Mysterious water leak, PLEASE HELP

1970Turtle · #1 08-15-2010, 04:13 PM

Hey everyone, every time it rains my floorboards get soaked. I figured it was the weatherstripping needing to be replaced and there is a small gap in the pass window where it doesn't meet up snug against the rear quarter window. However, I ruled both of those out after a monsoon we just had I went and checked the interior and the seats were bone dry, the rear floors and seats were just as dry but the drivers and pass front floors were soaked to the point water came up over my fingers when I pressed on the carpet. Is this something to do with the cowl rusted and leaking or what? I definitely want to fix this so I can patch the rusty front pans. It is currently raining and I went and sat in the car so I could see if it is leaking from anywhere. I pulled back the carpet a little on the passenger side and seen some water running down from who knows where. Not a lot, just a little but it isn't raining hard either. Any ideas? Thanks

Rank · #2 08-15-2010, 05:43 PM

Be thankful you dont own a corvette .... they leak like a termite infested boat!

Usually the weather stripping around the doors is a good spot to first look for leaks and second would be to peel back the carpet under the drivers-side pedals .

Follow the moisture up to its point of entry . Parking on a different inclination usually makes the leak disappear.

shadowgray396 · #3 08-15-2010, 08:09 PM

Leaking may be in the corner of the window, or the drain holes at the bottom of the front cowl may be plugged. Pull out the right vent assembly and you should be able to look up and down inside of the cowl section and see what is going on. To pull the vent remove the grill cover and you should have 4 or 5 screws you will need to take out to get the vent out. How much rust do you have around your front window channel under your trim. Maybe it is rusted through also.

Ray

Hank70SS · #4 08-16-2010, 08:13 AM

Water from the cowl runs down over the kick panel vents and out the bottom of the fender. If the fender gets full of leaves and junk it can plug up, that's why they rust out in that area. The vent should be sealed against the inside metal panel. If it's not sealed when the water runs over the vent it'll leak in on the floors.

smokenjoep01 · #5 08-16-2010, 08:17 AM

Sounds exactly like what mine was doing. Mine was a rotted cowl panel.

1970Turtle · #6 08-16-2010, 08:04 PM

And the winner goes to......smokenjoe! I upped the hood and removed the abundance of leaves (no cowl screen) and fiberglass insulation?(Is that stuff supposed to be in there) and there was a rust hole in the passenger side I could fit my hand in and on the driver's side, well lets just say a cat could crawl in and get a good night's sleep if one wanted to. Very frustrated at this point.....what other areas should I look at for rust since the cowl is this bad? I know the bottom of the pass fender is rusted. How difficult is all of this to fix/replace?

shadowgray396 · #7 08-17-2010, 12:03 AM

Chances are the the lower cowl is rusted out on both sides. The outer cowl section is available but not the section against the firewall. On my first car the lower cowl was rusted out and the part that held the fenders on was also gone. You have to find a donar car or make your own. The only way to really find out is pull your front fenders and take a look. Sounds like you are going to have to do that to fix rust already.

Ray

smokenjoep01 · #8 08-17-2010, 09:25 AM

My cowl was rotted across the top and the sides were perfect. Its no easy job replacing the cowl though. Lots of stuff in the way. Here is a picture of mine.

1970Turtle · #9 08-17-2010, 09:14 PM

oh you all give me so much hope............

http://www.ss396.com/mm5/merchant.mv...chevellecamino
Will this fix my problem?

smokenjoep01 · #10 08-18-2010, 07:57 AM

Thats the piece!