Take off the wiper cowl?

[themadness]

that tar strip or what ever you want to call it is on my 94 but the whole driver side of it was missing. from where the overlap is all the way across to the edge of the window. thats the only reason the i thought the leak my be down down the firewall and into the carpet.

[DTMAce]

Let me clarify that then now.

There is none on that side. ONLY above the air vent along where the cowl has NO openings is there to be any sealant.. Ok?

Water normally drains into the cowl by design. But there are places down below the cowl and such that can develop cracks, rust or open places to let water in. Sealing the whole cowl cover against the windshield is not going to fix your problem.

Your driver's side leak is coming from one of several places. Common places are from seams along the drain trail from the cowl down past the left side of the brake booster, clear to the bottom of the firewall. Where wire connections enter the firewall behind the hood hinges. Look for cracks, rust spots, etc anywhere there is a seam of metal meeting metal. Another spot is where the firewall meets the floor pan, just behind the top left corner of the drivers foot well, behind or beside the kickpanel. You will have to pull back the carpet AND underlayment a bit to see.

[indyyellow]

Is that some type of home made BLOWER I see there?

In fact, look at this picture, from when I pulled my cowl in 09



You can see remnants of the sealant still on the glass above the vent. Regardless, it is only meant to keep the panel secure, not let it rattle. It is not a stop gap for keeping water out, but it is supposed to minimize it I think.

The metal panel I picked up is supposed to go under this, but my car never had one. I think they cheapened it up, did away with it, and did this seal trick to get around it. At least I think so.

[3X00-Modified]

3X00-Modified is incorrect, DTMAce is correct, his car has it, my car has it, snowblindburd's car has it, and so on. It IS sealant put on by the factory and it's for the exact reason already mentioned due to the change in the fresh air box cover...

I gave my correct input, you're welcome.

Every one I've taken apart has not been adhered to the windshield so regardless of the original design it has never done what it was intended to do there for if he decides to stick it to the windshield will not solve his issue. Sorry for my little details being wrong, because ya know its stuff like that which counts the most.

[nikosuave8896]

Holy crap lol. I'm gonna get roof tar but does it come in a caulk gun form?

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[berettaboi]

windshield urethane comes in a caulking tube, yes. available at napa, and many other auto parts suppliers.

i use small allen keys (sometimes you have a million spare allen keys if you have collected from garage sales, father, etc...) there is a small hole on both sides of each wiper arm at the pivot point... lift the wiper arm, slide small allen key (or small nail like 3*00-mod uses), and then wiggle, sometimes a small tap with a hammer or screwdriver sideways (so as not to touch -and crack your windshield...) the arm (after you remove the cover and nut holding it on!)

new trim 'plugs' to hold the cowl on are $4-5 in a pack of 5 or so at major autobody supply. napa has them, bring in an old one for show.

[Cliff8928]

Every one I've taken apart has not been adhered to the windshield

None of mine were either....

[Chad91GTZ]

If your cowl is glued to the windshield its probably a dealer service thing, probably when the TSB for wet carpet came out, same as all the kriffing goop they put around the harness pass throughs.

And if you want to glue it down, I already linked the correct stuff.

[scd88ga]

3X00-Modified is incorrect, DTMAce is correct, his car has it, my car has it, snowblindburd's car has it, and so on. It IS sealant put on by the factory and it's for the exact reason already mentioned due to the change in the fresh air box cover...

I gave my correct input, you're welcome.

Every one I've taken apart has not been adhered to the windshield so regardless of the original design it has never done what it was intended to do there for if he decides to stick it to the windshield will not solve his issue. Sorry for my little details being wrong, because ya know its stuff like that which counts the most.

If the issue is water leaking into the fresh air vent off of the windshield, then it will do what it was intended to do. Do I need to paint you a picture? You were wrong, get over yourself and maybe apologize for once, damn...

[Chad91GTZ]

Bretts, say there is a liter of rain water in the cowl area, because it has holes in it, regardless of where they are. Now you turn left. Water goes right. How does some glue on the cowl protect the fresh air intake?

[scd88ga]

Bretts, say there is a liter of rain water in the cowl area, because it has holes in it, regardless of where they are. Now you turn left. Water goes right. How does some glue on the cowl protect the fresh air intake?

The cowl has 2 drains in it, why would you have a liter of water in it? Especially while driving? It rains out when cars are parked too ya know, that's when the rain gets in mostly, right off the windshield into the fresh air vent, unless you have super awesome black sealant! I love my dry carpet.

[Chad91GTZ]

You wouldn't have a liter of water, what I'm saying is that you're in motion, and those drains plug up, which is why the firewalls rust out and steering racks brake off the right side.

My 96 doesn't have glue on it, and the computer is DIRECTLY under the fresh air vent. If that's where the water was getting in from, there would be much bigger problems.

[scd88ga]

You wouldn't have a liter of water, what I'm saying is that you're in motion, and those drains plug up, which is why the firewalls rust out and steering racks brake off the right side.

My 96 doesn't have glue on it, and the computer is DIRECTLY under the fresh air vent. If that's where the water was getting in from, there would be much bigger problems.

The drains were plugged in my grand am when I first bought it, full of gross mouse nest! It wasn't a pretty scene, ack!

Much bigger problems, such as my computer that was screwed from getting wet in my 94 Z26 when I bought it? lol

[DTMAce]

Why is everyone arguing over it?

Mine had sealant, between the cowl and the glass, in the section above the vent. One EACH side of the vent, were pieces of foam glued to the bottom of the cowl section. Again, this looked to me to be a minimizer, not a proof against wet into the vent area.

Just because not all cars had this, doesn't mean it wasn't there. Mine was new from the dealer and that was never added after I bought it so it came that way, either from the manufacturer, or it was added shortly after the dealer got it on the lot for the whole 2 days before I bought it.

Now. Jon happens to be a very smart and knowledgeable guy with regards to stuff. No, he won't know everything, and neither do I. But I take some of these comments, regardless how much they appear to jest, as jabs and digs at each other. This is not high school. We are not experts. But many of us know a lot and not all of us know the same things. Be open minded and nicer to each other.

/rant

I think we have beat this subject to death. Some cars had it, some didn't. Lets leave it at that. He needs to fix what he can to address his leaks.

[scd88ga]

The horse has been beaten and the OP has more than enough info, how about /end thread? lol