lx200inAR: Thanks! Your thread and approach is super helpful. My cowl was definitely installed incorrectly with about half of the retaining tabs bent or broken. It no longer seats well and I had to epoxy the shroud back to the main body. In searching for the leak, I also ran a bead of Dynaflex 230 where the gutter meets the air intake wall. You can see the OEM seal push out all along this interface, but mine looked questionable (couldn't see any seal material) right at the lowest point. I also have a shear and brake, so fab'd up an aluminum flashing box to cover the intake just in case the cowling has issues.
WRT my original question, I have seen reference to heated washer nozzles. I'd be willing to bet this is the cold weather spec (and could explain the significant relative cost difference for the cold weather spec cowl). I've looked in the FSM and can't see anything in the wiring diagrams related to heated nozzles however.