Water leaks?
#21
#22
Haven't had much time to work on the truck, I just have the carpet pulled up and dry the passenger side floor after every rainstorm. Probably this weekend I will try to see if I can put a bright light in the vehicle and see if any light comes through on the outside and point me to where this leak is, of course this will have to be done at night. I think this leak is coming from somewhere at the dash level and below, I hose the truck and I did not have to go higher than that.
#24
Hey man i know this was a LONG time ago but did you by any chance find a fix for that leak coming from the screw hole on the oh s#!t handle? i just discovered the same problem myself
#26
I had a similar problem with a leak at the O'**** handle. I took the rubber off the cab side, cleaned the paint in this area and also cleaned the rubber/plastic. I took clear silicone and run a small bead along the body seam. After that, I put silicone in each screw hole and a little around each hole and reattached the rubber/plactic. Have not noticed any leaks in the past year.
On the passanger floor leak, the start of the thread, I had a similar problem. Raider posted something that I tried and it worked for me (it was not the AC). I took the wipers off and the plastic cowling off. When you do that you should see a couple "bumpers" that the windsheild rests on. I put silicone around these "bumpers" and put every thing back and let set for a day or so. I have not noticed the carpet being wet since.
On the passanger floor leak, the start of the thread, I had a similar problem. Raider posted something that I tried and it worked for me (it was not the AC). I took the wipers off and the plastic cowling off. When you do that you should see a couple "bumpers" that the windsheild rests on. I put silicone around these "bumpers" and put every thing back and let set for a day or so. I have not noticed the carpet being wet since.
#27
#28
It's rained most of the last two days here. When I was driving away from the house this morning I ran the windshield washer. as the wipers were operating, I realized there were some droplets on the inside of the windshield, near the top, scattered from the top left corner almost to the rear view mirror. As I continued driving, I saw droplets coming from the little screw cover for the grab handle on the A-pillar.
Is the consensus this type leak is coming from around the driver's door, or from the windshield?
#29
You guys are awesome. I'm going to have to look at this. I've been noticing that everytime I come to my truck, the passenger's side floor mat has a puddle. My wife noticed it coming through somewhere from the firewall. I'm going to try putting silicone on those bumper thingies. It just sucks because i'm not sure if I can beat the weather here in Portland, allowing enough time for it to cure.
#30
Water Leak Driver Side, Fixed
I have a 2005 Dakota and after a big rainfall had both floors full of water. I think I have solved both leaks, thanks to all of the earlier posts for clues.
The driver side leak was coming in through the left side kick panel, just to the left of the emergency brake location. If you pull the plastic cover there is a hole that provides access to a space where the water was accumulating. This video gave me the first clue:
The creator of the video wasn't able to find the source of the leak. I first sucked about a pint of water from the space, it was filling and overflowing onto the floor, soaking the carpet. Then I put a borescope/endoscope into the hole and explored, The lower part of this space had some corrosion from the water coming in and drying out over time. Looking up it turns out the space is contiguous with the A-pillar channel, It goes way way up! The dashboard is medial, the door hinge bolts come into it, and there are numerous body panels are joined with sealed seams to create the space.
I took out the windshield, removed the cowl cover, windshield wipers, front wheel, fender liner, and foam pad between the fender liner and door hinges. I cleaned out all the debris and dirt and ran water from a hose on sequentially higher and higher spots until with the scope I could see water dripping into the space. When I looked at all of the body panels and seams and channels, as well as the generally poor design of the way the water is intended to drain, I couldn't identify one spot that was the source.
Some have suggested the failure of the weatherstrip on the cowl cover is a source. Based on the design of the system, this makes no sense. As well a 'plugged drain hole' would not cause the leak, the water channels are very sloppy, it is designed to slap and slosh its way to the ground, covering lots of parts and running all over the place on its way down. It seems almost doomed to failure, and so it has....
My best guess is that somewhere water has pooled and caused a bit of corrosion on a seam, opening a channel for water to run into the space that allows it to flow onto the driver side floor. There were so many seams I decided to seal them all with urethane automotive body seam sealer. It was $26 for one tube. I sealed inside the water catchment channel below the wipers and cowl cover, including some rubber plugs, as well as the door hinge area and a plug on the firewall that had some corrosion around it. I also used some home spray expanding foam insulation, "Great Stuff", to fill some spaces, but wouldn't do that again as it is not waterproof.
Once all the sealing was done I ran about 30 gallons of water with a hose all over the areas in question and no more leaks!
I have attached pictures of some of the seams sealed, I just went crazy.
My next step if the leak persisted would have been to drill a drain hole in the pocket where the water pools. I tried that from below and was unsuccessful, it seems there are multiple body panels between the inside water pocket and the bottom of the rocker area. My plan was to cut open the area from the inside and drill down once I gained access and drill as far as needed to see daylight.
Below Cowl Cover
Right in front of driver. my suspicion is the source of leak was the seam the left side, in this perspective, of the support panel this shows.
Firewall and door hinges
Firewall Plug
Door hinges and rubber plugs
The driver side leak was coming in through the left side kick panel, just to the left of the emergency brake location. If you pull the plastic cover there is a hole that provides access to a space where the water was accumulating. This video gave me the first clue:
The creator of the video wasn't able to find the source of the leak. I first sucked about a pint of water from the space, it was filling and overflowing onto the floor, soaking the carpet. Then I put a borescope/endoscope into the hole and explored, The lower part of this space had some corrosion from the water coming in and drying out over time. Looking up it turns out the space is contiguous with the A-pillar channel, It goes way way up! The dashboard is medial, the door hinge bolts come into it, and there are numerous body panels are joined with sealed seams to create the space.
I took out the windshield, removed the cowl cover, windshield wipers, front wheel, fender liner, and foam pad between the fender liner and door hinges. I cleaned out all the debris and dirt and ran water from a hose on sequentially higher and higher spots until with the scope I could see water dripping into the space. When I looked at all of the body panels and seams and channels, as well as the generally poor design of the way the water is intended to drain, I couldn't identify one spot that was the source.
Some have suggested the failure of the weatherstrip on the cowl cover is a source. Based on the design of the system, this makes no sense. As well a 'plugged drain hole' would not cause the leak, the water channels are very sloppy, it is designed to slap and slosh its way to the ground, covering lots of parts and running all over the place on its way down. It seems almost doomed to failure, and so it has....
My best guess is that somewhere water has pooled and caused a bit of corrosion on a seam, opening a channel for water to run into the space that allows it to flow onto the driver side floor. There were so many seams I decided to seal them all with urethane automotive body seam sealer. It was $26 for one tube. I sealed inside the water catchment channel below the wipers and cowl cover, including some rubber plugs, as well as the door hinge area and a plug on the firewall that had some corrosion around it. I also used some home spray expanding foam insulation, "Great Stuff", to fill some spaces, but wouldn't do that again as it is not waterproof.
Once all the sealing was done I ran about 30 gallons of water with a hose all over the areas in question and no more leaks!
I have attached pictures of some of the seams sealed, I just went crazy.
My next step if the leak persisted would have been to drill a drain hole in the pocket where the water pools. I tried that from below and was unsuccessful, it seems there are multiple body panels between the inside water pocket and the bottom of the rocker area. My plan was to cut open the area from the inside and drill down once I gained access and drill as far as needed to see daylight.
Below Cowl Cover
Right in front of driver. my suspicion is the source of leak was the seam the left side, in this perspective, of the support panel this shows.
Firewall and door hinges
Firewall Plug
Door hinges and rubber plugs