Phishy

I have a 2011 JKU sport. I have 50k miles on it, so I am out of warranty. My hardtop is leaking at the "T", where my freedom panels come together and meet the header. Right at that latch water comes in and drips onto my Kenwood touch screen, when it rains I keep a towel up there to catch the water. It only comes in when I hit the breaks with water on the top. So obviously when the water rushes forward it finds a way in. I've tried reseating the panels countless times. I've tried various amounts of pressue with the screw in's. I've tried altering the order of the latches, etc. Nothing has worked, still getting water at that spot.

History on my jeep. I bought it used in April of 2012 with 20k miles on it (I drive a lot). I bought it from a non-jeep dealership. The leak starterd after the 36k warranty was up.

I called the local jeep dealership and told them my issue. They told me (as expected) that all repairs would be at my cost. I haven't made an appointment yet as I don't want to get raked over the coals for this fix.

Have any of you fixed this yourself? If so, how?

Are there any recalls or anything that I can show the dealership so they'll work on my top on their dime? Or am I SOL?

Thanks.

Freewill

Based on my experience with a 2011 hardtop, the warranty would not help you much. The dealer has replaced all my seals under warranty twice, and changed some of the seals a couple more times. It never makes any difference.

Jeep says they've developed all new seals, and the dealer says mine are all up to date. Wish I could say it helped. They also admit their service department is a revolving door of leaking JK hardtops.

I don't have a garage. I expect to get some kind of cover before next winter.

Ryan0260

You would think with new seals installed, and proper installation, the problem would be fixed. My original 07 hardtop has never leaked. Not once. I'll consider myself lucky for now.

Freewill

The new seals look good, and I haven't found any obvious lack of care with the installation. The leaks have been left and right, both front and behind the seats.

Starting with 2011 the top looks about the same but it is a new design made by a different supplier. It seems they got some stuff wrong and haven't been able to sort it out.

Phishy

Any other experiences? I'm kind of sick of keeping a towel on my dash!

rogerd196886

Do a search for "Jeep Leak Fixes" in the "JK write up" section and it will give you a link to a PDF file with fixes to water leaks in the hard-tops

OH9JK

Here is the PDF link...

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7IW...it?usp=sharing

Phishy

Thank you!

dkt2g12

I wipe down the seals and the area where they touch as often as possible. The amount of dust and dirt shocking and I think it plays a part in the leaking. just my $.02 and i only get a lil leaking when I haven't wiped them down for some time.

Ryan0260

That may be true. I have seen more than one '11 hardtop for sale on Craiglist. There is a reason people are getting rid of them...