Where's the leak?

[johnday]

The other day, we got a pretty good couple thunderstorms. I'm getting water on the passenger side floorboards on both my BII's. I guess it could happen both windshields leak, but I'm thinking more like a drain or something is plugged under the cowling. I've had big trucks do that, and they're easy to clear due to the amount of space you have. Anyone had this on a BII?. Where would the drains be, if any? Anything have to be removed to get to them?

 

[rookieshooter]

Have you pulled your carpet back to make sure there's no holes in floor board? Could be some bad rust problems.
Plus it might be easy to trace where the leak is coming from. I know when I went to a bare floor there were all kinds of places that water was getting into the cab area.

 

[johnday]

Ya, I'm pretty sure it's not coming through the floorboard, neither BII has moved in at least a week. I thought it odd that both of them had water in the same spot. Oh yeah, the windows were closed! LOL No sign of water on the inside of the windshield, so I don't think it's coming from the top down.

 

[hondaguy77]

If ur BII isn't dry already, try drying it, then hose down the area you think the leak is coming from. If it doesn't leak, then keep hosing down lil areas of ur vehicle until you notice one.

 

[johnday]

10-4, will do, thanks. I've got it stuck in my head I've got a drain hole plugged somewhere under the cowling where the fresh air intakes may be. I'm running off memory here, I've had a big truck that turned out to be the case. That was after removing the windshield and sealing that. That was embarrassing! LO
L

 

[hondaguy77]

Hahaha nice

 

[wood1]

The best way to check a windshield for a leak is to spray soapy water around the perimeter and blow compressed air around the inside edges of the glass. Also works for rear side windows.

You can check body seams on the roof etc by blowing air along the seam. If you can pull water out of the seam with the air stream you have a leak. A small bead of clear exterior silicone run your finger through it will fix that right up.

The cowl is a good bet if you park under trees etc, that crap clogs the drains. Easy to figure out, run water directly into the cowl.

Generally if you run the blower motor with the windows up and spray soapy water around, bubbles will form as the air escapes from the inside of the vehicle.

 

[johnday]

Some good info there. I never thought about seams, it seems.LOL

 

[kustomiser]

does it have a sunroof? if so there are two drain tubes that run down the a pillars that are prone to stopping up a little compressed air blown in the tube area with the top open will most times unclog the tubes. you have to remove the front fenders to access the bottom of the tubes as i remember

 

[wood1]

That's so true. They clog up. I have seen one of the drain tubes come disconnected from the frame too. Also, not sure about the BII but the ex's sunroofs leak. The powdercoat comes off of the black aluminum frame and allows water to get inside. You have to pull the headliner, remove the screws holding the frame from the inside, clean the frame up, paint it, new 1/16 butyl tape, screw it back in and you are good. Had to do my '93. No leak any more!

 

[wood1]

Here's when I had mine apart

 

[rookieshooter]

To change the air dynamics of the engine compartment and to add a snorkel, I removed the section of firewall that blocks the windshield mechanism so I can work on those arm. The snorkel is about to turn into engine compartment.
The other reason was to let the engine compartment breath thus a cooler running engine via the louvers below window.

Check out all the crap i found when I removed the sheet metal that previously blocked this area. This is on the pass side. Ford should have had an access door.
Talk about potential rust problem with all that wet crap in there.

And here is probably the only pic of what's behind that metal bulkhead.
Here is what was under all that crap, the fresh air vent that went to the heater box inside cab. Note how it's raised above the floor. Easy to see how water can get in there when it was all blocked.
But check out the water opening just to the left of the raised vent. This was blocked by all that crap. Might be able to clean from outside if fender/door is not in way.

On the driver side was a mouse nest lol.