My Van Is LEAKING! Finding And Fixing A Leaking Door Seal | Tiny Camper Van Conversion
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
- 👉 MY VAN HAS LEAKED! In this video, I discover why my tiny camper conversion is leaking and share how I went about fixing it so, hopefully, it doesn’t happen again!
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0:00 - Discovering the leak
0:32 - Finding the leaky area
1:25 - The second leak
1:48 - Finding the causes
2:23 - Fixing the leak
3:52 - Testing the repair
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When I opened the back doors of the van the other day, I noticed something unusual about the mattresses for my pullout bench/bench. All 3 of the mattresses were soaking wet at the end nearest the doors & so was the bed underneath.
Luckily the water had been absorbed and hadn’t made it to the floor, but I needed to know why this had happened & how to stop it happening again. I was relieved that the walls were dry, but noticed the ceiling by the back door felt wet.
My first thought was that it was the plugs which cover the roof bar mounting holes. But I had sealed them in & they were still intact. My next guess was that the rubber u-channel seal on the doors had failed but it wasn’t that either & the doors were completely dry. Next, I checked the door seal which runs around the entirety of the back door opening. There were no cracks, holes, tears or anything else that might cause concern.
So I pulled the seal away (part number 90210) to check underneath & find where the water had got in. There was a damp patch just on the curve, so the water must have found its way in under the seal & dripped onto the mattresses all night.
After working out how the water got in, I wanted to work out why it had got in, but before I got a chance, more heavy rain came along so I put the seal back on, took the mattresses inside to dry & left a bowl on the bed to catch any water.
Unfortunately, it did. The next morning there was water in the bowl, as well as a very obvious location of entry on the ceiling.
There were 3 things that I noticed might be causing the problem & a very important fourth one which I’ll go into later.
First was the amount of dirt on the van. This really wasn’t doing the seal any favours. Second was the excess carpet which I had tucked over the metal to be covered by the seal - the carpet overlap here appeared to be wet. Thirdly, the glue overspray left over from the carpet clearly didn’t allow the seal to sit flat on the metal.
When it was time to get started, I pulled the seal again & began cleaning the seal - inside and out.
The next step was to clean all along the metal lip, first with water to remove the dirt and then with white spirit to get rid of the glue.
The white spirit also helped to loosen up the carpet ends, which I could now trim back in areas they were too long. I wasn’t worried about it being neat, as it would all be covered by the rubber seal - I just wanted there to be less carpet overlap.
As I came to refit the seal, I made an interesting discovery, which is the fourth potential reason for the leak. I discovered that the rubber seal actually has thin, pliable metal running all the way through it, so it can be opened or closed more to fit the object it is attached to.
With this in mind, before refitting the seal, I went round it and closed its gap with my hands.
Then, I could fit it to the van, tapping it firmly in place with my hand, for a tight, hopefully watertight, fit.
And there was only one way to find out…so I put the bowl back in the van and tipped a bucket of water over the roof.
I also set up a camera in the van to create possibly the world’s most boring time lapse & happy that the seal had kept the water out, I put the bedding back in.
The real test came when, a couple of days later, another lot of heavy rain was forecast. I left the camera timelapsing away in the van overnight, and I’m pleased to report that no water has got into the van!
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#Vanlife #NissanNV200 #LensOfJames
DISCLAIMER: In this video, I am in no way stating that this is the proper way to undertake the conversion of a van, however after research and experience using the van, I believe this to be the way that is best suited to my van and the way I intend to use it. 
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I love this approach! You didn't waste the first ten minutes talking rubbish about nothing, but just got on with the problem. Now to go out and do my van doors. Thank you.
Great video. I've just discovered a leak coming in over my sliding door and after watching your video found that I had the same carpet overlap. Since I had to remove the seal several times during install, I suspect that our problems are identical so I'm going to give your solution a try. Thanks for posting the video!
Thank you! I just paid a van builder to fix this exact problem but he didn't address the rubber seal. I hope it works.
thanks. I followed these steps as we have a similar problem... crossing my fingers it worked!
And me, it's very common by the comments I read.
Great video, I hope all goes well
This is happening to my van, glad I stumbled across this video 👌
Me too.
This is terrific information whether you DIY or buy from a factory!
Great info my van is also leaking by the back door gonna ck the seal
Heyy this gives me hope to solve my own leaky door problems! Thanks a lot mate! Glad you made this video!
so helpful, thank you!
Good job
I had two small patches of water on the bottom corners of the rear door, this only happened after I carpeted the back and folded the carpet around the lip and kept the old seal. I then bought a new seal, cut away some of the overlapping carpet about 10 inches up from where the water was as this was the only wet part.
I fitted the new seal and there didn't seam to be any more water. Yesterday I lifted the damp carpet at the bottom and found that the water had gone under my floor board. I had to pull up all my flooring, not much water but enough.
I think there was no more water but what was there had made it's way under the floor.
Today I have just cut away all the carpet on the outside of the lip, squeezed the seal together and replaced it, it's due to rain tonight so fingers crossed.
good job :)
Hi James, great news about your seals. I had a NV 200 2017 combi. my leak was when I fitted my roof bars too the factory fixing bolt hole, the near side rear was-letting in rain water, fixed it by removing the bolt and the rubber seal pad then filled the bolt hole with a bit of clear bath sealant then replaced the seal pad and bolt checked for water leaks job done. Did asked my local Nissan dealer if they had heard anything from other NV 200 drivers they said could just be a one off fault.
Hi Bob, I've had the same problems with my roof bars. I tried sealing mine with threadlocker but that failed, so re-sealed them with PTFE plumbers tape and it's worked a treat! Glad you got your leak sorted too.
Great video matey, im just starting on a 2016 7 seater i've bought to use for some wild camping when doing astrophotography. I've never thought about the metal in the seals and now I think about it, some were rather to easy to slip back on! Tomorrow's first job is giving them all a good old squeeze!
Good that you got it sorted. That door seal has a dot stamped on it which goes in the centre top or bottom I can't remember, not sure if it makes any difference though. Also keep your eye on that strange rubber drip tray contraption on the top of the thinner door. I had a similar problem during really heavy rain where that tray couldn't channel water away quickly enough so it overflowed into the van. But my wet patch was in a different place to yours so in this case it's different.
I found white spirit was good for removing trim fix during application, as a lot of people advise, but after a few weeks the only thing that worked effectively for me was Zippo lighter fluid. It's a good trick my nan taught me for breaking down anything sticky!
The white spirit has been brilliant for me, even after nearly 2 years since I carpeted the van. Hope you got your leak fixed too!
Thanks for the video. I also have an nv200 and i have positively commented on your build a while back. Just for the hell of
it check the seal that runs across the back doors, (my 3 year old van which is kept outside) The seal was comming away,
no leaks just a bit of preventative maintenance i cleaned the seal and glued back in place, just the part of the seal that had
come away about 150mm at each end. Cheers James, Mike from Co Durham
Thanks so much! My Toyota Hiace has almost the same seal, despite having a tailgate rather than barn doors. I never noticed the wire in the seal until this video.
I think the cause of my leaking back door is almost identical. I have a flyscreen that goes under the seal which I will trim, will also clean dirt and ensure the wire is crushed to make a tight seal. Wish me luck!
You may want to look at painting where you used the razor knife. No matter how careful you are there will be scratching or cutting of the paint. You don't want it to start rusting.
you got gonna use a vapor barrier? you can get water inside without rain. If its warm inside and cold outside, then any exposed metal on the inside will have the outside temperature, that means any humidity from your breath will go to that metal and cause it to condense back into water droplets. It creates mould and puddles. You need to create a barrier between the metal and your inside air. The carpet helps but Im sure I seen some other metal
I'm quite sure it was primarily the excess carpet that kind of sucked the water under the seal and then released it to the inside of the van. Trimming it will most likely have solved the problem.
I have done just what you said, as I came to the same conclusion, fingers crossed.
🔥 Want to see more from my *Nissan NV200 Tiny Camper Van Conversion Series* ? Check out the entire build here: ruclips.net/p/PLsBWh_QNwDUcgnWcDnJeoHZI_nelRdkUY 🔥
Hi James did you get my email and pics ?
I adjusted the seal on the bottom of the rear small door last week, it must have been bent out whilst unloading something and i was having to slam the large door shut. Ed
Hi Ed, I'm having problems accessing that email address I'm afraid - could you send them to lensofjames2@gmail.com instead and I'll take a look? Thanks, James
Manufacturer's, are collaborating, to make door and roof joint's, susceptible, for rubber seal deterioration, and, water leaking. My Astro, is designed, with the 2 seal's, on the door's, not, on the body. Rediculous, and prone, to cost, 350$'s, and tearing. I replaced the 2 seal's, and, it still leak's. The Roof seal, is fine, but, not working. So, I, will use common sense, and, buy a "lip over rubber seal", of some type, and, attach it, to the roof, and, it will extend, just over and above, the top of the door's, when shut, and, fix, or shed, the gravity water intrusion. Who ever started designing door's, to come up, over, the gravity roof line, should be made an idiot, or, a rubber seal salesman. Older vehicles, 1960's, had the roof line, overhang the door's. No leaking possible. They want your vehicle to rot, mildew, smell, rust and trade in, or swrap, for another one, that will perform, the same problem.
Interesting thoughts