That Darn Leak... - First Generation Forum

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That Darn Leak...
Tuesday, June 19, 2018 1:10 PM
Haven't had a problem with water in the car since I fixed it by putting a cover on it...

But yesterday, it was uncovered as I was planning on driving it, and we had a surprise storm blow through. I decided to make the best of it and go out and open the doors when it was over and poke around to see if I could figure out where the water was coming from.

I found some water droplets under the front of the carpet on the passenger side all the way up against the firewall.

I remember someone saying they had a cracked firewall, and I can't see any issues there, but maybe I'm not seeing something and will have to check again. My drains under the cowling are clear, so that's not the problem.

Other than a cracked firewall, any ideas?

Re: That Darn Leak...
Wednesday, June 20, 2018 2:10 AM
The cowl area sealer, probably.
Re: That Darn Leak...
Thursday, June 21, 2018 8:32 AM
Wayne I'd suggest taking the cowl panel off and removing the blower motor and outside air door unit for a good inspection of the cowl drain area. Here are a few photos:

After removing the Cowl Panel - This is the drain cover that sits over the air door unit and blower motor.



Under that cover is the air door unit - there is a vacuum hose connection underneath so be a little patient pulling up on it after the bolts are removed.:




There is a seal on the bottom of the air door - if it is damaged water will find it's way in reqardless what you do - much worse even if the cowl drain gets clogged and backed up. I had a floorboard full on my '94 one day - clean out of the blue - because the drain flap had gotten just enough crud in there to stop it up and we had a hard thunderstorm.



And here is the culprit - trash like this can accumulate really fast - once it gets this bad the water can back up till it can spill over the air door unit depending on whether the other side is also clogged or the car is on uneven ground. You can see that vaccum connection good in this one. Now the air door assembly sits directly over top of the ECM..... - how nice!





Not only does all that crud cause you trouble - it sits around wet 24-7 and does it's VERY best to rot out the metal in there. Frank had a worst case scenerio.....




It is really worth the trouble to go in there and clean everything out and keep that cowl drain dry and working. It is a terrible source of water leaks.Once you get everthing off and actually see the way water flows around the door unit you'll understand just how easy a leak can be there!!




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Re: That Darn Leak...
Thursday, June 21, 2018 1:14 PM
Mine is really clean under there, and when I swapped fenders, I found the drain holes and they were clear as well.

But interesting point about the air door possibly being the source of the leak. I'll have to see if I can figure out a way to deal with that.
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