Hope it doesn't stick to both surfaces when you remove the panel. Good luck with it!

 

well...california is a great place to garage your cars. as long as you don't drive them much. of course, i'm not factoring in the real estate costs. and we've got high-speed rail to look forward to.

 

I took of the panel today and found that I had a pretty good seal all around. A bit light in the top right corner but still touching.It was not stuck too tightly and popped off OK, the caulk all stayed on the car side.

I now have to find a good adhesive backed seal that is not to wide. 1/8" thick x 1/8" or maybe 3/16" max. wide should be OK. If its too wide it takes too much pressure to clamp it down.

 

I found the closed cell foam and applied it a month or so ago. Today I tested it with the hose and there were no leaks.
Job done.

 

Great work, and thanks for the follow through. Can you please provide us with a Part # for the final gasket you used and where you got it? And did you use a double sided tape to hold it in place or did the gasket come with an adhesive? Thanks again for the very throughly write up.

 

I have updated post #18 which now gives info on the foam tape used.

 

Thank you sir, much appreciated.

 

For everyone that has accomplished this fix, I have a couple of questions and would appreciate your input. Right now, I have the panel and spoiler off the car and, of course, the panel and spoiler are not attached to each other.

180 - you mentioned in the first post that you were going to tackle the "wells" where the spoiler sits in the panel but I don't see what you did to remedy that area (unless I missed it). I, also, have the rust on the spoiler mount and the panel at the attach point. I don't think the new o-rings will stop water from getting in there. Was there something else you did?

For those that used silicone to seal the panel, did you just follow the "path" on the back side of the panel? Did you double up the width of the silicone near the bottom of the panel where it goes around the Chrysler logo - like 180 did with the putty in post 18?

How "tall" of a bead of silicone did you use? How much squeeze out did you experience?

Did anyone else do something to stop the water from getting between the spoiler mounting feet and the panel?

I assume that if water was to get in around the mounting feet of the spoiler, the new o-rings will keep the water from getting into the trunk area, correct?

Sorry for all of the questions, but if I silicone this thing, I want to make sure I have all of the bases covered since it won't be fun to take the panel off to try again.

Thanks all for your help!!

RL

 

I had forgotten this project. I have to take of the wing and see how it fared over the summer. I have not found any tube that was soft enough to put along the top to stop water getting into the top of the panel. I will take a photo of the parts when I take it apart.

To seal the pockets where the wing sits I was thinking of using a putty like substance, rolling it and putting it around the foot that goes down the pocket so that it was squashed between the outer surface and the wing with some getting pushed down the edges of the pocket. I have some stuff that I have had from the sixties which is still pliable. It is like plasticine with strands of what I think is asbestos in it.

The flat area above the Chrysler badge I think I will leave clear except for the seal that is on some areas. I may spray it with some thin undercoat.

Remember if you do silicone it you will not get it off again, so any fluke body damage in that area or another leak will not be fixable.

 

Thanks for the update, Dave. I would like to see the pictures and hear your evaluation of your repair after you remove the parts again. I know what you mean about using silicone - that is my fear - if I don't get it completely fixed, I won't get a second chance. I may try to find some sealing "rope" in my neck of the woods that will provide a good seal while still allowing re-work, if needed.

A thought about the spoiler feet - since the "plate" at the base of the feet is the only metal part at the join area, do you think the plate could be coated with a rust inhibitor or just painted to stop the rust? If the o-rings are new, that would keep any water from entering the trunk area. Keeping ANY water out of the "well" would be the ideal plan, but do you think that would help stop any rusting if water was to get in there?

Thankfully, this isn't my DD so I have time to experiment.

Thanks again!!

RL

 

Onehundred80, do you think that a gasket cut from cork gasket material or a bicycle tube (my choice) would be able to seal the whole pocket from water getting in. I just took my wing off yesterday and noticed a little rust forming in the pocket but not too bad.

 

Since the silicone would not allow any rework if I didn't get the leak fixed, I opted for 180's original idea of using the "putty rope" around the indention of the panel. I used the "Mortite" product that I found at Lowe's for about $7. Since it can be peeled off in small diameter ropes, I used a single strand around the perimeter and did a triple strand around the curve where the logo will fit (180 uses a double width of it in post #18). Since this stuff is tacky, it stayed in place well when the panel was reinstalled and seemed to smash into place very well. I opted for the Mortite because it was the only caulk rope I found that advertised that it stayed flexible and wouldn't dry out. Only time will tell on that, but I put a piece of it in my oven at 200 degrees F for about 5 hours and it did not melt or dry out. Was still flexible / tacky when I removed it and tested it. I also put a piece in the deep freeze for 24 hours (ranges from 0 to 10 degrees F) and it did not freeze - was still pliable when I took it out. Additionally, I put a piece in the garage (protected from the elements) and a piece on the porch (subjected to the elements) and so far, so good. Wind, rain cold and sun don't seem to greatly affect it.

I also took a piece of this and rolled it really thin to put around the bottom perimeter of the spoiler mount wells. As an extra water prevention measure, I coated the metal feet of the spoiler with a spray lubricant to help if any water was to get in the area.

Bolted it all back together and immediately ran water over the panel and around the spoiler feet for several minutes, concentrating on trying to flood the gaps of the panel. Not a drop ended up inside the car, so I am guessing the seal worked. Once it warms up again, I am going to take it to a high pressure car wash - both a manual and a touch-less automatic - to see if there are any leaks. If it passes, then I guess I will call it good. Since I am not sure how it will react to soaps and other chemicals that might get in there, if, down the road, the caulk rope begins to fail, I have plenty of stuff to do the repair again as that box has 90 linear feet of product.

Thanks

RL

 

Quote:

Onehundred80, do you think that a gasket cut from cork gasket material or a bicycle tube (my choice) would be able to seal the whole pocket from water getting in. I just took my wing off yesterday and noticed a little rust forming in the pocket but not too bad.

The trouble I found was that the gap is not even all around, some places touch of course but the other areas have gaps that vary in thickness, this required a gasket that could conform to the appropriate thickness. I used the soft caulking to get an idea of how thick the gaps were and what the final gasket had to fit to without leaving air gaps. The largest gaps were where the panel transitions from the bottom of the pocket to the top face, mostly the corners where the radii are.

The caulking I used did stick to the metal, but it all came off on the panel if I recall correctly. I would hesitate to use it permanently in case it did stick tight. Maybe a light spray with Pam would act as a release agent.

I have to take off the panel and see what happened to my attempts. The flat area above the Chrysler emblem is awkward, any gaps there might let water in but not let it dry out due to a lack of air movement. I opted to leave it open with the seal farther back.

 

I had the back plastic trim off and it rained. Noticed I have a leak as well. How long is this repair with RTV? 1-2 hours?

 

I would plan on the 2 hour time frame. Once you get in there, you'll want to clean it well and it takes a bit of time to get the old gasket removed from the panel. Be sure to keep a hand on the spoiler when you remove the nuts - you don't want that thing falling off unexpectedly.

RL

 

Thanks for the info. What about the seals for teh wing itself. Dealer item? if so how much?

 

There really aren't seals for the wing "feet" bit there are o-rings on the studs. My o-rings looked really good, so I reused them. The bottom of the feet have a metal insert in them that rusts, so I coated them with some spray lubricant / water repellant like WD-40 to try to keep moisture off of them. I also put a bead of the caulking rope (a very thin bead) in the bottom of the foot well to prevent moisture from getting in there. If you end up needing new o-rings, I'm sure an auto parts store would carry them. I think 180 listed the size of them somewhere on the forum.

RL

 

Thanks for the great detail!

 

I had some good leaks that were masked by the plastic trim. Fortunately I had it removed, saw water drips, then searched here, problems solved. I just ran a thin bead of black water proof RTV silicone around the gasket which had squished out of alignment OEM in two areas at the bottom and in one long area on the top. The studs to the wing were starting to rust. I sealed those up as well. Water was dripping from most of the nuts under this spoiler mount plate. crazy.



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Here's the top of the plate



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Here's the wing



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The trouble with this sealant is that if you do not seal it the first time you do not have a second chance.
Also any damage to this area could be tough to repair.
There is always BrianBraves solution, see post #15.