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1st Gen. Ram - All TopicsDiscussion for all Dodge Rams prior to 1994. This includes engine, drivetrain and non-drivetrain discussions. Anything prior to 1994 should go in here.
Thought for sure I had the dreaded cowl crack because after running the garden hose on top the cowling the water came pouring in on both sides. Turns out I got lucky because neither cowling is cracked .
The D/S leak is because my vent window patch isnt 100% sealed. I used rtv and plexiglass to cover the vent a few years ago. However, it isnt draining too well because i could watch the water level rising and a ton of debris floating to the top of the vent. Is there an easy way to clean out that space?
The P/S leak is in the same spot and leaking on the side of the HVAC box. I havent herd of a leak here before and am not sure how to fix this one. Other than removing the whole hvac box.
I used to get water into the truck through both doors as well.
It was amazing..you would see the droplets drip out of the speaker grille.
Raining outside, water would run into the doors through the glass wipers / seals, run down the inside of the door skin, into my speaker, around and through the speaker cover, and drip into / onto the floor right were my rubber mat is open between the side door jamb. Eventually, with enough peel and stick window tape, I completely wrapped that speaker, and glued the tape to the inside of the inner door skin. The water runs around the speaker and out the holes in the door bottom now. No more water..
Never thought that water could come from there! I will have to test it with the garden hose. Right now I for sure have water coming in through the cowling on the passenger side. But maybe that is not the case when it is raining?
Well I hosed the doors down and water is coming in from behind the panels. Not by the speakers though but by the vents.
Here is the leak behind the hvac box on the kick panel that I cannot figure out. This only happens when water is dumped down the cowl.
At both ends of the cowl, there is a large boxlike sheet metal cover. (The top is where you get the cowl cracks.) At the bottom are gaps in the corners where water is supposed to drain the cowl area. These get filled with dirt, leaves, pine needles, etc. The only way I know to clean them out is to remove the fenders and rod them out and flush with a hose. When these clog up, the water backs up until it spills into the vents.
At both ends of the cowl, there is a large boxlike sheet metal cover. (The top is where you get the cowl cracks.) At the bottom are gaps in the corners where water is supposed to drain the cowl area. These get filled with dirt, leaves, pine needles, etc. The only way I know to clean them out is to remove the fenders and rod them out and flush with a hose. When these clog up, the water backs up until it spills into the vents.
I had the fenders off and all the debris is free from the cowl. Still leaks, no cracks. I will have to pull the heater box unfortunately.
I've heard of some people installing flashing over the top of the kick panel vent hole, accessed behind the fender sheetmetal - if that makes sense! It's been awhile since i've seen that area.
Have you checked to see if there is water coming in around the HVAC temp resistor in the cowl? It could be leaking in past that, then migrating down and around the HVAC box until it gets to where you show it running.
I am not sure if it was. All I can tell you is with the cowl off and water running directly into the cowl that is what I could see. I will try again this weekend.