Pickup Hardtop/Canopy: Leaky seal

banana_bear

Hi lads,

I bought a pre owned pickup a bit over a week ago, and found out shortly afterwards that the hardtop/canopy was leaky. It turns out the seal between the truck bed and the canopy is split in places, that's where it leaks in. It's not exactly coming in by the bucketload, but it's enough to be annoying so I want it fixed.

I've taken pictures, but since it's dry out at the moment you can't really see where it leaks in. You can see the split seal though in the pictures at the end, the water runs down from there.

So, three questions:
One: How would you fix this? Patch it up? With what, and from the inside or from the outside? Or do a proper job, take the whole canopy down, put in a fresh seal, and put it up again?

Two: Since I'm crap at jobs like this, who could do this for me? Can any garage do this? Or a body shop? I'm in Wicklow if you have a specific recommendation.

Three: The car in question is a 2015 Hilux which I bought from a reputable dealer (2 hours away from me) who was adament that the pickup was absolutely pristine. So it's a new (and expensive) enough car, from a decent dealer. It came with a 6 months mapfre warranty. Would you regard something like this as a warranty case (the dealer shouldn't have sold me a pickup with a leaky canopy), or is a slightly leaky canopy in the same category as say a part worn tyre that's not gripping absolutely perfect anymore? The dealer was great to deal with and very helpful, so I don't want to rip the pi$$ with a ridiculous request, but I'm also not sure that a leaky hardtop is normal for a 4 year old, >20k€ car.

Thanks!

colm_mcm

Mc cabes tow bars in rathdowney would probably do this for you. They’re not terribly complicated things.

The hardtops are not made by Toyota/Nissan etc. They’re 3rd party accessories so aren’t built to the same standard as the rest of the machine. That said Toyota were selling them as original accessory parts but were rebranded Sammitr if I remember correctly.

bazz26

The problem with these 3rd party warranties is that it gives the issuing dealer a get out of jail card in which to wash their hands of any problems and tell you deal with the warranty company. The warranty company will then have you jumping through hoops and possible expense to prove the issue is a failure covered under the terms of their warranty. Have you contacted either to see what they say?

banana_bear

Nope I haven't contacted anyone yet, since I don't know if this even remotely is something that a warranty should cover. I'm just not sure if a slightly leaky canopy falls in the category "wear and tear, to be expected" or "shouldn't happen in an almost new car".


Whether the warranty (or the dealer themselves) will actually cover that is a question for a later time, and one that'll be answered pretty quickly I'm sure

Toyotafanboi

bazz26 wrote: »

The problem with these 3rd party warranties is that it gives the issuing dealer a get out of jail card in which to wash their hands of any problems and tell you deal with the warranty company. The warranty company will then have you jumping through hoops and possible expense to prove the issue is a failure covered under the terms of their warranty. Have you contacted either to see what they say?

Indeed and most Mapfre policies exclude rainwater ingress and also exclude repairs to non genuine accessories, which these canopies usually are.

I think it's fair to want it fixed though, surely the dealer should be able to do something for the OP, if it's a main dealer I'd certainly expect action.

Originally these usually sit on a rubber seal between the body and canopy which can perish over time and give trouble like this. I've seen them removed and a big bead of tiger seal applied which will definitely stop the leak in future, if a bit of a rough and ready approach.

bazz26

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Indeed and most Mapfre policies exclude rainwater ingress and also exclude repairs to non genuine accessories, which these canopies usually are.

I think it's fair to want it fixed though, surely the dealer should be able to do something for the OP, if it's a main dealer I'd certainly expect action.

Originally these usually sit on a rubber seal between the body and canopy which can perish over time and give trouble like this. I've seen them removed and a big bead of tiger seal applied which will definitely stop the leak in future, if a bit of a rough and ready approach.

I'd doubt a main dealer would be selling cars with 3rd party warranties. I'd imagine the vehicle would either be sold with an inhouse comprehensive warranty or not retailed on their forecourt.

Toyotafanboi

I've seen some main dealers do it on non franchise cars. I think the Toyota approved used car warranty is quite good though, so yeah it's unlikely to be from a Toyota dealer anyway.

banana_bear

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I've seen some main dealers do it on non franchise cars. I think the Toyota approved used car warranty is quite good though, so yeah it's unlikely to be from a Toyota dealer anyway.

That's exactly what happened, I bought it from a main dealer of another brand. I had the car inspected by an independant mechanic and it's in tip top shape, but they didn't notice the leak.

I'm primarily interested in your opinions whether you would consider this to even be something a dealer *should* fix. Assuming for the sake of argument the dealer is right across the street from me.

To be honest I'm not going to drive 2 hours there and another 2 hours back for them to fix it. But I'd definitely bring it up and see what they say about it, if not for anything else then out of curiosity how they handle it.