Water leak in bedroom slide.

[cargary]

We have had this persisting problem from the day we took delivery. We have a slight water leak in our bedroom slide and we and the dealership can't seem to find the cause in order to fix it. It always shows up as wet carpet under the - lacking a better name for it, the cabinet between the bed and the shower. The carpet I'm referencing is located beneath this cabinet and towards the shower. Its actually carpet applied to a raised corner beneath the cabinet and against the wall supporting it. I have been out in the rain and have found no evidence of water getting in, but after a rainfall, the carpet gets saturated enough to wet ones finger as its wiped accross this spot. The dealer has tried four times now to get this problem fixed and each time they think they got it fixed, water shows up again on the carpet. Its not as if its a major leak, but its annoying to find that it continues without resolution. Have any of the rest of you folks out there had or having this problem and if so, what did you find was the cause. I do make sure that the outside rubber seals are always flat against the slide, top and sides, so as eliminate this is a probable cause for the leak. Any and all help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Gary & Carole

[vickster]

Gary and Carole - We have had a persistent, annoying leak in the corner of our dinette slide since our very first rain. Had it back FOUR times to our dealer and the problem keeps returning.The wetness occurs during a rain, but not when we wash Monty (go figure!). We will be taking our Monty back to dealer for the fifth time. However, in the meantime, we have slanted Monty a tad "downhill". Waiting for the next rain (forcasted for Thursday) to see if this makes a difference. Slide leaks are truly a very frustrating issue.

[carlson]

This mite be a wild guess.
Take the panel off the shower stall bottom that is facing the bathroom
Reach inside and see is the fittings are tight that go to the shower facuet.
We were out camping in out 2005 3400RL and thought "Moose" out 192 lb Newfoundland was slopping his water which was by the ref and cabinets.
We kept wiping it up and then we put his water outside and the water kept appearing.
Opened up the area where the pump was and found the water coming down the pipe.
The fitting going to the shower were loose.
When I posted it a while back, there was someone else with a 2550 3400RL that had the same loose fittings.
Hope this helps.

[gungho]

I also had the leak on loose fittings on shower faucet. Also had a leak on outside shower wall and would drain down to the area you described the armour. Remove shower access by this cabinet and check for water.

[BillyRay]

ditto. we had to get plumbers putty to get it to stop leaking.

[sreigle]

I wish I could remember the details of this... I was hoping someone would come along and post about this possible solution so I wouldn't have to fumble my way through it. A search might be in order.

Anyhow, there was at least one long thread about this where several folks found there is a something-or-other just under the seal, near the bottom of the vertical seals, that is supposed to direct water away from the seal. Instead, it was either not long enough or was mounted too high and was directing the water to the inside. The result was wet carpet, exactly as you all have described. I believe this somethingorother was seen from the outside.

I'm sorry I can't remember the details, we didn't have the problem. But if you have a chance it might be worth a look. I think the fix was to move or extend the somethingorother.

[wileecoyote985]

Had that exact same problem. I was lucky in that I had a friend with a Monty who had the problem and his dealer knew how to fix it. I looked his over and did what his dealer had done, and it stopped the leak.

The problem is that it would be very difficult to describe what you need to do so that you would be able to understand by words alone.

I really don't mean this to be a teaser, as I understand that you must be frustrated with the problem. I know I was. What I need to do is take some digital photos, and then learn how to post them to this forum so that you can see what was done.

I'll see what I can do later on today about getting this done.

Gary

[sreigle]

Gary, I saved this info about posting pictures, awhile back. If you have a lot of pictures or they are very big, doing the same as this but leaving off the img tags will post the links so members can click on the link to see the picture. That reduces the size of the post for those on slow connections. Do whatever you think is best.

----
nserting a picture -

First you have to have the photo out on the internet somewhere, not on your personal pc. If you don't have a place to put a picture, I'd recommend www.tinypic.com . You can place pictures there for free. The picture cannot be more than 250k in size or they will automatically trim it down.

At tinypic, use the Browse button to find the picture on your pc. Then click the 'Host It' button. When the page comes back, scroll down and you'll see several boxes with urls in them. For posting here, click in the box for the one with the IMG tags on each end. Those tags are important for displaying a picture here.

After clicking in that box the url should be highlighted. Hold the ctrl key and press the 'c' key to copy the url. Sorry if too elementary, it's hard to tell level of knowledge from a post.

Then in your post, just paste (ctrl v) the url in your post. You can then click the Preview Reply button if you want to see what your post will look like before you submit it. When done, close the preview window and click the Submit Reply button.

I'd recommend your picture pasted into a post be no more than about 640x480 or thereabouts in size. You can tell the size by rightclicking and selecting properties (works that way on mine, anyhow). If you need to resize the picture and don't have software to do that, Irfanview is free at www.irfanview.com . This is what I usually use. After resizing I also do File/Save AS (rather than file/save or the save button). There I can tell it to save at 65% quality. That significantly reduces the size of the file itself so it will load faster for those on a slow connection (much appreciated if you'd do this).

It's a lot easier than it sounds.

If you want the picture to be part of your signature, go to your profile and paste that same url, with img tags, in the signature box.

Good luck. Post back if you have any problems with it. One of us will be along to help.

[wileecoyote985]

Cargary

Sorry about this , but when I made my response I forgot that my rig is parked in my storage building. No room in there to put the slide out and take pic's. DUH. I'd pull it out and do it but have too many "irons in the fire" right now to do so.

I'll try to explain as best as I can verbally. Hopefully you'll be able to understand my instructions.

Step #1; If you look under your bedroom slide, you will see a piece of black trim molding (it has a "U" shaped cross section) that sits atop a section of white aluminum molding that runs the full width of the opening. Remove the screws from the ends of the black molding, gently lift it up at the ends and apply a good quality silicone sealant the the ends of the white aluminum molding where it meets the vertical moldings that frame the sides of the opening. Push the black molding back down and replace the screws.

Step # 2; If you look behind the rubber seal near the bottom of the slide sides, you'll see a drip channel. This drip channel is supposed to direct any water that gets behind the seal out and away from the interior. On my unit, the rear drip channel was pretty well covered by the rubber seal (apparently it was that way on my friends rig too) which wasn't allowing it to drip down freely.

This may be the hard part for you, but the dealer fix for this was to cut away the portion of the rubber seal that extends beyond the outer edge of the drip rail spout. They cut the seal in an arc so that the vertical leg of the arc was even with the outside end of the drip rail. They then built up a vertical ridge of caulk between the exit portion of the drip rail and the bottom edge of the slideout side. This caulk ridge is built out as far as the drip rail extends out and apparently helps keep the water from wicking back along the bottom side trim of the slideout.

Step #3; I checked all the trim joints on the bedroom slide and sealed any gaps with a light bead of caulk. Pay particular attention to the upper corners of the slide cutout in the sidewall. Mine actually had a gap where to the trim pieces met that I had to fill.

That's it. The above combination cured my leak (at least so far, so good)

I apologize for the lack of pic's. It's really hard to convey in words what you're trying to do on this. If you have any questions or need clarification, I'll do the best I can.

Gary

[Native Tex]

quote:Originally posted by cargary

We have had this persisting problem from the day we took delivery. We have a slight water leak in our bedroom slide and we and the dealership can't seem to find the cause in order to fix it. It always shows up as wet carpet under the - lacking a better name for it, the cabinet between the bed and the shower. The carpet I'm referencing is located beneath this cabinet and towards the shower. Its actually carpet applied to a raised corner beneath the cabinet and against the wall supporting it. I have been out in the rain and have found no evidence of water getting in, but after a rainfall, the carpet gets saturated enough to wet ones finger as its wiped accross this spot. The dealer has tried four times now to get this problem fixed and each time they think they got it fixed, water shows up again on the carpet. Its not as if its a major leak, but its annoying to find that it continues without resolution. Have any of the rest of you folks out there had or having this problem and if so, what did you find was the cause. I do make sure that the outside rubber seals are always flat against the slide, top and sides, so as eliminate this is a probable cause for the leak. Any and all help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Gary & Carole

We had a similar small problem and it was a fitting under the shower leaking and running around under the shower stall. I fixed it myself by removing the access panel on the side of the shower and just tightened the joint. There are three panels so just open one and observer. While I was there, I noticed what looked like a possible bad seal on the shower faucet. Since that was under warrenty , I let the dealer replace that item. No leaks since.

[cargary]

Thanks everyone for the valuable comments and ideas. Unfortunately, we can't try out the tightening of the shower water lines. Don't know if this could be the problem anyway, due to the fact that when the water in the carpet was noticed, it was after it had rained for about an hour. We will check it out, however, when we get it back from the dealership.
Incidentally, hope none of you mind, but we shared the comments that you folks made with the dealership service dept. Hopefully this will help and will be the last time we have to take it in for this problem.
Wileecoyote985, we appreciate the detailed steps in your explanation of what our problem could be. We have to admit however, that a picture is worth a thousand words, so when you're able, a picture of what you have proposed would be very helpful and appreciated.
Thanks again everyone and if anyoune else has an idea, please offer your comments. It may not only help us, but someone else also.
Gary & Carole