Hi Ratrod53
Geoff here, aka Jayd-S. I made the post where I had checked every seam nook and cranny and had the fender off and a whole lot more.
I have three VXs now, can't seem to get enough of them!
Since I made that post, in on of my other VXs I discovered one final way that water can and does get in and after going every other route, I have to admit that this might actually be the holy grail and cause of many wet carpet issues before.
From manufacture, the VX windshield is held in place away from the metal frame by approximately ten plastic spacers and the urethane sealing bead runs around the frame where the spacers are already attached. What I found was that in one place a plastic spacer was higher or thicker than the original sealing bead and by the look of the water marks, green algae and the lack of any surface flattening of the bead by the glass, I would guess that it had never formed a proper seal since it was first manufactured. In this particular VX, the carpet and felt under the carpet looked like it had been a very long standing problem.
What you can do for a quick test, is to remove the inside plastic trim of the front window pillar on the side that leaks. Ease off the rubber door seal parallel to the front windshield, then use a skinny plastic pry bar to pry the top and middle push-in fastners then carefully slide the trim upwards to unhook the bottom hook retainer. Now look for any watermarks; the plastic trim tends to channel water down behind the dash. Run water with a hose from the top of the windshield. Without the plastic trim in place, if the windshield spacer and defective seal is your problem, then you will begin to see small beads of water appear and drip.
Don't waste time trying to remove the head linning to check for this kind of leak as the water tends to wick towards the top corner on the side of the vehicle which is lowest when parked.
There are two fix options:
1. Remove the head liner and both window pillar inside plastic trims, then run a bead of black urethane sealant between the frame and the glass up one pillar, across the top and down the other pillar and you are done. Sounds easy but removing the head lining in order to run the top bead, is a pain in the ***! You have to remove the front and back inside plastic side panels before you can remove the head lining but if you are on a budget and don't mind a little work and a stiff neck, it is straight forward. OR...
2. You could have the windshild replaced, making sure that they do not use plastic spacers. With today's urethane sealant, the plastic spacers are redundant anyway. Three days after I got my yellow VX on the road, a rock hit my windshield and I ended up having to replace it. Thought it would be hell to find a replacement and big bucks but was shocked to find the best deal in town at Safelite Auto Glass. They are across the USA and they had the new windshield installed in 40 minutes for $200 all in and included a lifetime waranty on parts and workmanship!
Hope this helps!
Feel free to PM me if you want to pick up the phone and talk over a little troubleshooting. I may be able to save you a lot of time and frustration.
Geoff
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