ElectricWizards 2000 TJ Sport Build

I wonder why Jeep designed it that way? I also find it funny how our Jeeps leak from dozens of other spots yet a literal gap in a seal poses no problems!

No idea whatsoever. I don't drive mine as much in the rain, so if it leaks, I don't even know! But after reading your post above, I'm tempted to just order new seals and inspect everything just because I'm anal / OCD like that!
 
No idea whatsoever. I don't drive mine as much in the rain, so if it leaks, I don't even know! But after reading your post above, I'm tempted to just order new seals and inspect everything just because I'm anal / OCD like that!
I don't think mine has leaked from the gaps, the driver-side has stayed dry since I sealed that up a year ago. I just find it surprising they're not an issue!

I'd gladly replace all of mine if I could find OEM seals! I haven't been too happy with the aftermarket seals, in particular my Crown door seal. It's much thicker than the OEM and makes the door tougher to close and stick out a bit farther.

So far the only leaking seal that's truly been a pain in the ass has been the windshield cowl seal detailed in my post. All the other leaks I've been able to fix relatively easily.
 
I don't think mine has leaked from the gaps, the driver-side has stayed dry since I sealed that up a year ago. I just find it surprising they're not an issue!

I'd gladly replace all of mine if I could find OEM seals! I haven't been too happy with the aftermarket seals, in particular my Crown door seal. It's much thicker than the OEM and makes the door tougher to close and stick out a bit farther.

So far the only leaking seal that's truly been a pain in the ass has been the windshield cowl seal detailed in my post. All the other leaks I've been able to fix relatively easily.

I would think those thicker seals just need to break in more, no?

You could probably find OE seals, but since they don't make then anymore, eventually you'll have no choice but to run aftermarket ones unfortunately!

Sounds like that cowl seal is a real pain in the butt. Hopefully I don't run into that issue.
 
I would think those thicker seals just need to break in more, no?
I thought this might be the case so I just rolled with it. It's been about a year now and doesn't seem to have got any easier.

You could probably find OE seals, but since they don't make then anymore, eventually you'll have no choice but to run aftermarket ones unfortunately!
Yep, it's pretty much at that point. Either not available or astronomically priced. I had looked at one point and found an OEM door seal for around $220..
 
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I thought this might be the case so I just rolled with it. It's been about a year now and doesn't seem to have got any easier.


Yep, it's pretty much at that point. Either not available or astronomically priced. I had looked at one point and found an OEM door seal for around $220..

Might be worth seeing if you can trim those Crown seals down a bit?
 
Might be worth seeing if you can trim those Crown seals down a bit?
I'm not sure you easily could. From what I recall some parts are basically a rubber tube, whereas others are more solid. I'm thinking they might've just used a thicker material; the design itself is more or less identical to the OEM seal.

I can't fault Crown on quality at least, the seal really is well made and hasn't caused me any leak issues (that I know of). Now if they could just make it the same thickness as the OEM one it'd be perfect!
 
I'm not sure you easily could. From what I recall some parts are basically a rubber tube, whereas others are more solid. I'm thinking they might've just used a thicker material; the design itself is more or less identical to the OEM seal.

I can't fault Crown on quality at least, the seal really is well made and hasn't caused me any leak issues (that I know of). Now if they could just make it the same thickness as the OEM one it'd be perfect!

Gotcha. Yeah, I'm sure they just made it from a slightly thicker rubber, which was enough to make things fit a little less flush. I suppose it's better than having no option at all though!
 
Gotcha. Yeah, I'm sure they just made it from a slightly thicker rubber, which was enough to make things fit a little less flush. I suppose it's better than having no option at all though!
I agree! I'm very happy to have manufacturers like Crown who continue to support us TJ owners. I might try contacting them regarding this and see what they have to say.
 
I agree! I'm very happy to have manufacturers like Crown who continue to support us TJ owners. I might try contacting them regarding this and see what they have to say.

You'll have to hope you get ahold of someone who speaks English and not Chinese ;)
 
You'll have to hope you get ahold of someone who speaks English and not Chinese ;)
That's exactly why I've learned to do all my own work for everything, so I'd never have to deal with crappy tech support :risas3:

I went the easy route and sent them an email asking if it's supposed to be thicker, we'll see what comes back.
 
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Looks like fun, we've been getting our first rain in 6 months here in California and my drivers side got soaked, I mean puddling water.. gotta figure that out I can cherry pick a lot of what you've done :D
 
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Looks like fun, we've been getting our first rain in 6 months here in California and my drivers side got soaked, I mean puddling water.. gotta figure that out I can cherry pick a lot of what you've done :D
Good that you guys got it though, certainly needed it!

If you can't find any other obvious leaks then definitely start looking at that windshield cowl seal ;)

My plan is to replace it when the weather gives me a chance. I just bought an Omix-Ada 12302.05 seal from Amazon as it's currently 35% off. Reviews seem to be about the same across all the brands (Crown, Omix, Fairchild). I'm hoping installing this without any additional RTV will work.
 
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I'm guessing you'll get a very unhelpful response in return ;)

Well you see that's why I went with the simple option so I wasn't wasting much time in that case :risas3:.


I kinda hope my new cowl seal runs on the thicker side. A little extra force to seal that up good definitely won't hurt!
 
Well you see that's why I went with the simple option so I wasn't wasting much time in that case :risas3:.


I kinda hope my new cowl seal runs on the thicker side. A little extra force to seal that up good definitely won't hurt!

True, that wouldn't hurt. That cowl seal is so simple that you could go to any auto part store and likely find a seal from another vehicle that wold fit it easily.
 
The weather was cooperative today and gave me some time to work on replacing my windshield cowl seal. I purchased an Omix-Ada 12302.05 seal since it was on sale for 35% off (hahahaha...)


I started by removing the cowl and was greeted with a surprise: somehow water is getting into my air intake. I'll have to figure out a way to prevent that another day..

20utuys.jpg

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After that I undid all the bolts to lower the windshield and began to remove the old seal. It was pretty obvious where the water was getting in beneath the seal, there was plenty of dirt and dust where it had remained dry but the edges were cleaner. A bit of Windex on a cloth and all that was cleaned up easily.

2irntlf.jpg


It looked like the new seal didn't use 3 of the 5 plastic push-pins that the OEM seal did, but 2 of them had tiny holes where the pins would be, so I chose to seal those with RTV just in case. After transferring over some plastic rings from the old seal to the new it was time to install it.

This is where the trouble began...


The seal was a bit stiff from shipping and made it a bit difficult to position correctly. The fact that 3 of the push-pin holes are not used also made it much more difficult. Also, the 2 included push-pins didn't fit. They look like they would, but nope. Thankfully I had some on hand that did work (the ones on the left).

260tt1c.jpg


Next I found it extremely difficult to get the seal to sit in the correct position. I'd have to use the cowl screws to position it and raise/lower the windshield a dozen times. Even then, it was only close-ish.

a3mrn6.jpg

f06jxl.jpg


After I had it roughly in position getting the cowl to line up with the notch was proving to be a nightmare. The seals thickness was also starting to become a major issue as it wasn't allowing the cowl to sit where it needed to.

At this point it really began to become a cascade of nightmares.

I was barely able to get the cowl screws to line up and attempting to tighten them down was warping and egging out the holes a bit, and even then it doesn't sit how it did with the OEM seal. Trying to adjust it I now realized that for some reason the cowl is wedged in super tight now. I wanted to take the cowl off to see what might be the problem, and I can't remove the cowl at all anymore (at least without folding down the windshield, I believe). Seriously. It is so wedged in there with that new seal, I was starting to scratch my hood hinges and I'm sure the cowl was 1 stage from bending.

2ezpj40.jpg


Needless to say at this point I'm pretty pissed. Oh but it doesn't end..

I just needed to get it wrapped up as I had other things to do soon. I'm not happy at all with how it's going but figured I could just live with it for now. But then I noticed my wiper shaft is touching the cowl. Went to grab the wiper arm to try it on and sure enough it's touching the cowl too.. Great...

34gwvvc.jpg

x1dipv.jpg


So not only do I have a horrible fit that bothers the crap out of me, I also can't use my wipers at all without scratching the cowl! Oh yeah.. I'm definitely pissed now.


So that's where it sits currently. I can only hope that seal doesn't leak, but at this point won't be surprised if it does. Supposed to have a good bit of rain tomorrow so we'll see.

When I get another chance I'll probably see what I can do to make the fit better. I honestly don't know that I can. I've still got the OEM seal, I might try to repair it and just RTV the crap out of it.

At this point I've lost all faith in aftermarket seals for the TJ; all the ones I've used have been an awful experience.
I plan to contact Omix-Ada and share my experience and I'm sure I'll get the usual "it's made to OE spec, might've been a bad product, we can try and warranty it" spiel.
 
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The weather was cooperative today and gave me some time to work on replacing my windshield cowl seal. I purchased an Omix-Ada 12302.05 seal since it was on sale for 35% off (hahahaha...)


I started by removing the cowl and was greeted with a surprise: somehow water is getting into my air intake. I'll have to figure out a way to prevent that another day..

View attachment 65671
View attachment 65672
View attachment 65673


After that I undid all the bolts to lower the windshield and began to remove the old seal. It was pretty obvious where the water was getting in beneath the seal, there was plenty of dirt and dust where it had remained dry but the edges were cleaner. A bit of Windex on a cloth and all that was cleaned up easily.

View attachment 65674

It looked like the new seal didn't use 3 of the 5 plastic push-pins that the OEM seal did, but 2 of them had tiny holes where the pins would be, so I chose to seal those with RTV just in case. After transferring over some plastic rings from the old seal to the new it was time to install it.

This is where the trouble began...


The seal was a bit stiff from shipping and made it a bit difficult to position correctly. The fact that 3 of the push-pin holes are not used also made it much more difficult. Also, the 2 included push-pins didn't fit. They look like they would, but nope. Thankfully I had some on hand that did work (the ones on the left).

View attachment 65675

Next I found it extremely difficult to get the seal to sit in the correct position. I'd have to use the cowl screws to position it and raise/lower the windshield a dozen times. Even then, it was only close-ish.

View attachment 65676
View attachment 65677

After I had it roughly in position getting the cowl to line up with the notch was proving to be a nightmare. The seals thickness was also starting to become a major issue as it wasn't allowing the cowl to sit where it needed to.

At this point it really began to become a cascade of nightmares.

I was barely able to get the cowl screws to line up and attempting to tighten them down was warping and egging out the holes a bit, and even then it doesn't sit how it did with the OEM seal. Trying to adjust it I now realized that for some reason the cowl is wedged in super tight now. I wanted to take the cowl off to see what might be the problem, and I can't remove the cowl at all anymore (at least without folding down the windshield, I believe). Seriously. It is so wedged in there with that new seal, I was starting to scratch my hood hinges and I'm sure the cowl was 1 stage from bending.

View attachment 65678

Needless to say at this point I'm pretty pissed. Oh but it doesn't end..

I just needed to get it wrapped up as I had other things to do soon. I'm not happy at all with how it's going but figured I could just live with it for now. But then I noticed my wiper shaft is touching the cowl. Went to grab the wiper arm to try it on and sure enough it's touching the cowl too.. Great...

View attachment 65679
View attachment 65680

So not only do I have a horrible fit that bothers the crap out of me, I also can't use my wipers at all without scratching the cowl! Oh yeah.. I'm definitely pissed now.


So that's where it sits currently. I can only hope that seal doesn't leak, but at this point won't be surprised if it does. Supposed to have a good bit of rain tomorrow so we'll see.

When I get another chance I'll probably see what I can do to make the fit better. I honestly don't know that I can. I've still got the OEM seal, I might try to repair it and just RTV the crap out of it.

At this point I've lost all faith in aftermarket seals for the TJ; all the ones I've used have been an awful experience.
I plan to contact Omix-Ada and share my experience and I'm sure I'll get the usual "it's made to OE spec, might've been a bad product, we can try and warranty it" spiel.

Well that’s not good for our problem
 
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Well that’s not good for our problem
Yep definitely not good! Still TBD if it'll leak.

I still plan to toy around with this one and see if I can make it better. I'll probably try and drill out the missing push-pin holes. If it's still junk then I'll just fix up the OE seal with some 3M foam tape and RTV top and bottom. Shouldn't leak then ;)
 
@ElectricWizard damn that sucks! I cannot imagine not using wipers in this time of the year where we live. Hope you find a better solution soon. Keep us posted!
Yeah, exactly why I'm so frustrated! Good working wipers are mandatory around here, even moreso on the TJ :)

Honestly, my solution might just be what I mentioned in my reply to @tomtaylz about reusing the OE seal. I never see the need to drop the windshield so might as well seal 'er up!
 
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