove the plastic scuttle panel imminently and clean the drain holes to hopefully address some water ingress into the cabin.

Hence seeking advice please on the best product to re seal between bottom of the windscreen and the plastic panel itself. I gather there is a factory seal which will obviously have degraded and I’d like to address this in order to have the best chance of avoiding further water ingress.

I’m thinking butyl or similar….

 

[Duncodin]

Butyl would work or roof and gutter seal. But I didn't bother sealing it. So much water goes into the air holes/air intake that any seal around edge is not going to stop much.

Water gets in there through the air holes. It can't be avoided. You need to make sure it can then drain out and not overflow into the heater matrix.

Get that plastic panel off then you'll see everything.

 

[Bigfella70]

Thanks for that, much appreciated!

 

[John_B]

Same, I didn't seal it either. My advice would be to use a trim tool for the little clips on the scuttle panel though, unless you already have spares. They are very delicate

 

[Bigfella70]

Morning all, quick update on this job. Removed the plastic panel and as expected there was plenty of debris found to have accumulated!

For info of anyone tackling this job, what I have established is that the butyl seal between the base of the windscreen and the plastic panel does need to be reinstated.

If the seal is not effective then water can pass under the plastic scuttle cover straight into the heater box and enter the cabin as shown by the arrows on the image attached. The perforated areas of the plastic panel are located lower down and water entering at that point passes into the scuttle plenum and back out through the drain holes.

Just a heads up from my findings on this. Well worth doing and fortunately no corrosion found within the scuttle area……

 

[DrWong]

Good work, thanks for sharing! I should really do this for preventative purposes.

Were wipers easy to remove? And are they keyed for re-installation, or will that involve some eyeing up re: resting position?

 

[Zephyr]

resting position?

Vertical stripe of lectrical tape to mark the position on the windscreen.

 

[Bigfella70]

Wipers were easier than expected I bought a cheap wiper pulled on eBay for the job. They are splined. As above a piece of masking tape or similar is used to mark the position.

 

[Bigfella70]

Just to update on this, received a roll of 9.5mm butyl tape through the post at the weekend and removed the scuttle panel again. Cleaned the mating surfaces and applied the tape to the plastic panel as shown. There’s a small channel where the tape is applied to which corresponds with the area below the windscreen when fitted. All went back together ok and hopefully nicely sealed up now!