yellowjeeper85

Hello everyone, I too have the hardtop and have been having a small leak problem where the front to panels meet. I test drove an X where there was a fair amount of water coming in, though i don't think the panels where lined up quite right because none of the other jeeps i've been in had the problem quite that bad. Anyway, on my hardtop Rubicon, i've noticed an obnoxious whistling sound of an air leak and later notice a tiny bit of water getting in when it rains. I finally traced it up to where the top's two front panels meet right above the windshield. Upon further examination i realized the weatherstripping was very cushiony... except for a section a few inches to the right of center of the windshield. It felt like there was something inside the weather stripping there and there were also two little plastic rivets poking through the weather stripping as if they were holding this thing in place inside. To be entirely honest, i think Jeep made a mistake, that this was supposed to be placed where the two front panels meet because it does absolutely nothing where it is at. So heres the fix: First, get a REALLY sharp razor blade and some needle nose pliers. Cut a small slit in the weather stripping and pull that thing out of there, it turns out its a rubbery hose looking thing thats about 6 inches long. Next step is to get some of that cheap generic weather stripping that is about 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch with the adhesive on one side that 3M makes and is sold at any hardware store, or wal-mart. Also get some stiff wire. Take that sharp blade and cut two slits in the Jeep's weather stripping each about 8 to 10 inches from the center of the windshield... this means that the two slits should be about 16 to 20 inches apart from each other, centered above the windshield. Now take that stiff wire and double it up and twist it together leaving an "eye" on the end where you fold over the wire... Like you're making a Huge Needle. Now take about 30 inches of the generic weatherstripping and feed it through the Eye of your newly made needle. once it is fed half way through, peel off the backing and stick the sticky sides together to double up the thickness. Now just feed your giant needle from one slit to the other and once you have a little bit of generic weather stripping sticking out of each end, cut off the excess. and bingo! The center 16 inches or so of your Jeep's weather stripping is now filled with the generic weather stripping which makes it firm enough that when you put your top back on, it can plump up into the gap between the panels, but not so firm that the panels won't go on. I just did this a few days ago and have been driving around in all weather conditions (sun, snow, rain) and have no water, and no more whistle from the air leak. This Same method seems like it will work on the back glass if thats leaking too. Mine is leaking a little bit, only a drop here and there, but i think i'm just going to adhere the generic weather stripping to the top of the inside of the glass window in the back since its easy enough to do and not in a place that anyone will really see it. Sorry i don't have any pictures, i'm still trying to find my digital camera, but once you start looking at it and read this over a few times you should be able to figure it out. good luck!

Beel_MT

This is an interesting fix. Looking forward to someone else checking their seal and giving this a try.

I don't even have my Jeep yet so I can't check mine.

To clarify one thing, you said

So the weather stripping is doubled over for the entire length of the filled area? That's what it looks like you mean, I just wanted to double check.


Beel

yellowjeeper85

yep, thats exactly what i meant. the weather stripping is doubled over for extra padding, and just like thread through the eye of a needle, so is the weather stripping, only the weather stripping also has adhesive to stick it together. Did a bunch of driving today, freeway, main roads, back roads, uphill downhill, basically i just had a lot of errands to run and things to take care of, but it was a great way to test every condition that used to make it whistle from the air leak, and thankfully, not a peep! no whistling and no leaking.

yellowjeeper85

hey everybody, just wanted to follow up on this, i was at the dealer today getting the TSB 1803606 which i recommend to any JK built before november 10th 2006, but while i was waiting for that, i was looking at the JK in the showroom, and sure enough, someone at DC figured out that the rubber hose thing inside the weather stripping was off center and go that fixed. because this one had the rubber hose thing centered so that it would actually work to seal the gap between the two front hardtop panels. So i guess now you all of the choice of fixing it yourself like i did or going to your dealer and explaining the situation to them so they'll order you a new one. Good luck!.

dug

I'm going to have to try this. I hope it does the trick.

fraynes1

For those of us that are not mechanically inclined could we get pics. I know I will screw it up unless I get the dummied down version.

yellowjeeper85

As for pics, two things, the first is that i wont be back at home until next week, and my camera is at home. but i will take some pics once i get back and try to explain it step by step with pics. the other thing is that i don't know how to post pics yet, i'm better at wrenching on my jeeps than the whole computer thing, but i'll figure it out for ya. Otherwise, go back to your dealer and tell them it leaks, and look at the ones on their showroom floor until you find one with the firm spot of the weather stripping in the middle obove the windshield... i know that doesn't make a lot of sense without the pictures so i'll post some up next week sometime. Good luck if you decide to visit the dealer.

yellowjeeper85

ok, at last i've learned how to post pics the easy way thanks to another member here in another thread... just go to tinypic.com and load them up and copy the link it provides you into the insert image field for posting pics on the thread and bingo, pics... yay!!! Now all i have to do is actually take the dang pics next week when i get my camera... so until then, good luck with just my write up

Rubidon

Hello, What is the TSB 1803606? My JK was built before Nov. Thanx.

Spozzie

here is the forum thread

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-electrical-lighting-sound-systems-13/tsb-18-036-06-awesome-1224/

Talks about flashing the chip to improve performance and iron out some computer problems.