Volvo 240/245 tailgate rubber weather seal fitting woes

[philroche]

Hi all,

Yet another tailgate thread but this one is a little more specific about weather seal fitting woes.

My lovely 1990 240 GL estate needed some welding on the tailgate so we removed the weather seal and I bought a new one to fit post welding and paint.

New seal is genuine new old stock 1372058 from Skandix.de as per parts listings and as per gcp.se



With a bit of perseverance and some graphite lubricant the seal eventually slid in to the track but once seated the tailgate will not close without the seal catching. It is well seated and no bumpy or wavy areas.







I can eventually close it with some go go gadget arms and some trim fittings tools poking the seal back in as I lower the tailgate.



Is this normal after fitting a new seal?

I thought maybe the seal could be pointing outwards instead but then it would stick out of the gap between body and tailgate and is unlikely to form a good seal plus I found a listing for a tailgate on ebay showing the inward facing direction of the seal.



My hope is that now that I have the tailgate closed it will form to that shape eventually.

I still have the original seal and it is quite different with a more bubble/tube like shape for the sides and bottom with a felt like material on the body facing side. It is also in one continuous piece. I can't seem to find this in stock anywhere despite it supposedly having the same part number.

Any ideas all?

In desperation I also bought the seal 688372 from earlier 240 models which 1372058 replaces but it looks very similar but not as wide. If nobody has any ideas here I'll try that seal and failing that I'll revert to the original seal which thankfully is still in tact.

[volvo always]

I would try the other seal. New, It looks too wide. Unless current outer edge is supposed to go into track instead? Seems like a line/shading along the seal, that may need to slide into track?

There may be a tailgate seal size difference between the bonded larger tailgate glass and the smaller pre facelift earlier glass. Just may of got lost on the part number?

James.

[philroche]

The older seal 688372 fitted today. A little wider so would not slide in the track so had to go around millimetre by millimetre poking it in with a trim tool.

Closes now no problem and appears to be a good seal.

Lesson learned

[volvo always]

Originally Posted by philroche

The older seal 688372 fitted today. A little wider so would not slide in the track so had to go around millimetre by millimetre poking it in with a trim tool.

Closes now no problem and appears to be a good seal.

Lesson learned

At least you had bought it, and another job sorted.

James

[philroche]

Hi all.

I am reopening this thread. Despite initial success, even with the older seal 688372 fitted I am still having awful trouble with seal catching when closing tailgate.

Is anyone having these issues with the 240 estate rubber seal?

It feel at this stage like the tailgate was perhaps repaired and the runner channels for the seal is pointing in the wrong direction causing ti to point outwards instead of straight down.

I can't find any evidence of such a repair though.

[Clifford Pope]

I had exactly this problem a few years ago when I bought a new genuine seal from the local Volvo dealer.
I did notice that the original seal appeared to be shaped, with pre-formed bends and curves to go round the corners. The new seal looked as if it was straight, and just cut off the reel to the correct length.

The effect was that it wanted to jump the corners, and the outer parts of the bends were not flexible enough to stretch smoothly round.

I solved the problem by making a tiny puncture and feeding a whole straightened-out wire coathanger down the inside of the tube, shaping it through the rubber to follow the curve. Once in place it couldn't work loose because it now had a bend. The seal has seated perfectly ever since.

[philroche]

Originally Posted by Clifford Pope

I had exactly this problem a few years ago when I bought a new genuine seal from the local Volvo dealer.
I did notice that the original seal appeared to be shaped, with pre-formed bends and curves to go round the corners. The new seal looked as if it was straight, and just cut off the reel to the correct length.

The effect was that it wanted to jump the corners, and the outer parts of the bends were not flexible enough to stretch smoothly round.

I solved the problem by making a tiny puncture and feeding a whole straightened-out wire coathanger down the inside of the tube, shaping it through the rubber to follow the curve. Once in place it couldn't work loose because it now had a bend. The seal has seated perfectly ever since.

Nice solution and I'm glad I'm not the only one this happened to. I'll have a look at trying your solution.

[philroche]

Originally Posted by Clifford Pope

I had exactly this problem a few years ago when I bought a new genuine seal from the local Volvo dealer.
I did notice that the original seal appeared to be shaped, with pre-formed bends and curves to go round the corners. The new seal looked as if it was straight, and just cut off the reel to the correct length.

The effect was that it wanted to jump the corners, and the outer parts of the bends were not flexible enough to stretch smoothly round.

I solved the problem by making a tiny puncture and feeding a whole straightened-out wire coathanger down the inside of the tube, shaping it through the rubber to follow the curve. Once in place it couldn't work loose because it now had a bend. The seal has seated perfectly ever since.

@Clifford where did you puncture the seal to thread the the wire?

The current versions of 1372058 and 688372 are solid rubber like the photo below. Did you feed it though this solid rubber when off the car and the shape during mounting?

[Clifford Pope]

Mine's a different section - it has a hollow portion, which I fed the wire along.

Sorry, I assumed all of the seals were the same as mine. No good to you then.