Acquired an '89 Sundance Cameo and it's got a couple of leaks...

A couple slow drippy ones in the equip. bay which I hope will be straightforward to identify/fix...

But another that comes out from underneath the spa pretty much where the whirlpool jet is... but ONLY when the AIR JETS are turned on.

Any ideas? Is this any kind of known problem with this make/model/year?

And pleeeease tell me that the 1989 model year doesn't coincide with Sundance's "bad glue" period!!

Thanks, Tim

Bad glue? That's nothing. Try the bad air injectors period.

You've might have a big job on your hands I'm afraid. You need to take a very close look at the tops of those air injectors near where your leak is - actually all of them. They (the plastic) had a tendency to rot out badly which has 'totalled' quite a few tubs in my area.

Imagine digging out all the foam from the tub to replace all those injectors.... This wasn't what you wanted to hear but - if you do find that you've got the faulty air injectors and do all the work to replace them, at least your problem will be gone forever.

Ummm otherwise I don't know what to tell you, except start digging through foam until you find the leaks. One thing that helps when doing this kind of work is to put some (actually a lot) blue food coloring in the water - it makes tracking the source of the leak whilst digging thru foam a lot easier!

actually, now i see that the leak is not occuring because of the air jets - i happens without them. the air injectors appear to be made of metal - or are those some sort of cosmetic tip that screws off like the metal rings around the therapy jets?

so now i guess it's time to dig. there are a couple of suspect areas on the side in question. don't know if it's related to the leak(s) or it's regular old dry rot. does this attached picture give any clues?? the whirlpool jet is in the middle of this exposed side and that's where the leak emerges. also there is a 2-jet corner seat on the (nearest) right corner .

those shiny metal caps are usually just that, caps. the air nozzles usually go through the shell and are nutted on the backside. Most water leaks are from the union of the spa hose and the jet, or if your tub has seen any amount of freezing in the pipes, the leak could be anywhere along the flex hose. Sometimes, however, the leaks are around the gaskets of the jets, or even a cracked jet housing. Finding leaks on a tub with a lot of insulation is really a pain, as the water will often travel away from the actual point of leakage before it imerges to the outside. You can start by carfully chisling out the insulation, and follow the trail back to the leak. Do not use anything with any type of a point or serrated edge!! Take it from experiance, I ended up replacing 12 feet of hose from that mistake!

Jer