Water leak inside front floor

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440nika

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Hey Guys, I have a 70 Dart Swinger that I've re-done and I've found a problem that I can't find. Every time I wash my car I have a "little" water on both the drivers and passengers front floor by the kick panels on the carpet. It's about dead center on the kick panels. I've looked everywhere and can not figure out how it's getting in. I don't have any water on the kick panels themselves or anywhere under the dash that I can find. It just seems to appear when I'm finished. I've tried just spraying seperate areas, one at a time and checking inside but by the time I try two or three different areas I got it in the car. Let me know what you guys think of where I should start. Thanks Dave
 
I've thought of that but wouldn't I have water on the inside of the firewall or up under the dash somewhere. Dave
 
I am in the middle of restoring my 72 duster and I had gutted the interior and cleaned the floor pans and painted them and left the car out in the rain one day and I noticed my floor boards had puddles on them...so I looked under the dash nad found nothing.....mine were by the kick panels to but with no water around them.....finally I spotted it.....it was leaking passed the windsield and coming into the interior on the windshield gasket and running down the pillr and either bhind my kick panel onto the floor or running to the bottom of my dash and dripping down.

either that or you may have a build up of leafs in your cowl and may be draining in some how behind the kick panels or is rusted the inside of your cowl out and its leaking in....but I think I am going to have to say its leaking passed the windshield
 
I never thought of the windsheild gasket because it was replaced new. I tore this car down to nothing when it was re-done a couple years ago. the entire shell was sent out to be stripped and there wasn't any rust to be found at the time on it. When I got the car back I replaced all gaskets, body plugs, body bumpers, whatever could come off came off but I do remember that when I took the windsheild out there was a lot of like black tar sealant around the gasket that I obviously wouldn't want to replace with a restore but maybe I need to. Does anyone know of an standard place that these gaskets leak so I don't have to plaster that black sealant all around the new gasket?
Thanks Dave
 
OK , the factory made 4 cuts shaped like \___/ and bent that tab up to create locating tangs that go in a groove on the windshield gasket. The butyl sealant was supposed to cover these openings and prevent leaks. It worked for a long time when there was enough sealant there. Eventually it would fall through and allow a leak.
Best cure is to place another piece of metal ( aluminum, whatever ) over those openings. Fasten it down with small sheet metal screws or pop rivets, then gob the sealant over them.
 
you might want to check the heater box and fresh air box on the drivers side. It is very common for the drain holes from the vent in front of the windshield to get clogged. Next time you wash your car open up the vent doors and I think you will find your water source.
 
If you did not put sealant on the gasket epecially where it meets the body, the odds are great that you will have a leak. The gasket has to be sealed at the bottom or it will leak and those two little holes Redfish is talking about are pesky little buggers. Also the botom corners are extremely likely to leak if there is no sealer. Buytl sealer is the only one to use, do not use any ureathane as it sets up too hard. I have not tried the butyl tape but it could be a possibility for the sides and top and is not near as messy.
 
63VALIANT*KISS said:
i have a leak and it comes right under the kickpanel on drivers side and still havnt been able to locate where its coming from.
Click to expand...


Drivers side?8)

Mine was the tabs already mentioned and is 9 times out of 10.
Others are windshield corner (gasket pulls away)
Rivets/screws for clips rust a small hole
Drip rail could have a small one running down the pilllar
Vent
Not enough sealant between glass & gasket
Not " " " car & Gasket
wiper pivots

Pull the kick panel, close everything up, get down on floor, have someone outside spray water, back track the leak.
Good Luck!
 
I checked the air boxes and had no water at all. It has to be that windsheild gasket because I didn't put anything at all as far as a sealant on it, I didn't figure I needed anything with a new gasket, I should have ask first. All the trim screws and brackets are new and the body was in real nice shape at all the mounting points so I'm pretty sure I don't have a rust through problem anywhere. My question is one I probably don't want an answer to but do I have to pull my windsheild back out to seal that windsheild properly ans should I have done the same on the back window? Thanks Dave!!!!
 
to seal it properly ...yes hte windshield has to come out.

but you can do it the easy way and get a tube of buytl or however its spelled lol and put the tip of the tube inder the gasket and squirt it in along the gasket and wipe any excess off but again this is more for a quick fix or for the lazy person or a car that is not a show car or things aslong those lines.

remember,the seal not only seals to the body but to the windshield itself aswell, both should be sealed
 
Like they say, "Live and learn". The rubber gasket is there to fill the void and keep the glass edge away from the metal edge. Every thing that doesn't require a gasket has the sealant between the glass and metal fence that overlap one another.
That black sealant can make a mess and ruin a headlinner so the factory gobbed it on only because it was needed. Good luck with the R&R.
 
440nika, WAITE just a minute.....
What everybody is saying could be the problem, but before you pull the windshield out check your door hinges that mount to the body. The hinges must be sealed to the body as well. If you striped the body down to nothing like you said, and removed the hinges from body, this MAY be your problem.
Check this first, that windshield is a pain to deal with especially if it is not leaking. If you want to confirm where the leak is get a plastic bottle of water and put some food coloring in it so that you can dectect it when it leaks. Put a pin hole in the lid of the water bottle and spray around an area to confirm if it leaks or not. You can use several different bottles with different colors for specific areas. I would hate to have you pull the windshield if it wasn't necessary.

Good luck.

onig
 
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