Leak from Cowl

[irocdupi]

So the last few days it has been raining, and I got in the car and there was a terrible smell of mildew. So i start feeling around and the passenger carpet was soaked, so I take everything apart and see that there is water coming in from above the fan blower motor. I run the a/c for a while and see there is no water coming from there, next I have my dad pour water onto the windshield near the cowl and all the sudden water starts rushing in. So i take off the wipers and pull the cowl off to see there is tons of dirt down there and no where for water to drain, so we cleaned it all out and put it back together and so far no water, is that all it could be.

 

[BigRondo]

Did you pour water on the windshield after cleaning it out to see if it still leaks? Hopefully you got it!

 

[irocdupi]

Ya we poured more water and saw nothing hopefully that was it

 

[BigRondo]

Good luck. Nothing worse than a leak, except maybe an electrical problem.

 

[irocdupi]

Well i guess thats my luck washed the car yesterday with a lot of water and it is somehow getting into the car in small amounts. We narrowed it down to the passenger side windsheild if you pour water on it it leaks in. Any ideas?

 

[matt0248]

Well i guess thats my luck washed the car yesterday with a lot of water and it is somehow getting into the car in small amounts. We narrowed it down to the passenger side windsheild if you pour water on it it leaks in. Any ideas?

Have a glass installer re-seal or replace the windshield. Fords had issues with windshield leaks. usually it gets the fuse panel and GEM module all wet and bad stuff starts to happen.

 

[waskly]

Good luck. Nothing worse than a leak, except maybe an electrical problem.

i would take any electrical problem vs a leak any day month year! water leaks are the worst thing to car.

 

[waskly]

Have a glass installer re-seal or replace the windshield. Fords had issues with windshield leaks. usually it gets the fuse panel and GEM module all wet and bad stuff starts to happen.

that was on the expidtions.

 

[kcwebguy]

I wanted to add some information to this thread as I experienced this same problem. In my case the water was leaking in on the passenger side and dripping on top of my heat/ac blower motor and caused it to seize up.

All of my research led me to think that I had a clogged cowl drain somewhere. As it turns out, I don't think that is even possible. There isn't one or two cowl drains. Once you remove the cowl you'll see that water pretty much just drains from everywhere in the cowl. I flooded the cowl area as a test to see if that was the source of my leak. It was not. When I put the hose on my windshield was when the water started pouring in.

My problem was that the weatherstripping at the bottom of the windshield was warn and eroded away. The water would roll to the bottom of the glass and would turn into the cabin along the bottom edge of the glass.

I applied windshield silicone at the bottom edge and the water no longer leaks in. We're in the middle of a spring downpour right now. I'm looking forward to heading outside in a bit to confirm no leakage. After that I'll have to replace my blower motor, which is a very easy fix job for a DIYer.

 

[LANDYOT]

that was on the expidtions.

Was also an issue with the '05-'09 Mustangs.

I found this thread because my wife's 2013 Explo has just started to exhibit a mildew smell when the AC is turned on. I'm hoping this is just a clogged drain, but it's going back to the dealer under warranty to fix this, AND for them to make a second attempt at eliminating an annoying rattle in the roof (passnger side headboard adjacent to the sunroof).

 

[McLeary]

3 years from the last post in this thread but I'm necromancing it because I have the same problem. Passenger side carpet is soaked and I can see standing water when I remove the plastic floor trim along the bottom of the door opening. I had a Toyota Sienna that did this same thing and it ended up being a clogged AC drain. I'm going to run the AC and see if I get any more water as its been a couple days and the carpet is dry again. If not the AC I guess I'll be checking the windshild seals and wherever the cowl drains are.