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#@$% Midgate Leak!!!

B

byron

SM 2003
Full Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2002
Messages
1,014
Location
Conroe, TX
I've had my AV since early March of this year with no problems. Well its been pouring rain today and I had to go out for lunch. I climb into my AV and I smell.....MILDEW!!!! :D:

After some quick investigation I discovered that my midgate is leaking right at the point where the last panel cover connect to the bar that holds the glass in. So now I have to get that fixed and figure out how to get the mildew out of my AV!!! :7: :8: :7:
 
Wurth makes products for Mildew removal...or get or borrow a OZONE generator...they work well at getting rid of smells.....

Bummer on the leak..
 
I don't know what to do!!! I love my av but it leaks bad. gm is buying it back.. I drove another on home today to check out and yes... it leaks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! less than 100 miles on it. :8: I am taking it back in the morning and I do not know what to get... any one have any suggestions
 
WOW! I was in the same weather. No problems here. We must have gotten 6" of rain.

Are you SURE you latched the midgate well? I always have this problem when I try to close it from one side. (It's easier.)

It latches better if you push from the center or have two people to do it.
 
Do what I'm going to do. Keep taking it back till they fix it. And if they don't fix it right, start making angry phone calls.
 
Mine's been in 5 times to be "fixed" for the midgate leaking. I have already called chevy and they have given me a case number, that they are suppose to be tracking. I'm going to keep taking mine back until they fix the leak. Although I don't know what else they can do. They have replaced the cross bar and all the seals, I'm not sure what tey will do next. I'll probably take it in on monday.
 
Not that this is your problem but for others - use one hand on each end of the crossbar and SLAM IT HARD. If I am not careful only one side will latch. With all of the weather striping it take a really hard slam. I can't get it properly latched without climing into the back seat area. If I try by just leaning into the cab it won't latch on the other side.

Tailgate - same thing, it requires a good slam if all of the covers are in place. If I don't the left side doesn't latch.

I guess that I could have the dealer try to adjust but I like the idea of the weather striping compressing well. The alternative might be leaks. The only leak I have found is a few drops get in at the center of the tailgate durring heavy downpoors.
 
Same thing here Half-Breed, i thought i was leak free and started playing around taking the covers off and window out and laying the midgate down just to try it. When i got though i brought it home and put it all back together and gave it a good bath. My son was inside cleaning the windows when i started spraying down the back and he yelled at me.....stopped got back inside and did the both hands on the t-bar like i saw mentioned on one post and relatched the midgate. Leak stopped, but scared me for a few minutes.........lucky on that one.
Can't you make GM pay for the clean up and getting rid of the mildew smell if it is still under warranty instead of you having to do it??????????????I would push that issue harddddddd....
zeeya
 
Yup - I did the old didn't close the midgate right trick - even went as far as latching the seatbelt on the passenger side into the catch for the midgate. Didn't realize it until someone had to sit there and the seatbelt wouldn't come out.

D'oh!

Not saying this is folks problems but you have to bring the midgate up in a smooth quick motion with both hands and make sure it's closed...
 
The other day when I was cleaning the inside, I noticed water marks and residue on the inside of the midgate :6:
As soon as I get a chance I'm gonna take it to the dealer for some tsb widgate leak work.
 
After the slightest trace of rain last night, I noticed that once again, the bar between the midgate and rear window was showing signs of leakage with the midgate down. This is a bit worrisome since I'll be sleeping back there during most of WW2002. I had it looked at by the dealer about 5 weeks ago and they said that some leakage is to be expected, that it has a "water management system" and is not water tight. So, once again I take everything apart to clean and realign the seals when I notice that the seals at the ends of the bar don't look the same. The dry end has a rubber bowl shaped cup that is positioned under the corner of the bed cover. The leaking side is pushed in so that instead of looking like a bowl, it looks like a mangled kidney bean! After much massaging I managed to get the deformed seal back to the proper shape, slap in all the parts and test it at the "magic wand" car wash. Bingo! It works, for now anyway. I just need to keep track of it and make sure it doesn't revert back to the bean shape.
After thinking about this for a while, it became painfully obvious, that after keeping my Av for a full day, no one even bothered to look at any of the seals for dirt, damage or deformity. They had their pat answer ready fore me when I picked it up; "they all leak". At least now, if that seal won't maintain the correct shape, and it starts leaking again, they wont be able to give me the runaround.
 
Well, picked up the Av today. The 6th time it has been in for midgate leaking. I think it's time to mail all my paperwork to the lemon law lawyer. Here's what this service call report says:

Water checked veh and immediately duplicated water entry at left side of center bar for midgate. Checked bulletins and found #02-08-66-002 and inspected for this condition at forward edge of hard cover, found no roughness there. Checked for wheelhouse water entry per bulletin #01-08-57-001, even though water is clean and does not appear to be! Also checked rear opening weatherstrip per bulletin #02-08-57-002 and found water not entering at locations specified, however the special close tolerance rubber material they used worked well to shimm weatherstrip at center bar location. Water checked veh and found water entry is reduced by at least 50%. Adjusted lower midgate, center bar and its strikeers in slightly, lubricated all weatherstrips for rear opening and water checked veh. Could no longer duplicate water entry into veh. 3.5 //warr// tech#11

now when I got home and cleared my head of all the silicone fumes :9: I opened the midgate to find silicone thickly coated all over the seals. What a mess :D: I cleaned all the silicone off and closed everything up nice and tight. I sprayed the back window with the garden hose and sure enough it still leaks :cry:
I then open the tailgate and spray the top of the cargo covers near the back window. Water is pouring down the rear of the midgate into the bed :7: and to top it all off they broke my blind spot mirrors off and didn't even leave them with the truck or bother to tell me that they did it :7: :8: :8: So I think this weekend I'll pull off all my mods and start looking for a different vehicle. It's a real shame to I rally like the Av, but I'm not going to go through this with another vehicle. I'm sorry this is so long, but I'm completely pissed off right now.
 
It's been raining hard here and my AV's been outside the whole time... No leaks in the passenger compartment but the tailgate lets water run under the rubber mat in the truck bed.

I decided when I ordered the vehicle that if I did have the leak problems that I would put a Snugtop on during the rainy months. (top will not be here for three more weeks)

I've owned several old vehicles in the past with rubber seals that leaked and silicone spray fixed a lot of them. But then these were old dry seals.
 
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