Power Top Does NOT Leak, BUT..

[MotorMan]

A whole ton of water is channeled into the car and on top of the dash board when opening the door of a wet JL. Thanks TFL for being honest with the reviews.

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[MotorMan]

This is just another thing that screams “buy a JK and wait!”

 

[Thomastko]

Seriously??? This is not good.. im assuming its the same with the hardtop.

 

[RussJeep1]

This leaves me very disillusioned, despite never having intentions on getting this power soft top.

Should I be annoyed that Jeep never tested this, and that if they didn't--which would be utterly irresponsible--what else did they failed to test?

Or should I be annoyed that Jeep did test this, had to have gotten the same results, but remained hush about it, leading me to ask, what else about the JL(U/T) do they know about that needs to be improved, but that they are not sharing with the general public.

As a software developer we would have a test suite that every new build of software would have to go through and pass before the software could be released. Every reported bug fixed in the past, every potential problem that could be envisioned with past releases and features of the new release got tested.

FCA has to have similar lists of the problems they've run across on a plethora of the rig's systems, let alone on leaking tops, and the testing they used to insure the problem remedied. These tests all should have been redone on the JL(U/T) and passed before a product met its market.

 

[MotorMan]

This is a major design flaw IMO. If it happens on this top, it can surely happen on other tops. The fact that TFL pointed it out is impressive. Journalists are often afraid of getting on automakers bad sides and end up being blackballed from press events.

 

[JDaPP]

Looks like the same place my JKUR hardtop leaks when I open the door. No place else for the water to go, that is where the gutter takes it. I would say jeep just decided to not fix the existing problem.

 

[RussJeep1]

I am by no means anti-FCA. I expect new vehicles and new features to be something less than entirely defect free. But to not test and pass something as basic as "is the vehicle I've produced, in an implementation I'm selling, water tight in a self car wash test, where the washer usually is the driver who gets out of and back into the car, with the car wash happening in the middle....."

Let's see how FCA handles this. It should be interesting. I'll judge as much on how they handle defect like this, than how they prevent it in the first place.

I just chewed out an FCA online chat rep about this.

Thanks for sharing this Motorman.

JDaPP, from your story, I'm wondering how much this problem will be endemic to all JL tops.

 

[Cov]

Carry an emergency straw and blow all the water out of the channel before entering :cwl:

 

[JLWF Dealer Guy]

Engineers (no disrespect to any of you) overthink ever little aspect of things. So much so, that they don’t realize, or think of real world issues like this. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but especially on this top, couldn’t they have extended that gutter a bit? PPP as my father would say.

 

[Billy]

Well, they can fix it when they design the truly modular hard top we've been begging for!

 

[JLWF Dealer Guy]

Well, they can fix it when they design the truly modular hard top we've been begging for!

 

[JDaPP]

.
JDaPP, from your story, I'm wondering how much this problem will be endemic to all JL tops.

Not to be a downer but the hard top is essentially the same as the JK, they all do this on the JK so I assume it will be same on JL. There are multiple threads if you Google it. There is even a company that make a gutter extension. The popular answer is "it is a jeep thing"

 

[Jeeptimus Prime]

Wash with the front slightly elevated!

It's a Jeep Thing!!!

I am curious if a simple dab of caulking or rubber plug at the end of the channel will hold water back? Should try on my JK but honestly hasn't been that bad.

 

[macintux]

My interior gets soaked all summer anyway, so not going to stress about it.

If I'm feeling charitable, I'll assume there are constraints on the gutter design that you don't find on other vehicles, like the foldable windshield.

 

[Renegade]

JK hard top does this too when all the water hasn’t drained and the Jeep is angled forward. JL has a longer gutter so it is likely worse.

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