Water leak woes

[Wiredawg]

Fellow Rammers:



I've had problems w/ water leaks coming in on both kick panels: the frsh air inlet in driver's side and the fresh air inlet going into the HVAC on the passenger side. Everytime it rains or I wash it, water leaks in. I thought I had the driver's side whooped today when I removed the drivers kick panel, which is a major pain to get off with two of the screws only being able to be removed w/ an offset phillips screwdriver at a quarter turn at a time. Anyway, I replaced the rotten foam gasket with new camper shell gasket, put it all back together and still it leaks. While I had it apart, there is a major water flow coming from the sides of the the front grills under the wind shield wipers.



I'm getting ready to remove it again and am considering two attacks: divert water draining from the top and maybe double the gasket.



Has anyone else had this problem? I appreciate any suggestions.



Thanks, Wiredawg

 

[MMiller]

I think you need to clean out some debris from the fender wells, from below maybe. Sounds like the drains for the front grills under the wipers are plugged with leaves, or something like that.

 

[KSears]

check the bottom corners of the windshield gasket, mine had a void from the factory in that location

 

[JZellers]

My windshield gasket was the problem on mine as well. It would almost soak the carpet on both sides before I had it replaced. If you look behind the glove box at the lower corner of the windshield, you should see water and/or dried streaks where it was running down the inside of the cowling. I also had debris plugging the cowl drains, a leaky cargo light gasket, and a leaky seal along the bottom of the sliding sections of the rear window. Fortunately I didn't have all of these issues at the same time...

 

[Wiredawg]

Thanks for the replies.

Thanks guys! I'm starting to work on it now to see if I can make progress. I'll let you know if I find anything or if I make progress.



Wiredawg

 

[Wiredawg]

Fixed the leaks

Well, after much effort and aggrevation, I fixed the leaks. The overlying problem with my leaks was the rotting foam rubber gaskets around the left kick panel fresh air vent and the AC fresh air vent on the right kick panel. There were no blocked drains coming from the front cowl vents; actually the water flows down the air vents like a water fall and thru to bottom drains behind the front wheels.



I removed the left kick panel (a real pain), removed the rotten foam gasket and used a healthy amount of RTV to seal it. Although there is a cowl surrounding the inside (and part of) the fresh air vent, the water was seeping in thru the rotten gasket. No more leaks on this side.



The right side leak was easier fix: I removed the right kick panel and applied a generous amount of RTV around the air duct. I let it dry for two days before closing everything up.



Well, I hope this helps y'all out too.



Cheers, Wiredawg