Magic Water Leak

[jaymar]

This one has me mystified. Maybe someone who’s torn up their carpet and looked at the floor can explain it…

Sunroof taped off. Passenger door taped off. Bubble rust over windshield taped off. Hellacious rain. Next day, passenger floor wet ONLY where you see the white paper towel. Ceiling dry, seat dry, door carpet dry, carpet AROUND the paper towel dry. So water must be coming up directly under this spot, I know from experience e that another rain will cause most of the ps floor to become soaked. But it seems to start right here.

Anyone know why?

 

[NeverFinis]

That is where it is just pooling. It is running underneath the carpet, below the underlayment, from somewhere else.

 

[retlaw]

Check the inside lower corners of the windshield for water. You mentioned that a rust bubble was sealed....IME the whole lower edge of the windshield seal should be suspect. Any leaks there run to the corners and then spill over behind the dash, ending up in the lowest spot on the floor.

 

[AN470]

Check the inside lower corners of the windshield for water. You mentioned that a rust bubble was sealed....IME the whole lower edge of the windshield seal should be suspect. Any leaks there run to the corners and then spill over behind the dash, ending up in the lowest spot on the floor.

100% correct, sounds like it's coming from the windshield. Go sit inside while it's still raining, you will see a water pooling between the windshield seal and the dashboard. It flows down behind the dash and drips on the carpet in that spot. You either need to fix the rust bubble or get a new windshield seal, or both. I didn't have a rust bubble, but the seal was dried up and not flexible anymore, probably had a crack somewhere. But I had water in the same area. Good luck.

 

[jaymar]

100% correct, sounds like it's coming from the windshield. Go sit inside while it's still raining, you will see a water pooling between the windshield seal and the dashboard. It flows down behind the dash and drips on the carpet in that spot. You either need to fix the rust bubble or get a new windshield seal, or both. I didn't have a rust bubble, but the seal was dried up and not flexible anymore, probably had a crack somewhere. But I had water in the same area. Good luck.

Ha! There’s a tiiiiny bit of water in the lower pas windshield corner. Just enough to see on my fingertip. But…seems impossible to drip onto floor in wet spot, except maybe from the A-pillar grab handle, which is dry. Felt on pillar also dry. Windshield was replaced before I bought the rig.

Also turns out I missed the smaller bubble rust spots when I was taping in the dark. So could be windshield seal, could be bubble rust leak. Further testing is required, by rain or (as suggested by another member) hose.

Mystery Number Two…

Twice now, I have absolutely sealed the sunroof with thick plastic and he duct tape. Would bet money no water got through either. BUT after super-heavy rain, there’s a little water between the plastic and the sunroof glass. Possible routes?

 

[LC4LIFE]

That’s a classic windshield leak in the corner. From the outside it goes in between the glass and the gasket around the glass and then to the inside and then drips down. It’s a known problem for windshields installed improperly.

 

[jaymar]

That’s a classic windshield leak in the corner. From the outside it goes in between the glass and the gasket around the glass and then to the inside and then drips down. It’s a known problem for windshields installed improperly.

Well I guess my 80 has finally become a classic!

 

[Kernal]

You could remove the kick panel/sill plate and look for water droplets on the wiring, also pull up the carpet on that side to see if water is pooling in the floor gutter. If it is you can remove a rubber floor plug at the front of that gutter. When this happened in one of my 80's I let the carpet dry out by placing something that wouldn't rust underneath (with the sill plate removed) to push the carpet up so air could get to it while parked outside in the sun, doors open.

FWIW a damaged/ torn/not sealed door vapor barrier can allow water to spill out onto the carpet in that area. Water that normally trickles down through the door cavity by getting past the molding at the bottom of the glass can leak out from the bottom inside of the door ie: from between the door panel and door if the vapor barrier isn't water tight.

 

[Dr Gil]

This one has me mystified. Maybe someone who’s torn up their carpet and looked at the floor can explain it…

Sunroof taped off. Passenger door taped off. Bubble rust over windshield taped off. Hellacious rain. Next day, passenger floor wet ONLY where you see the white paper towel. Ceiling dry, seat dry, door carpet dry, carpet AROUND the paper towel dry. So water must be coming up directly under this spot, I know from experience e that another rain will cause most of the ps floor to become soaked. But it seems to start right here.

Anyone know why?

View attachment 4055411

I can tell you from recent experience that I thought taping off my sunroof with double overlapping layers of gorilla tape that there would be no way water would get through the sunroof seal. I was wrong. Even doing that, I still had water on my carpet. I had already ruled out a windshield leak and and a roof drip rail leak.

When I permanently sealed my sunroof, only then did the the water leak stop.

 

[brockdeck]

Same windshield leak gave me water in the same area 2018ish.

Had windshield re-sealed, glass guy owned an 80 and used sealant both sides of gasket per FSM. No leaks since

 

[SpenserAK]

Going off what Kernal said - I was chasing a similar leak, and pulled the kick panel trim on each side, which revealed what I needed. FWIW, I also had some dripping on the outside of the passenger trim. That was when I decided to re-route the sunroof drain hoses through the floor plugs, which can still be hidden behind the trim. Also had to reseal my windshield gasket all-around, and then I was dry - before that, mine looked the same at the corners.

 

[robnicko]

this is what can fix it without removing the screen

more so the inner sealing where the glass meets the seal

i did mine and no more leaks from the corners.
what happens is the water pools as others have said and makes its way under the seal where the glass is and then comes inside and you see it at the corners cause theyre the low spots

 

[jaymar]

I seem to have multiple leaks. Posting up in case others see (or have seen) one or more of these…

Removed plastic from sunroof and biggest bubble rust spot before another heavy rain. Now have small wet spot on edge of ps sunroof sliding cover frame, which drips on seat; minor. Ps corner of sliding cover also wet. Same little bit of water visible in ps lower windshield corner. A liiitle wet spot at front bottom corner of ps door carpet. And very soaked floor over a much larger area than before (faster, too) and running alongside door sill back to seatbelt mount. Hidden forward sunroof drains under vehicle seem clear when poked with zip ties; wet spots below them in the mornings, so they must be draining. This is going to take zone-by-zone masking and soaking to figure out. Grrr.

New Year’s Resolution: Fix This (and other stuff)!

 

[jaymar]

this is what can fix it without removing the screen

more so the inner sealing where the glass meets the seal

i did mine and no more leaks from the corners.
what happens is the water pools as others have said and makes its way under the seal where the glass is and then comes inside and you see it at the corners cause theyre the low spots

Nice, thanks for the tip!

 

[Moonglow96]

This one has me mystified. Maybe someone who’s torn up their carpet and looked at the floor can explain it…

Sunroof taped off. Passenger door taped off. Bubble rust over windshield taped off. Hellacious rain. Next day, passenger floor wet ONLY where you see the white paper towel. Ceiling dry, seat dry, door carpet dry, carpet AROUND the paper towel dry. So water must be coming up directly under this spot, I know from experience e that another rain will cause most of the ps floor to become soaked. But it seems to start right here.

Anyone know why?

View attachment 4055411

Thread 'Headliner and sunroof pulled to fix leaks if anyone wants pics!'

Jan 28, 2016

fixing leaks and welding roof rack holes so headliner and sunroof are pulled for now. Let me know if anyone has questions or needs pics!

• Surfdc
• Replies: 113
• Forum: 80-Series Tech

• 

@Surfdc had a great thread about removing the headliner and servicing the sunroof drain lines. I'm in a similar situation as you and just pulled my liner today.

 

[Surfdc]

Yes that looks to be from passenger front sunroof drain. If not passenger corner of windshield. Especially if parked uphill.
It’s not that the sunroof assembly can’t handle heavy rain. I’ve tested it with pitchers of water. It’s that the drain is clogged or kinked.
If headliner and A and B pillar garnish are wet in addition to floor, kink/ block is at top.
If only floor is wet it’s possible kink could be at kick panel.
Time to remove kick panel and headliner to inspect. I say this instead of feeding line down because it won’t undo a kink and it also could possibly knock drain hose off the pan nipple.
Let us know what you find out

 

[unclegit]

If it's not the sunroof drain it's possibly the little corner clip in the sunroof (wire cover) - they warp over time pulling up and letting water ingress beneath them.

I made a foam gasket for under mine and it resolved the "truck smells like a wet dog and my passenger side floor has ducks moving in" issue.

Posts #14 and #18 in this thread shows the little bugger :

Thread

 

[jaymar]

The plot thickens. Tarped the sunroof and windshield before heavy rain. Sunroof got wet anyway, of course, with the usual drip over the passenger seat. Now here's the strange part: the outside windshield is DRY--and I've never had water pile up so fast on the PS floor. WTH...?

 

[Moonglow96]

The plot thickens. Tarped the sunroof and windshield before heavy rain. Sunroof got wet anyway, of course, with the usual drip over the passenger seat. Now here's the strange part: the outside windshield is DRY--and I've never had water pile up so fast on the PS floor. WTH...?

while inside my rig doing a hose test (headliner off), I found that not only did I have sunroof issues, I was also getting water intrusion from the speakers. Given the right set of conditions, water would literally stream out of the door speakers. The water from the rear driver speaker would run down the floor gutters and get the front floor wet. The front passenger speaker would pour right onto the area. Pulled door cards and was met with a host of issues. I’m attempting to solve those currently. Also have water coming in from the cargo sliding window clips and probably the vent too. Parked downhill that could have been jumping the wheel well and running down the gutter too. God help us.

 

[Kernal]

Ditto; water can get in via the speakers if the cone is torn IME. FWIW there are "hats" that are used to decrease ??harmonics from speakers inside doors ie: the sound bouncing around inside the door cavity. Those "hats" can also be used to shield the portion of the speakers that's poking into the door cavity, either intact (whole) or cut in half ie: to act like a roof over the speaker cone/magnet.

The vapor (water) barrier is another common cause of leaks into the cabin if it is not intact. Any rips/tears/hole can be repaired with clear vinyl tape.

For water getting in around door or belt molding clips I've taken a small button of butyl rubber rope/tape and placed it over the hole. A couple ways to do it,
either remove the molding, clean up that area, address any signs of rust, the push a very small button of butyle rubber into the hole(s) before reinstalling the molding. Emphasis on very small button, too much and it will squeeze out from under molding which then needs to be cleaned off, can make a mess.

Or, a quickie fix, push a botton of butyl rubber over the clip from the inside ie; for the cargo area, remove the side panels, look up into the top of that area
to see all the clips holding the molding in place (helps to take photos to find the leak as there may be stains), then press the button over the clip(s).

IME water from the quarter panel window molding clips closest to the rear door can flow over the wheel hump then down to the floor gutter. For leaks from the rearmost molding clips it tends to drop down into the quarter panel cavity.

Definitely need to clean the quarter panal cavities out, check for pooling water including the rearmost section of the rocker panels where water can get trapped.
Remove drain plugs (rubber or plastic) for those areas that face downward. Probably one of the easiest plug to overlook is the plastic plug for the rear of the rocker panel which faces the ground. Grab with needle nose pliers twist and pull, you'll need replacement plugs especially the plastic type as removing them often deforms/damages them. If you try to pop them off using a screwdriver for example (to save/reuse them) you may end up scratching the paint causing bigger problems in the future (rust).

One more possible leak area is from the taillight pockets where they seal around the hole in the body ie: where they fit. There is a factory applied a line of butyl rubber applied around that opening (or on the backside of the pocket) before assembly. What I've found is that the butyl rubber has shrunk over time allowing water and road dust to come in from around the pocket. It's not much but over 30 years it can add up, IME. To address that you have to remove the tail lights/lamps, disconnect the wiring, then remove the pocket.

3M Windweld butyl rubber rope (smallest diameter) can be used to seal thing back up (and to make small buttons for the clips and other holes)

Once the cavities are clean and dry, first address any surface rust, then spray those cavities with something like 3M Cavity wax including the cavity that runs along the top and front of the rear wheel well humps using the 3M nozzle kit for the Cavity wax. Any small drain holes or slits should be kept open ie by using plastic zip ties to avoid breaking the paint seal.