Leak (1 Viewer)

[peez206]

So I removed my cowl earlier today. Water is definitely coming through the cabin filter vent because there is really no where else water can be coming from. I used a squirt bottle and poured a little water into that area and sure enough it drips through to the floor like what I experience in a downpour. Everything really seems to be in decent shape but I did notice a notch in the weather stripping and it exists right above the cabin filter vent which I assume is where water has been slowly seeping in from. That notch area seems to align up with an angle piece along the firewall (you can see it in the first pic with the two holes).

In the 2nd pic you can see where that notch is on the cowl. My guess is water runs along those channels either left/right and they dump outside of the vent area but perhaps it was coming directly down from there into the cabin filter area? You can see in the pic that it was still damp in that area which is directly above it. I've wondered if my cabin filter would be soaking wet if my car is not on recirculate while I'm parked.

Anyhow, I went ahead and added some extra weather stripping along that area along with the area where it connects.
Ran a hose on it pretty good for a few minutes and I didn't see any drips make its way down so I'm hoping it's resolved but we'll see next time it dumps in the PNW which will be pretty soon.

Removal of the cowl is pretty straight forward like @KLF mentioned.
Pop off the wiper tabs and remove the wipers with a 14mm. (also replaced them. thanks for the tip)
The side trim you kind of have to slide toward the headlights and it will come off. 1 screw one each side and the thing pops off pretty easily.

Hope this helps @lx200inAR as you and I seem to have the same issue.

View attachment 2548953

 

[lx200inAR]

Awesome! Thanks for the update, I’ll try to check mine tomorrow and report back.

 

[sdnative]

View attachment 2548939

That is probably how that mouse got inside the cab of my truck..

 

[bloc]

So I removed my cowl earlier today. Water is definitely coming through the cabin filter vent because there is really no where else water can be coming from. I used a squirt bottle and poured a little water into that area and sure enough it drips through to the floor like what I experience in a downpour. Everything really seems to be in decent shape but I did notice a notch in the weather stripping and it exists right above the cabin filter vent which I assume is where water has been slowly seeping in from. That notch area seems to align up with an angle piece along the firewall (you can see it in the first pic with the two holes).

In the 2nd pic you can see where that notch is on the cowl. My guess is water runs along those channels either left/right and they dump outside of the vent area but perhaps it was coming directly down from there into the cabin filter area? You can see in the pic that it was still damp in that area which is directly above it. I've wondered if my cabin filter would be soaking wet if my car is not on recirculate while I'm parked.

Anyhow, I went ahead and added some extra weather stripping along that area along with the area where it connects.
Ran a hose on it pretty good for a few minutes and I didn't see any drips make its way down so I'm hoping it's resolved but we'll see next time it dumps in the PNW which will be pretty soon.

Removal of the cowl is pretty straight forward like @KLF mentioned.
Pop off the wiper tabs and remove the wipers with a 14mm. (also replaced them. thanks for the tip)
The side trim you kind of have to slide toward the headlights and it will come off. 1 screw one each side and the thing pops off pretty easily.

Hope this helps @lx200inAR as you and I seem to have the same issue.

View attachment 2548939View attachment 2548941
View attachment 2548953View attachment 2548954

View attachment 2548952

Does all of this attach to the base of the windshield by clipping into a slot? It seems that attachment method would prevent most of the water passing through and down.. though you tracking this down ire makes it look inadequate.

Also next to the notch seems to be another strip of something, but it seemed misaligned. Is that piece loose and sliding around, or integral to the cowl cover and maybe bent?

 

[KLF]

That is probably how that mouse got inside the cab of my truck..

While you have the cowl cover off, add some protection so they can't get in that way, I used 1/4" hardware cloth, it's like a stiff coarse screen.

 

[paulunm]

Does anyone know the part number for the little clips on the cowl that have felt on them? I seem to be missing one so the drivers side won’t stay down.

Do NOT like the collection of leaves in there!

 

[nwfl4runner]

They are part of the cowl - no separate part number unfortunately

 

[paulunm]

They are part of the cowl - no separate part number unfortunately

Crap... was afraid if that. Now, anyone know the PN for the cowl?- and I suppose I may as well replace the side both side trim pieces that go up to the roof- as one side pops up off the mount occasionally...

I assume they just pop on?

 

[lx200inAR]

I dont have the part number. But it wasn’t cheap (> $300). I’d look into mending the one I had if possible,

 

[peez206]

Does all of this attach to the base of the windshield by clipping into a slot? It seems that attachment method would prevent most of the water passing through and down.. though you tracking this down ire makes it look inadequate.

Also next to the notch seems to be another strip of something, but it seemed misaligned. Is that piece loose and sliding around, or integral to the cowl cover and maybe bent?

The base of the windshield already has some sort of weather stripping and there is a decent ridge where the cowl sits under it. From what I can tell the clips along the underside of the cowl fasten it nicely and its a nice tight fit. Honestly I'm stumped as to where water is getting in. I've put the extra weather stripping only because it felt damp and I think its where water may be slowly seeping it but the existing stripping should be adequate from what I can tell. That piece in the right corner that looks mis-aligned seems to line up with the curve of that area and its outside of the intake area as well. I noticed it was also damp but I figure it if leaks there It would run along the corners into where it drains anyways.

If I still notice leaks, I may pull it again and just line that area with some shop towels or something and then pull it again after a few hours to see where water collects.

 

[lx200inAR]

Didn't have time this weekend to pull off my cowl. WiIl look at mine as soon as possible and update.

 

[peez206]

Just wanted to give an update. It's been raining for almost 24 hours straight and that added weather strip seems to be working nicely. Laid out some shop towels along the floor and its still dry.

 

[davido06]

I've had some of the same problems. I've got wind noise and a small water leak after a new windshield was installed. It seems fairly common. The leak was where the wires for the windshield defroster connect to the windshield (right near the duct in the pictures KLF posted. It is likely that when they set the windshield in, they plugged the wires in disturbing the adhesive before it was set. I noticed the wind noise was more notable when the ac was set to recirculate than vent. I could actually blow compressed air from the bottom passenger inside of the windshield to the outside. I also had mice get it through the ac vent cowl and added a dam similar to the one pictured above.

 

[lx200inAR]

I got out and checked under my cowl today. I agree that any water that gets into the rim of the air intake is going to end up in the floor board. I dumped a lot of water in the channels around that and it all drained properly with no water in my floorboard, so I don’t think I have any leaks in seals in the firewall. Definitely has to be with something around the areas @peez206 addressed. For now I just cleaned the cowl and the windshield real well. I’m hoping that dirt and grime was maybe fouling the seal between the cowl and the firewall/windshield. I’m not super optimistic, but I had to get it back together to watch football. I don’t think it matters whether the recirculate cover is open or closed, as I think once water is inside that rim, there is only one place for it to go.
Also of note, if the cowl wasn’t there, water pouring off the windshield definitely would just dump into that entire left side of the HVAC intake. So ithe plastic cowl must be designed to steer water away from it
Just for the record, I did not have any leaves or twigs piled up under the cowl, although I could see if you did that it might cause a problem with diverting water into the wrong places.

 

[coleAK]

This morning when I opened my ‘13 LX to go home from a 4 day ski race had noticeable pooled water in my passenger side husky liner. Seemed odd since the truck had been parked for 4 days outside and there was no snow on the floor when I parked it. Anyway we’ve had crazy weather, 3 feet of snow followed by 4-5 inches of rain... I was parked at a pretty good angle nose down.

the process for cowl and passenger side carper removal was fairly easy. The inside of my air intake and filter was obviously damp and the weather stripping on the cowl was saturated

I'm leaving it all apart to dry out then will try some more weather stripping. I’ll update if I it works or I find another culprit.

 

[lx200inAR]

My car also points nose down at my house, wonder if that’s part of the story.

 

[peez206]

My driveway is sloped upwards a bit as well. I noticed that if I parked normally the water would drip from directly under the glove box and I would see water on my floor mats. When backed in, I saw water seep in from where the hole was where the bottom kick panel plate would sit in. My conclusion now is that water was coming in the intake and depending on the angle of my car, it would find its way down accordingly I suppose.
The OEM weather stripping on the cowl seems to sit pretty tight pressed against the firewall along the back. This should do a good job at sealing that area and letting water drain into the mesh which would direct any water away from the cabin filter intake.
The only vulnerable area that I saw was that one indentation which could have gotten less compressed over time?
It was also the only part that had a notch where water can come directly down instead of a channel that would drain water away.
Anyhow it has rained several times since I added that additional weather stripping in that spot and so far so good. Hopefully its the same culprit for you guys.

 

[lx200inAR]

Well, It rained here for about 8 hours yesterday, but not really "hard" at any point ( .15" according to NOAA, seemed like a bit more than that at my house, but maybe not). But so far no leak into floorboard. All I did was take the cowl off, clean everything (cowl+windshield rim that is under the cowl). Also, the A pillar exterior trim on the passenger side didn't seem to be clicked into the cowl before I started working on it. I doubt that the cowl to trim adjustment made a difference, but the pieces all fit better together now, so at least it makes me feel better. Would be interesting to see if just accumulated gunk between the cowl and windshield is what was causing the leak. Or along the same lines, maybe the cowl works itself loose over time/age and just the act of taking it off and putting it back resets it in a position that keeps water from getting under it.

I agree there are some spots in the cowl that have recesses and what not that seem like they'd let water in, but they are also molded into the part, so if those were where the failures were, you'd think every 200 series would have water leaking into their floorboard.

 

[toy671]

Hi everyone, first post here. I ran into this issue of water appearing near the transmission tunnel on the passenger side during the same rain storm that peez206 had mentioned a few weeks ago on my 2013. I had an inkling that this was happening when the family mentioned oddness with the dome light turning on during the heavy rains while they were driving. As suspected it was wet when I checked the passenger side floor boards. I had taken the cowl off previously to replace the wiper linkage assembly because the bushings had worn out and thought I may have reinstalled the cowl incorrectly - this was not the case and it was fine when I pulled it off. Previously the truck was parked in the garage but I acquired a new 200 in November and this one was relegated to the drive way so I may not have noticed the leak earlier. I pulled the cowl off to understand what was happening and noticed the same thing as the posts mention above that the only place water could enter would be the AC inlet. At the time, I had no weather stripping laying around and all I could do was clean up the winshield and cowl area but a rainstorm the following day caused water to appear in the same spot again. I put a folded tarp the width of the wiper right under the passenger side blade to cover the AC inlet which proved to cure the leak.

Curious to see if there were any differences in a new cowl, I ordered one and picked it up earlier this week. It's the same part number from the 2013 to current model year 55708-60101, the cold weather version as there two. On the cowl itself, the Aisin note in Japanese says that it is made for trucks with a bracket but the part appears to be the exact same part as both are listed on the cowl 60101 vs 60091. My guess is that there is extra foam weatherstripping for the bracket that sticks up right above the AC inlet?

The new cowl fits much tighter than the old cowl and the insulation is much thicker as it has not packed down. I think peez206 has the right fix, looking at the old cowl I would add foam weather seal tape in the same area below the windshield from the passenger fender side to the passenger wiper arm mount. This would coincide with the channel built into the cowl that collects the water and redirects it into the gutter. My cowl was a bit weathered so I decided to replace the cowl but I hope this helps others who may have the same issue.

 

[Black200]

Do you guys have the photos of the areas you're talking about, I'll have to check my now. I haven't had heavy rain in weeks so I haven't noticed anything.