So a few weeks back i posted a thread about having water in my passenger floor board. I put a down spout on my ac drain, sealed my third brake light, and i know that it is not antifreeze. I have taken the garden hose and have soaked the truck to find where it is leaking with no luck. every night that it rains though my floorboard gets soaked. i want toget the problem fixed before i get mold under my carpet. PLEASE does anybody have any sugestions?
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2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission still piles of water in my florboard!
- Thread starter JFringer
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I removed the interior of my 96' truck. Had the wife use the garden hose on the outside. Found three different leaks. Two were on the back slider window. The third was the driver side front windshield/outside gasket. Took a few minutes to RTV the problems. Retested after RTV dried. This is also a great time to add some sound insulation.
I have the exact same problem. For me it was (is) the back window. Specifically the upper corners of the rear window. Stripped the whole interior of the truck in order to find it. Once I took everything out and pointed the hose at the top of the rear window (no pressure - just regular flow) I saw the waterfall. It takes a minute or two for the leak to show it self (I don't know where the water goes during that time 
)
)
JLandry
TDR MEMBER
Does your truck have clearance lights on the top of the cab? If so, they're notorious for developing leaks which show up as water in the cab floorboards.
Good luck,
John L.
I had my ac evaporator replaced... there is a leak from under there now. It fills up part of my glove box first and then goes onto my Husky Liner. I can't find mine either. There is no antifreeze, and it happens everytime it rains.
Same here on my '96... rear slider window. They are notorious for being difficult to seal to the truck body. Keep after it with the sealant of your choice and you'll finally get it to seal.
I was told by a body shop guy that 2nd gen Dodge Ram rear sliding windows were some of the most well known leaky windows in the automotive industry. They are designed with little drains in the window frame that are a big part of the problem. Often the drains get plugged up when you try to seal the window to the body and that can cause a leak also, but the window frames don't fit the body very well in the first place and that is why they leak. It's been a long time since I finally got mine to seal up, so I don't recall exactly how the drains function. Maybe they're covered in the service manual? Keep them in mind as you're placing sealant. I think the body shop guy that educated me on the window recommended only working with sealant on the top of the window and not around the sides and especially not on the bottom. I think the drains are supposed to channel the water around the sliding pieces of glass and out the bottom of the frame (as opposed to a solid window that wouldn't need such a channel).
I was told by a body shop guy that 2nd gen Dodge Ram rear sliding windows were some of the most well known leaky windows in the automotive industry. They are designed with little drains in the window frame that are a big part of the problem. Often the drains get plugged up when you try to seal the window to the body and that can cause a leak also, but the window frames don't fit the body very well in the first place and that is why they leak. It's been a long time since I finally got mine to seal up, so I don't recall exactly how the drains function. Maybe they're covered in the service manual? Keep them in mind as you're placing sealant. I think the body shop guy that educated me on the window recommended only working with sealant on the top of the window and not around the sides and especially not on the bottom. I think the drains are supposed to channel the water around the sliding pieces of glass and out the bottom of the frame (as opposed to a solid window that wouldn't need such a channel).
Water leak in passenger area, parked after rain
1996 3500 club cab
While parked, after a rain, the passenger side of the floor mat is soaked. Appears to be coming in from the passenger side of the cowl/firewall area(fan motor) or cab cowl side "area" forward of the "A" pillow behind fender under the antenna. It is clear water, not anti freeze.
The floor mat under the rear seat area is dry. I replaced the third stop light gasket ten years ago when the rear mat was soaked.
Has there been any posts about the roof joint seam between the outside section and the center roof section?
I have not checked the cab roof clearance lights yet.
1996 3500 club cab
While parked, after a rain, the passenger side of the floor mat is soaked. Appears to be coming in from the passenger side of the cowl/firewall area(fan motor) or cab cowl side "area" forward of the "A" pillow behind fender under the antenna. It is clear water, not anti freeze.
The floor mat under the rear seat area is dry. I replaced the third stop light gasket ten years ago when the rear mat was soaked.
Has there been any posts about the roof joint seam between the outside section and the center roof section?
I have not checked the cab roof clearance lights yet.
Last edited:
I just found my leak and it is the front top right corner of the windshield. Leaks starts about one in down from the top right hand corner. I've been chasing this leak for months. I finally noticed water in the glove box. So I removed the a-pillar trim and a large cup of water and in seconds the leak was found. I've done all the other leak fixes around the windows/ac drain and could not understand where the leak was coming from until I noticed my paperwork in the glove box looked wet. Started removing the paper work and noticed the how wet the inside of the box was. Hope this helps. Bunyan
I want to follow up on my last post (Mar 27, 2012) on this thread. I KNOW, it's been a year, but I had a covered place to park the truck and only drove it in Fair Weather, so I was in no hurry to tackle it!!!
As far as a leak at the windshield and heater air intake area I could not find any leaks. I water tested it thoroughly, even elevated the front wheels on ramps and could not find any. I used a lighted inspection mirror and a rotating inspection scope and did not see any rust, deterioration or any assembly defects, in the heater air intake under the hood.
I moved to the clearance lights. I removed each lamp; the gaskets were in good condition, the paint under each lamp looked “new” was clean and without any sign of water streaks. I took some silicon grease between my thumb and first finger and reverted to my old days (50s & 60s before RTV), when I would replace a thermostat, by working a thin film of the grease on both sides of the gasket to fill in any voids and let the grease seal out any water that may come in contact with it. I was very careful when replacing the lamps by using an even “torque down” method to prevent cracking the UV dried plastic lamps. For some extra insurance, I cleaned the upper side of the lens near the cab roof with paint thinner and applied a thin bead of clear RTV around the upper half of the lens, using my finger dipped in water to smooth it which makes it all most invisible.
When the TSB came out about a water leak at the Cab stop light, I purchased the new gasket. I removed the lamp and found the original gasket OK, paint clean and streak free. Using my old days again, I greased the new gasket. As you know the gasket sets back from the edge of the lens. Here is where I moved “out of the Box” a little, I adopted the plumber's method of installing a set of faucets. I used plumber putty, rolled out a string about the size of a small drinking straw. Placed it under the edge of the lens and did a torque down again. Because I need to “squeeze” the putty, I used my hand to push down on the lens around each screw while tighten, to spread out the force away from the screw heads. I did about a half a turn on each screw to get an even torque down and to prevent cracking the lens. It worked well. I did not apply any RTV to the upper side.
This only thing left was the rear sliding window. I removed the rear seat and rolled back the carpet. Removed the passenger door sill trim, because the water only wet the passenger side and rolled back the carpet and removed the Club Cab trim around and below the side window. Let me pause here, I worked for a small AMC dealer in the mid sixties as a service manager. The factory was having a problem with a water leak in one of the models; they held a half day training class at each Zone office. The instructor started out saying, testing for “rain” water leaks using a water hose can be very difficult. The reason being, rain water is “soft,” free of minerals and water treatment chemicals and will penetrate the surface tension around the paint and rubber gasket and will enter into any void between them. Where water hose water will generally be “Hard” water, loaded with minerals and have some surface tension properties itself and often will not penetrate the void, End of Pause.
I was working in my garage at the time and when I was ready to do a water test, it started to rain. I decided to back the truck outside and let the rain do the testing. Using a scale of; Light, Medium, or Heavy rain, it rained Medium for about 30 minutes. When the rain stopped, I pulled it back in the garage. I got in the passenger side of Club Cab AND there it was, water was dripping from the lower outboard corner the rear window gasket (RWG), BUT in was leaking out between the gasket Lip and the cab. There was no water leaking from the stationary glass channel of the gasket or from the track for the sliding glass!
It took a while to figure out, how the water would leak in under the outside lip of the gasket at the top of the cab and come out under the inside bottom lip at the outboard corner. You have to look at where the cab roof is joined to the Club Cab side panel; the joint is wide where it is spot welded together. If you look at the service manual, it shows a plastic trim piece they use to cover the spot welds and it is attached with double sided tape. This joint starts at the door opening and runs rearward over the back edge of the cab down and into the rear window opening, close to the upper outboard corner. The body joint with the plastic trim ends up under the window gasket.
Here lies the problem, the void on each side of the plastic trim acts like a gutter and carries the water to the RWG. If it's not properly sealed at that point, the water enters the body channel of the gasket and takes it to the bottom of this channel, which is below the lip of the channel. Remember, this point is near the top outboard corner of the opening. So the water will take a path of least resistant and follow the channel the short distant to the side of the body opening and down the side to the lower outboard corner. As the water travels down the side it could pass over the body opening lip at this point or when it backs up at the bottom of the channel, and spills over the lip and will leave the channel and drip to the interior bottom corner of the cab.
I sealed, using clear RTV, the voids on both sides of the plastic trim to the edges of the body joint from the RWG to the door opening. At the door opening end of the trim I seal up the end of the plastic trim and the voids. I did the same to the driver's side. I used a wet finger to get a neat clean look.
It was still raining, after waiting about 45 minutes of setup time; I backed outside and let the rain do the testing again. I left it out for about 30 to 40 minutes and brought back in. NO WATER LEAKS COULD BE FOUND!!!!
To help understand how the water could enter the RWG body channel under the outside lip and crossover the metal lip of the body opening and leak out of the inside lip into the interior of the cab. The body opening for the rear window has to be large enough to allow the inter lip of the RWG to be pulled in to the inside of the cab doing the installation of the rear window assembly. Once the installation is complete, the window assembly will settle down in the opening and the base of the body channel of the RWG that runs along the bottom section of the body opening will rest on the lip of that section of the body opening. This lets the ends and top section of the body channel of the RWG to have a clearance/void area between the body opening lip and the base of the channel. The outside lip of the gasket is sealed, to prevent, rain water and water used doing vehicle washing, etc. , from getting into the interior of the cab.
With the outside lip sealed, when the water got under the lip at the roof/side panel joint, it entered into the void area and ran down the end void area to the lower outboard corner and collected there because the body channel of the gasket, along the bottom section of the body opening, was resting on the body opening lip and that closed off that void. The only place the water could go was out under the inter lip and rundown to the rear corner in the cab. From there the water will run in a trough under the jack storage bin and never touch the rear section of the mat, on to the door opening along the sill area and then to the foot pan area of the passenger seat.
That is another reason I was mislead to where the leak was, with the rear mat area dry and the front mat area wet, I thought the leak had to be in the front somewhere!
As an extra precaution, I sealed the sliding window section, which I haven't used for 15 or16 years.
Now I know I'm preaching to the choir, to a lot of you on this, but I can tell by reading some of the Threads and Posts there are many of the readers who I hope will find this helpful.
As far as a leak at the windshield and heater air intake area I could not find any leaks. I water tested it thoroughly, even elevated the front wheels on ramps and could not find any. I used a lighted inspection mirror and a rotating inspection scope and did not see any rust, deterioration or any assembly defects, in the heater air intake under the hood.
I moved to the clearance lights. I removed each lamp; the gaskets were in good condition, the paint under each lamp looked “new” was clean and without any sign of water streaks. I took some silicon grease between my thumb and first finger and reverted to my old days (50s & 60s before RTV), when I would replace a thermostat, by working a thin film of the grease on both sides of the gasket to fill in any voids and let the grease seal out any water that may come in contact with it. I was very careful when replacing the lamps by using an even “torque down” method to prevent cracking the UV dried plastic lamps. For some extra insurance, I cleaned the upper side of the lens near the cab roof with paint thinner and applied a thin bead of clear RTV around the upper half of the lens, using my finger dipped in water to smooth it which makes it all most invisible.
When the TSB came out about a water leak at the Cab stop light, I purchased the new gasket. I removed the lamp and found the original gasket OK, paint clean and streak free. Using my old days again, I greased the new gasket. As you know the gasket sets back from the edge of the lens. Here is where I moved “out of the Box” a little, I adopted the plumber's method of installing a set of faucets. I used plumber putty, rolled out a string about the size of a small drinking straw. Placed it under the edge of the lens and did a torque down again. Because I need to “squeeze” the putty, I used my hand to push down on the lens around each screw while tighten, to spread out the force away from the screw heads. I did about a half a turn on each screw to get an even torque down and to prevent cracking the lens. It worked well. I did not apply any RTV to the upper side.
This only thing left was the rear sliding window. I removed the rear seat and rolled back the carpet. Removed the passenger door sill trim, because the water only wet the passenger side and rolled back the carpet and removed the Club Cab trim around and below the side window. Let me pause here, I worked for a small AMC dealer in the mid sixties as a service manager. The factory was having a problem with a water leak in one of the models; they held a half day training class at each Zone office. The instructor started out saying, testing for “rain” water leaks using a water hose can be very difficult. The reason being, rain water is “soft,” free of minerals and water treatment chemicals and will penetrate the surface tension around the paint and rubber gasket and will enter into any void between them. Where water hose water will generally be “Hard” water, loaded with minerals and have some surface tension properties itself and often will not penetrate the void, End of Pause.
I was working in my garage at the time and when I was ready to do a water test, it started to rain. I decided to back the truck outside and let the rain do the testing. Using a scale of; Light, Medium, or Heavy rain, it rained Medium for about 30 minutes. When the rain stopped, I pulled it back in the garage. I got in the passenger side of Club Cab AND there it was, water was dripping from the lower outboard corner the rear window gasket (RWG), BUT in was leaking out between the gasket Lip and the cab. There was no water leaking from the stationary glass channel of the gasket or from the track for the sliding glass!
It took a while to figure out, how the water would leak in under the outside lip of the gasket at the top of the cab and come out under the inside bottom lip at the outboard corner. You have to look at where the cab roof is joined to the Club Cab side panel; the joint is wide where it is spot welded together. If you look at the service manual, it shows a plastic trim piece they use to cover the spot welds and it is attached with double sided tape. This joint starts at the door opening and runs rearward over the back edge of the cab down and into the rear window opening, close to the upper outboard corner. The body joint with the plastic trim ends up under the window gasket.
Here lies the problem, the void on each side of the plastic trim acts like a gutter and carries the water to the RWG. If it's not properly sealed at that point, the water enters the body channel of the gasket and takes it to the bottom of this channel, which is below the lip of the channel. Remember, this point is near the top outboard corner of the opening. So the water will take a path of least resistant and follow the channel the short distant to the side of the body opening and down the side to the lower outboard corner. As the water travels down the side it could pass over the body opening lip at this point or when it backs up at the bottom of the channel, and spills over the lip and will leave the channel and drip to the interior bottom corner of the cab.
I sealed, using clear RTV, the voids on both sides of the plastic trim to the edges of the body joint from the RWG to the door opening. At the door opening end of the trim I seal up the end of the plastic trim and the voids. I did the same to the driver's side. I used a wet finger to get a neat clean look.
It was still raining, after waiting about 45 minutes of setup time; I backed outside and let the rain do the testing again. I left it out for about 30 to 40 minutes and brought back in. NO WATER LEAKS COULD BE FOUND!!!!
To help understand how the water could enter the RWG body channel under the outside lip and crossover the metal lip of the body opening and leak out of the inside lip into the interior of the cab. The body opening for the rear window has to be large enough to allow the inter lip of the RWG to be pulled in to the inside of the cab doing the installation of the rear window assembly. Once the installation is complete, the window assembly will settle down in the opening and the base of the body channel of the RWG that runs along the bottom section of the body opening will rest on the lip of that section of the body opening. This lets the ends and top section of the body channel of the RWG to have a clearance/void area between the body opening lip and the base of the channel. The outside lip of the gasket is sealed, to prevent, rain water and water used doing vehicle washing, etc. , from getting into the interior of the cab.
With the outside lip sealed, when the water got under the lip at the roof/side panel joint, it entered into the void area and ran down the end void area to the lower outboard corner and collected there because the body channel of the gasket, along the bottom section of the body opening, was resting on the body opening lip and that closed off that void. The only place the water could go was out under the inter lip and rundown to the rear corner in the cab. From there the water will run in a trough under the jack storage bin and never touch the rear section of the mat, on to the door opening along the sill area and then to the foot pan area of the passenger seat.
That is another reason I was mislead to where the leak was, with the rear mat area dry and the front mat area wet, I thought the leak had to be in the front somewhere!
As an extra precaution, I sealed the sliding window section, which I haven't used for 15 or16 years.
Now I know I'm preaching to the choir, to a lot of you on this, but I can tell by reading some of the Threads and Posts there are many of the readers who I hope will find this helpful.
can you shoot a general picture of the channel area I am having a hard time getting a visual... . good detective work and awesome info on rain water properties, learned something this morning..... when we chased leaks at the dealer we had a shower head rigged on a pole to simulate rain.
B.
B.
can you shoot a general picture of the channel area I am having a hard time getting a visual... . good detective work and awesome info on rain water properties, learned something this morning..... when we chased leaks at the dealer we had a shower head rigged on a pole to simulate rain.
B.
B.
The supporting pillars and rocker panels are always a semi boxed structure to be strong yet light,they will act as channels to carry water. The rockers will have formed drains to allow water to drain outside
Thanks Mike,
Of course you know it’s mainly road grime that causes surface friction on motor vehicles. One method I would use before doing a water test on a difficult water leak problem, is to wash down the area with warm water and liquid dish washing soap and a auto washing brush before starting the water hose test. This will “balance the playing field” a little with a rain water test!
Byrd
Of course you know it’s mainly road grime that causes surface friction on motor vehicles. One method I would use before doing a water test on a difficult water leak problem, is to wash down the area with warm water and liquid dish washing soap and a auto washing brush before starting the water hose test. This will “balance the playing field” a little with a rain water test!
Byrd
Thank you, sir.
This is some timely information. I've lived in NM for nine years now and mistakenly thought my leak was fixed. I just went home to KY in February and it rained like I hadn't seen (in about nine years) all across AR and west TN. Yeah, it still leaks, you just have to have copious liquid precipitation which we don't see in NM. I have the interior out and some clear RTV sitting on the bench. Now I know where to put it!
Thanks again. I was getting seriously close to installing a drain hole.
This is some timely information. I've lived in NM for nine years now and mistakenly thought my leak was fixed. I just went home to KY in February and it rained like I hadn't seen (in about nine years) all across AR and west TN. Yeah, it still leaks, you just have to have copious liquid precipitation which we don't see in NM. I have the interior out and some clear RTV sitting on the bench. Now I know where to put it!
Thanks again. I was getting seriously close to installing a drain hole.
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Issue 128 – Digital Version
Digital Magazines
FREE!
TDR Test Drive - Digital Edition
Renew
Subscribe
Gift Subscriptions
Back Issues
Subscription Status
Address Change Form
Buyer's Guides
Ram Diagnostic Trouble Codes
The Perfect Collection
The Perfect Collection Vol. II
TSB Updates
Dodge/Cummins Historical Overview
Cameron Collection
What Makes Us Tick?
Product Showcase
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