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Water leaking on passenger and driver side floorboard when it rains

WJACKSON11X

WJACKSON11X

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I noticed the carpet was wet after all of the rain we have had lately. I pulled the carpet and insulation back, which was soaking wet, and let it dry out. During the next rain storm I went out and could see water coming in behind the grey kick panel in the picture below. The arrow is the path that the water is taking. It is doing the same thing on the driver side. Only does it when it rains, so not the heater core. Any ideas on what it is coming from and how to stop it. My interior is in great condition and don't want water ruining my carpet or floorpans.

20151116_170207.jpg
 
My dash and kick panels are torn out (ok I never put them back) and I noticed the last time I was out with it and it was raining good, that I had water running down the area where the kick panel is as well. I was too busy to remember to look though, as I'd have ideal access to see. I *suspect* its coming from the corner of the window, I don't think GM did a particularly good job making sure the "sealing" surface there is good, and water does puddle up in the extreme corner of the windshields.
 
The window was my first suspect. I'm thinking about running some silicone along the seal just to see if that stops it. I may use a water hose after it dries and see if that takes care of it.
 
Sometimes the cab gets rotted where the seam is between the firewall and outer part near the upper door hinge,where there is a seam..or where the heater blower motor meets the firewall..

I've yet to own one GM vehicle,car ,van,or truck,that didn't leak water and soak the carpets...usually it gets in around the windshield,where rust has eaten away the metal surrounding it.."Body By Fisher" should say "Body By FISHES" ,they leak so badly..every vehicle I owned had floor rust or rot thanks to the leakage..

My pickup has rot holes in the roof and behind the sun visors--someone put a Lund visor on it before I got it,which may have led to the rust,or was a quick way to cover up the fact the entire roof has about 1" of bondo troweled over it,which is now coming off in chunks and cracked...I suspect the roof got damaged by a falling tree before I ever owned it,and a crappy job was done to hide the damage..

I had to put that sticky butyl backed foil tape over the leaky spots behind the visors and exterior of the roof,to help keep water from dripping on me while driving in rain--but during a heavy downpour I often get a stream of water directly on my crotch...:mad:...which makes it look like I pissed myself when I get out...very embarrasing !..:doah:..
 
Mine does the same thing, too. I think it's a seam seal that might be located under the he front cowl. That is next on my list because blazer may be parked outside for winter.
 
Hopefully I can figure something out. Its starting to ruin my insulation and I have No rust anywhere on this truck. I would like to keep it that way.
Its raining here today, so I'll start figuring something out after it quits.
 
Keep us posted. I plan to take off hood, then wiper arms, then vent cowl thing and see what I find.

Just need to find the time to do it now.
 
Before you get all crazy with that, pull the wiper cowling off and see if the cowl drains are plugged up. There is a passage down into the firewall where it meets the fender for draining water that comes into the wiper motor area. When these plug up, water runs into the cab.
 
Does it happen immediately or take a little while? I would guess that it is your drip lines plugged with years of crap. Clean out the cowling under the wiper tray down to the wheel liners
 
I'd leave the carpet and jute padding out of it while its parked--that stuff is the leading cause of floor rot,it never dries out..

I should have done that to my Burb before I let it sit 5 years--last winter we got 8 feet of snow,and it was completely submerged under deep drifts,ans when all the snow melted,it went into the doors,rockers,and the rugs were sopping wet...now the rockers are so thin on top my fingers can poke holes in them,and they were rock solid when I got it..
I'm scared to look under the rugs..:doah:..
 
When I got home lastnight, I had some time to run a water hose over some areas. I first started in the cowl area, making sure to not get the windshield wet. Let water run in that area for 5 mins or so. No water leaking. I then ran water over the door area- no water leaking. I then let water run over the windshield for a few mins and within a min or so, I had water leaking in around kick panel. I also noticed water seeping in at the corners of the windshield seal. I guess I found my leak.

Any pointers on what to do to fix it? I watch some videos on windshield removal and it seems easy. Should I replace the seal of just use some sealant on the old seal?

I don't suspect a lot of rust or any on the widshield frame, this Burb is very clean. Hopefully not anyways.
 
Someone else that has actually done so lately will probably need to comment, but I'd be very suspicious of an aftermarket windshield seal. Mine, after however many years (it's an old OEM piece) shows no cracking from weather, and the seal surface against the windshield should be nearly immune to weathering.

Picturing the windshield setup in my head, with a truck sitting, and water NOT being forced up the underside of the seal at the base of the window, the ONLY place water can leak in realistically, is under the windshield itself, no? The pinch weld is raised, so water would have to be forced up, against gravity, to get in that way. I'm sure that's possible due to vehicle forward movement, but just sitting, it seems unlikely.

What about water that comes in from the top of the windshield frame? Is it possible/likely it can get in up there, and make its way around the edges of the windshield?
 
Not sure on the design, as I have never seen one without the windshield. I don't know for a fact that it is the original seal, but the windshield appears to be original. I could definetly see water inside coming from what looked like the corner of the windshield. Not sure if it was coming from the top or bottom.. I may do another test when I get back from out of town next weekend
 
Here is a pic of what the pinch weld looks like http://foamypirate.com/img/87chevy/teardown/sept11/image045.jpg

The seal is like an "H", the bottom part of the H seals against the pinch weld, the top seals against the glass. So two leak points obviously. As that picture shows however, it would be hard for water to leak from the pinch weld side, at least if that area was leaking.

As a test vaseline does ok at sealing moisture out, but it's only temporary, as it's too soft to last very long. But as long as it wasn't sprayed with pressure directly, would probably be a quick indicator of where the leak is if it stops when you cover that area in vaseline.

I just know on my truck, when sitting on flat ground, there is a visible puddle at each bottom corner of the windshield where it sits against the glass and seal.
 
My Burb leaked at the driver side kick panel as well. The windshield was replaced still no fix. I finally took the seat out pulled the carpet back and pulled the kick panel and put a hose on the windshield then layed on the floor and watched and from what I remember the e-brake had a bracket that was spot welded to the body and it was dripping off of that but there was no water above it so my only conclusion was that is was a bad spot weld :dunno: haha. I didn't keep the rig much longer so I never came up with a solution.
 
I'll be totally honest, all my square-body GMs do the exact same thing. They leak water around the kick panel vent. I live in Colorado, so we rarely get enough rain to cause and issue. It's only when snow gets to slowly melt on the windshield that it's an issue. So I always brush off the truck after every major snow...no more problems. I'm too lazy to fix it, so I'm obviously not helping.
 
I've searched and read all the "wet floorboard" posts and still haven't found my situation. Has anyone had water pour out of the heater vent? Its rain water not coolant and I checked the gap between the heater core and firewall. Thanks in advance!
 
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