Fix drainage on 987 Cayman door

hs001jde · Mar 9, 2024

Good evening, I’m suffering from what seems to be a common problem, wet carpet at the bottom of my door card. I’ve watched all the YouTube videos I can find on how to fix the issue. I’ve removed the door card successfully, even managed to do it without breaking any of the clips! All the clips were in good condition and the seals were good. I can however see that the rubber seal that runs between the bottom of the inner metal plate and the outer door is completely perished and soaking wet. So I’ll replace this which seems easy enough. But what I can’t work out is how the water is meant to drain away. There a couple of holes just above the rubber seal so it could escape through them, so long as the rubber seal is water tight. If I replace this rubber seal will that definitely fix the problem? To me it seems like the rubber seal should be a last defence to catch any excess water and that there should be some other channel or drain to allow the water to escape quickly. Is there anything else inside the door that needs to be checked before I put everything back together again!

Thanks in advance

Motorhead · Mar 10, 2024

Sorry but I can’t provide any first-hand advice, and you don’t give any information on the type of Cayman and its age and mileage, but I’m sure that replacing the seal you mention will help. Also you may need to consider how water gets in there in the first place and think about replacing the lip seal at the top of the door frame too?

Jeff

hs001jde · Mar 11, 2024

Thanks Jeff, that’s a good shout about the lip seal. It all looks pretty good around there but I’ll see if I can test it while the card is off.

I’ve got a 2006 Cayman S with 55k miles on the clock. Based on the videos I’ve seen showing fixes for this it looks like all the 987s suffered from this.

ianthow · Mar 14, 2024

hs001jde said:
Good evening, I’m suffering from what seems to be a common problem, wet carpet at the bottom of my door card. I’ve watched all the YouTube videos I can find on how to fix the issue. I’ve removed the door card successfully, even managed to do it without breaking any of the clips! All the clips were in good condition and the seals were good. I can however see that the rubber seal that runs between the bottom of the inner metal plate and the outer door is completely perished and soaking wet. So I’ll replace this which seems easy enough. But what I can’t work out is how the water is meant to drain away. There a couple of holes just above the rubber seal so it could escape through them, so long as the rubber seal is water tight. If I replace this rubber seal will that definitely fix the problem? To me it seems like the rubber seal should be a last defence to catch any excess water and that there should be some other channel or drain to allow the water to escape quickly. Is there anything else inside the door that needs to be checked before I put everything back together again!

Thanks in advance

Hi,

Good colour choice on your 987.

Any water getting into the door should drain out at two points on the lower edge of the door. These are actually difficult to see from inside the door assembly. They drain out through corresponding holes in the outer door seal. To see these, you need to open the door and get down low to look up at the underside of the door. The rear pair are close to the blanked off holes that allow access to fine adjust the window position. There is another drain through this seal near the front of the door. The second picture shows clearly that the rearmost holes in the seal align with holes in the door frame.

I would be surprised if these are blocked. Even with a new outer window seal, some rainwater will get into the door shell. Some will remain in the bottom of the door. The drains will only prevent a larger build-up. The water collecting between the inner and outer skin is more likely caused by warm humid air inside the door shell condensing on the inner skin and running down onto the top of the inner skin seal, or through to the door card if the seals are perished.

I have not suffered from the wet carpet problem, but I did experience a broken window control cable caused was rusting of the braided wire cable at the lower rear pulley:

hs001jde · Mar 15, 2024

Thanks Ian, that’s very helpful. I hadn’t seen the holes in the door seal before, makes more sense now. I reckon if I replace the perished seal between the inner skin seal and outer door panel it should fix the problem.

ianthow · Mar 15, 2024

A new seal should fix the wet carpet issue but you will still have internal condensation.
While you have the inner skin off, check the cables on the window lifter, especially around the two lower pulleys. The cables look like they are zinc coated but this can break up with normal use. Any water dripping onto, or condensing on, the cables will collect around the lower pullys causing the individual wires to corrode and eventually break, usually on a rainy day when you have opened the window at a parking barrier...
I am guessing that you car lives outside so sees the best and worst of our weather. If it is parked with the door in direct sun, the outer skin, and the air inside, will get warm first, drying off any beads of water that have found their way inside the door shell. As soon as the sun goes down, you will get condensation on any cooler surfaces.

Motorhead · Mar 15, 2024

Some useful insight there Ian … well done.

It’s the hidden problems which can catch us out now that these cars have reached Classic Porsche status.

Jeff

hs001jde · Mar 17, 2024

ianthow said:
A new seal should fix the wet carpet issue but you will still have internal condensation.
While you have the inner skin off, check the cables on the window lifter, especially around the two lower pulleys. The cables look like they are zinc coated but this can break up with normal use. Any water dripping onto, or condensing on, the cables will collect around the lower pullys causing the individual wires to corrode and eventually break, usually on a rainy day when you have opened the window at a parking barrier...
I am guessing that you car lives outside so sees the best and worst of our weather. If it is parked with the door in direct sun, the outer skin, and the air inside, will get warm first, drying off any beads of water that have found their way inside the door shell. As soon as the sun goes down, you will get condensation on any cooler surfaces.

Thanks Ian, I had a good look on the inside. It actually looks really good, no issues seen though the previous owner did have it garaged for the last 10 years.

Before replacing the rubber seal along the bottom I tested it by pouring water on the outside of the window, very quickly I could see water appear from between the inner and outer panel. I then replaced the rubber seal and carried out the same test. This time, the water only appeared from the drainage holes. So looks like the fix has worked *touch wood*.
Thanks for your help with this

hs001jde · Monday at 8:25 AM

Good morning, thought I'd post an update on this. It's been 6 months since my last post on this. Removing the inner door card and then replacing the rubber seal between the inner metal diaphram and outer door has worked, no more wet door cards! Problem solved.