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2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Difficult Wet Carpet Issue

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Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) TST question

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Jakebud

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I've been fighting a difficult water issue for the last year or so. Last summer, I sealed the cab mounted tail light, and that seemed to do the job. This year, I added some hose to my A/C drain and sealed the top third of the rear window, and that seemed to help. The other day, while out of town, my truck sat through a lot of over night rain. When I went out to it that morning, everything was dry, and I was pleased. Well, after a 350 mile day, all on dry roads, I found water under my driver's side floor mat. I'm scratching my head a good bit as to where that came from. I am wondering if it pooled someplace during the rain, and then found its way in as I rolled along. Any thoughts would be appreciated.



Thanks,



SPIKE
 
Try having someone shower the heck out of the windshield while you're laying under the drivers side look for water. If you have gages it's possible the water is following the lines from the engine compartment to the cab. Do you have clearance lights? Possible the cowl drains are clogged? Bad door gaskets? ? ?
 
Check the condensate drain tube on the passenger firewall. Take a piece of stiff wire and rod it out to make sure it is not plugged up
 
I do have gauges, so I will take a look at that. Where are the cowl drains that Joe Mc mentions. I not thinking its the door weather stripping, as it seems like this latest episode struck on dry roads well after it had rained.



SPIKE
 
2 cents to chew on... on my old chevy cars we can get wet from the kick panel area . . water drains from the wiper area down and finds it's way in through body pinch welds and small screw holes, power window rubber boot area... . maybe our dodges have a issue we have not figured out yet?... like hing bolts holes, antenna etc or something else... . I would pop the kick panels and the wiper tray and run water down both sides and watch along the sides and see what happens.



peace, B.
 
Mine did the same thing. It turned out to be the rear brake light AND a worn weatherstripping around the doors and a worn/out of adjustment door latch and hinges. It gets worse as the truck door latch and hinges wear with age.

If you can rattle your door with it fully closed, you need to investigate those issues. All that water running off your roof runs into the door seam (no drip rail) and the ONLY thing that keeps it out is your tight door-to-weatherstripping seal. It won't stay tight forever.

I miss drip rails... And vent windows...
 
If you still can't find it, check with the dealer's body shop or similar independent shop. The only way my dealer found the problem was to use a professional technique. They pressurized the inside of the cabin with some smokey colored vapors and waited until they could see where it was coming out. This indicates where the bad seal is, as it will only come out through damaged areas. It worked fine for me. They were able to find the problem seal and fix it. They never told me which spot it was, and I didn't ask as they did it free of charge. Wasn't going to push my luck. All I know, is that it wasn't the 3rd brake light or the a/c. Both were ruled out early in the process.
 
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I removed the entire interior on my 96'. Had the wife use the hose over the entire cab area until all the leaks were found. We used the hose only. No high pressure nozzle.
 
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