Water intrusion

[Miker]

I pulled the grommets from my cowl drains so that isn't the issue. I am thinking it has to be the a pillar seal above the window. The car slants slightly forward in my driveway so if the water is running in behind the real plastic panel it would eventually reach the front carpet. I need to remove that panel to know for sure. But there is at least a gallon or 2 of water. The insulation is soaked completely.

I had water running through the indoor air filter, because these cowl drain...things....were clogged and after a rainstorm I vacuumed more than one gallon water out of my floor. That was fun......

 

[Kev555]

Been out working on it. Had the wife spray around with the hose on the cowl, hood hinge area, window seal and the gap between the door and fender so as to hit the door wire grommet. Nothing leaked. I have the passenger seat out and I was laying on my back with a flash light watching for drips.
I had a thought that maybe water is getting into the cowl while driving and where I had it parked the car was leaning to the front and left. so any water in the cowl would pool to the passenger side.
In the TSB it says that a cowl water issue will leak down right above the SJB. It is definitely leaking above the SJB since there was water in that white foam that is formed into a bowl.
The TSB also says to inspect the pinch weld in front of the cowl clips especially the center support area. I did and this is what I found.View attachment 112377

These were the places (circled) where I found mine leaking after checking the usual spots. yours looks to have been resealed as the original has foam (or at least mine had)under those plastic retaining clips

 

[Miker]

View attachment 113276
These were the places (circled) where I found mine leaking after checking the usual spots. yours looks to have been resealed as the original has foam (or at least mine had)under those plastic retaining clips

Yes those are now completely sealed in with dynaflex. I'm am thinking it is the seal above the window I have fans going on the lifted carpet now.
There was so much water that it would seem to be obvious where it was coming in with a hose spraying water at it. The fact that I couldn't see it coming in while laying on my back looking up by the SJB also leads me to believe it is coming in behind the trim next to the back seat. Then once on the pan it is migrating forward since the car sits on a downward slant.

 

[JC SSP]

This is new… I have never heard of water coming inside from the rear window. I guess it’s possible. Please post pics of what you find.

 

[Squirrely]

So I assume you pitched the grommets. The previous owner of my car also wasn’t aware of the grommets.
I found quite a bit of debris. Luckily no damage, but both my Mustang emblem's are distorted under the door. Completely puzzled.

 

[Miker]

This is new… I have never heard of water coming inside from the rear window. I guess it’s possible. Please post pics of what you find.

No I'm not speculating that.
What I think is happening is water is getting past the black plastic seal that runs above the rubber trim that the window seals against. I believe once I remove the rear seat and the plastic panel that is beside it I will see that water has been running behind it getting under the carpet in the rear. Basically a few inches behind where the front passenger seat belt bolts to the floor. Here is a pic from when I replaced that gasket. The second pic shows the plastic piece that I believe water is getting behind. Depending how the car is sitting once the water gets past that seal it could run in down the A pillar or down behind that trim panel next to the back seat.

 

[Miker]

When ever I wash the car or it has been raining and I open the door there is always water on the black plastic door sill piece under the door that says Mustang on it. I have always assumed that is normal as it is outside of the door seal. Can anyone confirm that that is normal?

 

[Miker]

So I assume you pitched the grommets. The previous owner of my car also wasn’t aware of the grommets.
I found quite a bit of debris. Luckily no damage, but both my Mustang emblem's are distorted under the door. Completely puzzled.

Yes I pulled both grommets 1 under the wiper arm channel and the one under the cabin air filter. I wish that that had been the issue.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

When ever I wash the car or it has been raining and I open the door there is always water on the black plastic door sill piece under the door that says Mustang on it. I have always assumed that is normal as it is outside of the door seal. Can anyone confirm that that is normal?

Yes it is normal.

1. Water seeps through the gap between the door and the rear quarter panel.

2. Any water that runs down the window to the inside of the door will drain out of the bottom.

 

[Kev555]

I did see some post a while back about the rear quarter lights are prone to leaking?

 

[cavero]

I did see some post a while back about the rear quarter lights are prone to leaking?

Yeah check that the channels around the trunk lid aren't clogged up with leaves/pine needles too. I still had some leaks somewhere around the seams back there but I never narrowed it down. Mine's garage kept so I had that luxury

 

[Miker]

Looks like I found it. The water was getting in right at the corner of the passenger window molding and running down behind the rear seat plastic piece and hitting the rear floor right by the seat belt mount. Since the car is parked on a downward slant it eventually got to the front footwell too. Hopefully this fixes it. I almost just attached the corner with rubber cement as the rest of it looked perfect. But I went and got a new 10 foot roll of the 3/4 wide by 5/16 thick Frost King weather stripping. Amazing how that 3/16 squishes down to the thickness of the oem gasket.

 

[Daddidio]

I have remediated my problem with water ingress to the cabin, cleaned the SJB so it works again (whew, lucky) and am installing the windshied wiper cowl grille pieces. The pieces are a bit warped and not sealing well against the windshield.

The rubber strip is integrated into the plastic and replacement cowls are rare for this model making them expensive, so I am considering using black self tapping screws to fasten them just above the holes where the original clips are located. I will align them as best I can to look "factory".

I am hoping someone else has done this before and can provide some pictures of how it ends up looking, with or without caps on the screws.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions about this.

 

[GriffX]

The pieces are a bit warped and not sealing well against the windshield.

I'm confident that the integrated rubber is not designed to seal water proof against the windshield and should just deflect most of the rain. The real water proof seal is around these square holes.

I was thinking to remove the cowl plastic pieces, cover the windshield area where the rubber lip touches it with Scotch tape, add black RTV below that lip and mount it. The Scotch tape protects the windshield against the RTV and when it is cured, I can remove it again so the gap is filled. (Hope you understand what I mean)

 

[asdrew]

...The rubber strip is integrated into the plastic and replacement cowls are rare for this model making them expensive...

I'm about to replace mine with one (2 pieces) in great shape that was pulled from a junkyard. Price- next to nothing