wet carpet!

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It's been raining quite heavily here for the past couple of days. Today, upon returning to my truck which was parked at the local train station, I noticed a nice little puddle of water on top of the carpet on the passenger side. After going ballistic for a few minutes, I began investigating the source of the cursed wetness. What I could see was a nice little trail of water coming down in back of the seat on the rear wall of the cab. It appeared to originate from the rear window seal somewhere. Now, when I got home I removed the kickplate and the piece of molding so I could pull up the carpet and check things out. After pulling up the carpet, it looked like most of the water was coming from the rear window and trickled down the channel inside the door frame and made its way up to the front. The truck was parked facing downhill so I suppose this could explain the puddle only up front. I also noticed a couple of drips coming from around the heater duct, where the inside max ac air intake is. Where the floorboards start to turn up towards the firewall there was no water at all and no sign of any leaks. I'm really dreading the possibility that I may have cowl cracks . I had a similar water leakage problem on my '88 W100. It turned out to be a combination of the rear window seal, door seal and cab clearance lights. Has anyone had this kind of leak? What are the signs of leakage due to cowl cracks? Any info would be greatly appreciated. (I've already done a search for "cowl cracks" and read all of the results. But there was little discussion of the leaking, except for the windshield seal, which I'm going to go look at right now)



Frustrated,

SP

 

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I suppose I should have cooled off a bit more before starting this thread. Just checked the windshield... ... there is a big arse hole in the top passenger side corner. Can see right to the inside!! But, no rust, yay. Looks like the seal loosened up somehow. Got a crack in the windshield anyway. I guess this one will be billed to the insurance company. Does the seal normally get replaced when the windshield is changed? If anyone has other suggestions for fixing the leaks, please let me know.



Feeling better now,

Sean

 

[Philip]

Most places do not replace the seal unless you tell them to. Then look out. It has been a while sence I bought a front windshield weather striping. It wasn't cheap.



Rear windows leaks are pretty common if you have the factory sliding rear window. The window did not fit very good. It tended to push out the weather striping in the corners.



I just made a pass threw Soft Seal web site. I didn't find any windshield weather striping.

 

[BushWakr - RIP]

The most common and often most leaky method of repair is to use the black gummy putty on front windshields. It will often not seal properly requiring repeated attempts to seal up.

The most effective way being used up here is to apply urethane sealant. That stuff sticks like gorilla booger and will not leak. BUT... if you ever have to replace the windshield again, you have to replace the rubber too. The urethane is semi-permanent and does not come off well at all.

I went with the black stuff and it leaks at the bottom corners of the windshield in heavy rain.



bob.

 

[formula]

Ah, crap, looks like I'm screwed no matter what I do. The windshield only has a little ding in it so looks like I'll be trying the "gorilla booger" method. Or maybe I should use the TPS approach and smash it with a hammer? Thanks for the advice. Man, I really had a meltdown when I saw that puddle of water today... ... hummmm... deep breath.....



SP

 

[DPKetchum]

Handled many windshield replacements,sometimes 4 or 5 a week. The glass companys I dealt with always wanted to know if a new seal was on hand and if not get one ordered threw parts please. So order one and have it on hand for glass company. They did'nt ever like dealing with any used seal even if only a few months old. Urethane is always used today and if done by a pro hardly ever/never leaks and I have glass guy's remove,scrap,reinstall a front/rear glass in 45 minutes. Thats from trucks to vipers and all in the middle. Call a big body shop and ask them who does their front and rear glass R&R because they don't do their own. it's subbed out.

 

[Baron]

wet carpet

It rained here for 5 days last week... ... much needed but I started to notice wet carpet and ignored it as in and out foot traffic. But soon I discoved the mat and carpet soaked when I took out the seat and pulled off the drivers side interior trim cowling down under the dash(man was that a bear to get the back screws out). I ran the hose all over the front of the truck left side and found water coming in the air vent hole under the dash. I just siliconed a piece of tin over the hole and no more air vent... . oh well I never needed that much anyway. I left off the cowling to ck the next time it rains. But WHY?

I am wondering if the water enters thru the cracked cowling that seems to be talked about alot these days? Could one silicone the cracked cowling if you could get in there??? I dunno baron

 

[BCaldwell]

Hey Baron look back in the archives I ran across a posting with detailed pictures regarding cowl cracks bill

 

[Hutchew]

Regular cowl cracks won't leak into the cab......

The cowl isn't waterproof to begin with, at least not where the aforementioned cowl cracks occur, anyway. Where you may be getting wet is underneath the corner of the windshield, where the cab and cowl are "welded' together.

This will leak into the cab. I welded mine the way it should have been done from the factory and have never had a wet floor.

 

[Hutchew]

These are the infamous 'cowl cracks"

Kinda hard to see, but the crack starts right at the bottom of the 'teardrop' and heads down. Another way to get water in the cab is if the drain slots in the bottom of the cowl duct are plugged with dirt, leaves, etc below the vent on the driver side, and the kick panel on the passenger. If these are plugged, and you block off the vent with tin or anything else, it may just result in the water getting trapped in there with no way out. Hence, RUST.

 

[CPG]

Wet carpet

You might check the gasket on the cargo light at the back of the cab.

The water comes down between the cab and then out at the rug level to where it wants to go. This happened to a friend of mine.

A new gasket in the cargo light body did the trick. This might be another source.



Chuck

 

[DPKetchum]

Saw 94 threw 99 model trucks almost weekly in rainy weather with water in pass side front floor and it 99. 9%of time was from seal at third brake light.

 

[formula]

Ok, you're gonna love this one... ... I made a temporary fix on the leaky windshield corner: DUCT TAPE I guess I have no choice but to bend over and get the gasket replaced, which will be soon. Thanks again everyone for helping me out in a time of need.



Sean

 

[Braveair78]

I had some water on the passenger floorboard of my 93 D350 club cab and suspected the cowl crack problem. I removed the passenger side plastic panel below the dash to install some sound deadening material and found the oval shaped seal which goes in the metal panel behind it which had fallen out. I had to silicone it good to get it to stick. I also repaired my "cowl Crack" problem with the factory plates and report that the area looked positively immaculate compared to the photos that I see in this thread. Wonder if there is any difference in the standard and club cab models as they are manufactured in different locations.

 

[formula]

Pretty sure that I've got the cracks too. Will be installing the plates sometime this winter.



Sean

 

[Braveair78]

The job only looks scary. I think it took me less than a day to complete the task (well 10 hours or so). If I remember correctly the toughest part of the job was the fender bolts underneath the floorboard at the very rear of the fender panel and underneath the truck. I'd clean that area thoroughly and hit it with PB Blaster first then start with removal of the other items. By the time that you get to them it should be easy to remove. I had a hard time finding the best pop rivets for the job but, finally located them at Ace. . 3/16" long reach with a huge surface area on the top and made of steel (did'nt want to start a corrosion problem with dissimilar metals). If you have any questions send me a message and I will try to be of assistance.

 

[formula]

Thanks, man. Now I just have to persuade my uncle to let me use his shop for a couple of days.....



Sean