Input Needed For an Irritating Water Leak

[TonyC]

Hi, all,

I come here today with a problem in Frankenstein that has had me irritated ever since I got him, and I am now at my wit's end . It's a water leak somewhere on the left side of the car. What happens is that, when it rains, there is a hole somewhere that is letting rain water into the car. It comes into the cab inside the dash, splashes onto the brake pedal, then to the floor. If the rain storm is strong enough, it will pool on the floor, requiring me to use napkins, towels--whatever I can find--to get it up. This pond forms ONLY on the driver's side; the passenger's side remains as dry as it should.

For the first seven years, I thought it had something to do with the windshield seal, as I noticed streaks of water coming in through the A-pillar. When I had my windshield replaced just a few weeks before I moved from San Antonio to El Paso, they used brand-new sealing compound and I thought the problem was cured. No such luck --With the first substantial rain storm in El Paso (they actually do get rain there on occasion), the pond came back, though there were no more traces of water coming in through the pillars. I replaced all the weatherstripping on all four doors, and no difference. For a while, I just lived with it, being that the original carpeting was already wasted from past abuse by previous owners. But when I replaced my carpeting in October of last year, I also pulled the cowl panel to do a check for any holes I may have missed. I didn't find any. Since I moved to Fort Polk, where rain is more prevalent, I decided to do some more-detailed inspecting when I could, using drip pans under the brake pedal in between to prevent the pond from forming on my new carpeting. Last month I thought I found something that may have contributed: On the cowl edges, where the fenders meet, I discovered a piece of putty stuffed between the cowl and the right fender--I surmised that it was a filler to prevent water from getting in. No such filler was on the driver's side. So, I stuffed the long gap in the driver's side with Automotive GOOP (one of my favorite all-purpose sealants) and kept my fingers crossed for the next storm. Well, last weekend, the first rain shower since I did that job came and went, and...yes, no such luck . I'm just glad that I second-guessed myself and put the drip pans down before the rain came.

SOOO, here's the query that the above story set up for. Has anyone out there had this issue? If so, where is that godforsaken waterfall coming in?? How did you fix it?? I'm out of ideas, I need help. Thanks in advance.

---Tony

[RCSJR]

This is a good project for a freind and a garden hose, dont wate for the rain. crawl under dash with the flash light, have freind move water hose around, it worked for me.

[TonyC]

Point taken; in fact, a co-worker had suggested that. Maybe I'll have to do that after the oil-seal operation.

But I'd still like to hear that someone else has dealt with this same problem and found the cause, so I don't have to soak myself. I'm a fire sign, not a water sign.

---Tony

[66Lincoupe]

Tony, not a Lincoln, but my truck leaked on the passenger side - new windshield, new seal. Checked the cowl, looked good through the little slots (since my cowl cover isn't removeable) turned out to be the seals under the windshield wiper stanchions. I know the Lincoln stanchions are outside the cowl, but perhaps there is a gasketed pass-through that the gasket dried up like my wiper stanchions. (dry Arizona stuff is almost the same as dry Texas stuff)...

Shootin' in the dark, but you never know. If it helps my car is completely apart at the cowl, I can look tonight after I get home and report in the AM if you'd like...

[TonyC]

Rob,

That never had occurred to me! Please do let me know if there's supposed to be a gasket under that. Thanks!

---Tony

[Dan Szwarc]

Get a really super bright shop light and place it above the drivers side cowl area. Stick your head under the dash and look for light leaks.

Could it be a rust hole in the cowl area, not related toning windshield?

[mwmwall]

Tony,

It may be a seam in the cowl panels as well. I had a similiar problem on my 1978 Mercury Bobcat. After regasketing the windshield didn't fix the problem I went on the web and found quite a few people with different makes of cars that had this problem and many of them identified the cowl seams and old seam sealer as the culprit. After I pulled the fenders off, I found that the seam sealer had dried up and fallen off in several places exposing the cowl panel joints. Water just poured through. Repaired it wth 3M Seam Sealer and now dry as a bone. Of course, pulling the fenders off a Bobcat is pretty easy.

Mark

[Dan Szwarc]

My mercury has many seams on the firewall where the brake booster and steering column mount. A lack of seam filler may allow a leak.

[dcm5652]

Tony check where the radio-antenna coax comes thru and see if the grommet has come out or cracked and the water is following the coax in,you might try turning the heater blower on high and close all the windows (car running) and use a water hose and run water over all the suspect areas and look for air bubbles, This is the way we used to find air leaks when I worked for a Ford dealer, Raise the hood and run water on the fire-wall and in the cowl-panel, use lights and mirrors to see hard to see areas.

[TonyC]

There was something else I noticed with the last batch of water I caught in the drip pans, about three days ago. I noticed a very slight film of oily substance in the water. I know what this is: It's leftover residue from a heavy fluid leak out of the wiper motor, which I replaced last year. The fluid was going into the driver's side of the cab as well; fortunately, the organ-donor replacement I got stopped that leak entirely. It may not seem like much, but it can give me a reference point to pour water in. Sooo, I will inform if/when I find that hole.

---Tony

[papawayne]

Have you tried compressed air out of your blow nozzle? With a sream of air blowing in all of the places you can think of, maybe a helper can feel it coming through somewhere...but a caution here: several years ago a visiting body man watched in horror as I blew sanding dust off of myself with compressed air...something about dropping dead if the stream hits skin or something...don't know if that was an old body man's tale or if it was the truth...he seemed to really believe that it was. Keep in mind though if you have too much pressure, you might make a new leak! wayne

[AnthLinc]

It sounds like you discovered the water leak before you did any work to the wiper motor in the cowl area. I agree with all points mentioned above.
I parted a green coupe a couple of years ago. When I pulled the cowl vent I noticed what appeared to be a muddy clump on the driver side. Under this clump was a hole about an inch wide. Even thought there is a screen, small particals can pass through and collect.
If I were you I would take a couple of buckets and fill them up and dump them at once. Basically overwhem that area with water. That area is supposed to be water tight so if you hit that hard something should occour with that volume.
The oil is the key as it gives you a starting point but not a point of where it enters. There is a duct that channels water to the ground perhaps if this is backed up a small hole could develope in this area too.

[2sasilverbullet]

papawayne - part tale, part truth. The dust is bad for you and if you get a lot of it blown into your pores you can start reacting to the chemicals. So if you do this for a living, you don't want to do it for 40 years - but if you paint one car in your life-time, no biggee.

[papawayne]

That's what thought...thanks! wayne

[79Mark]

papawayne - part tale, part truth. The dust is bad for you and if you get a lot of it blown into your pores you can start reacting to the chemicals. So if you do this for a living, you don't want to do it for 40 years - but if you paint one car in your life-time, no biggee.

well, yeah i think in the case of air compressors which run at a pretty low psi rate. I have worked on forklifts that use hydraulic pressure and have been told many times not to check for pinhole leaks in the hydraulic hoses with your hand. the fluid is at such a high pressure, about 2000 psi roughly, that it will inject itself into the skin and into the bloodstream. This usually means the hand has to be amputated.
I guess with air compressors it's possible, though, but I have never heard of it happening.