Replacing the vapour seals in Golf MK2

[nick1234]

G'day everyone,

I have seen a posting on this subject regarding the T4 on here but was wondering if any of you on here have made any experiences in replacing the vapour seals on their Golf's. I have had heaps of water coming in after a storm and when checking behind the door cards I have found that the foil behind them has virtually shrinked altogether, literally guiding the water into the footwell of the car. I still have the original foil from 1985!!

Well, I almost managed to get the doorcards off completely but they still stick in the window area - not sure why and how to get them off. Also, I am unsure of how to glue/ attach the new foil to the door, I just placed the order with my VW dealership - have never done this before.

Anyhow, was wondering if you people have done this before - a pictorial illustration would really help ;o)

Many thank's in advance!

Regards,

- Nick

[Spyda]

The door cards are easy to take off. There should be 2 screws on each edge of the door card...maby its 3, there are 2 that hold the pull handle on and everything else just clips off IIRC. Dont forget to slide the frame around the inside door handle off and take off the lock pin. The door sits on little hooks on the bottom and is wedged in to the seal at the top, pull it out of the wedge and lift the door off making sure you have disconected any speaker or power mirror wires.

The vapor seal on the door (between the door card and the door) is to stop the door card from getting soggy when rain gets in to the door, it should be made from plastic. If its not there than your door cards will get soggy and rot away.

You could have used any plastic, like plastic drop sheets from bunnings. I bet VW charged you a fair bit. All you had to do was cut it to the shape.
I used a clear double sided tape that is about 2" wide, again from bunnings. Tha backing paper on it was a mustard yellow if your guna go looking for it and the tape has never failed. I would take the plastic off to fix something at least once a week and would never have to re-apply the tape.

The water that gets in to your door should run out through 2 or 3 drain plugs at the bottom of your door and back out side. Check that they are not blocked up with gunk. Even if they are blocked up water in your door is unlikley to make its way through to door card and in to the footwell.

If you are geting water in your footwells then its more likely to be coming from the corner your windshield as your seals are geting old, just like my mk1. You can buy new seal which arnt cheap or get some windshield slycon from autobarn and squeeze it in under the seals, it works great. I also recomend checking the A pillars and rain tray for any rust as water could be getting in through there too.

Hope that helps.

If you still have trouble, take a few pics of the above mentioned areas, it might make it a bit easyer.

[RedMk2Gti]

There are a lot of DIY info in many oversea VW sites, this is one of them http://www.4130-products.com/step/vapor/index.htm

[tommymac]

ah the joys of a mk2!!!! we have all had it.

Mine was leaking through the vapour seals badly I used drop sheets and wurth "dap off" to seal the vapour barriers.

I also sealed every grommit im the rain tray! and got my windscreen rust removed.

Finally to top it off I bought a prestige car cover which is 100% waterproof just for those monsoon nights!

check this thread mate, it will give you some spots to look at

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3666968

[nick1234]

Hello people!

Thank's for all your support!

The foils that I ordered were $12.- each and since it's a 2-door car it wasn't too bad. Given that the original ones lastet for 24 years I am more than happy to make that investment. I guess that I just have to find the double sided tape. Looks like a much bigger job than I thought.

The doorcards were rotting away on the bottom and the foil had almost totally shrinked to a fist-size area so this was definately the problem.

Thank's also for the illustrations, sadly the last link on vwvortex wouldn't open.

Let's just hope that it'll remain dry until the new foils have been installed ;o)

- Nick

[tommymac]

try the link again mate, it def works, vortex craps up soemtimes. Dont use silicon it wont work! use 3m or Wurth

[ozgti]

I just use the garden heavy duty bags. 1 per door and no probs since.

[nick1234]

Yeah, cheers mate, got that link working ;o)

Thank's for that - I just hope the VW dealer will get those foils in some time soon otherwise I'll really have to stick with that heavy duty or rubbish-bag option, hehehe!

[nick1234]

VW sent me those new vapour barriers for the newer models as the "foil" was not available any longer. Not sure if the tape will stick on those though.

I'll post the result ;o)

[nick1234]

Result: not sure if anyone will be reading this. The job went well overall, however, I made the mistake by starting at the top of the door and as a result gaps started to form again on the bottom, letting heaps of water in a couple of weeks later. I may have to start again when dry. So people here's my tip: if you have to replace your seals, start at the bottom and don't try to save any glue there ;o)