the mysterious interior rain leak

[Caman96]

Mine was leaking from some seam sealer that cracked by the top of pass windshield. It would run down the a pillar to the bottom of windshield, then leak down behind the dash like it was the firewall. Pic is before I sealed it.

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I did a test with hose and no leaks. I doubt that replicates an all night rainstorm. If it does, I’ll check that out too!

 

[Caman96]

UPDATE!!!
Water won again. This guy might be onto something.

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And pt. 2

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[Keenan]

I found the source on the driver side. The water was coming in through the door. One of the previous owners broke the plastic door panel fasteners. The person attached the panel with drywall screws. When i put the hose on the window of the door, it was like a water fountain coming out of the holes. I siliconed the holes and spent $7 buying new fasteners on Amazon. I also put a cut piece of a trash bag on the inside covering the back of the speaker, as water was coming out there as well. I thought for sure it was clogged drain holes in the door. Moral of the story, don't create new holes in the bottom of the door!

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[Caman96]

Ok Round 3 today. Pulled cowl with the intent of possibly removing glued in panel close to air box. But w/help from my son I ran a few water tests. First with a hose I sprayed water in opening under cowl close to center and hose pointing towards passenger side. I sprayed a ton of water and NONE came inside. So then I waited, had a coffee, and let any sprayed water settle. Next test was to spray just a very very small spray directly into the much discussed cowl screw hole. My son was running the water, I’m inside close to passenger floor and within 5 seconds it’s all coming in an dripping on floor. I then let it all settle and dry and to confirm repeated both tests with same results. Can’t speak for everyone’s interior water leak but I’m 100% sure mine is screw hole in picture below!

 

[Zseventy-one]

Great thread - have same problem on passenger side floor.
Took the plastic cowl panel off, cleaned/vacuumed everything really good and shot water from the center access panel that's already open to confirm water dripping inside.
After reading the entire thread, now I'm going to try the garden hose method again, but with less pressure this time to see if the air duct "wall" is failing to divert water around it or if just sealing the screw hole will do the trick.

Not sure how hard it is to remove the sealed cowl access panel but would like to avoid if possible. If I have to remove it to seal the air duct wall should I use a heat gun and just chisel the sealant away...was tempted to use my multi-tool but glad I found this thread first!

Edit: I could just feel it by hand but get nervous ********* random holes...

 

[Caman96]

Apparently I went to overtime on this, but as of today “solved”! We’ve had torrential rain here last few days and completely dry. I’ll never know for sure if part of it was the 2 screw holes above air box but they are sealed and probably good insurance. I think mostly it was the drivers side drain I thought was draining but wasn’t as much as it should’ve been, causing trough to over fill. Looking at the trough under cowl from the middle to driver’s side, it’s much deeper and I believe the design was to force most of the draining water to drivers side and away from air box. When I went through a car wash, with drivers drain mostly plugged, the trough would fill, and overflow the air box and spill over. With drivers side completely open, most water again flows to drivers side and quickly drains. The drivers side drain is a PIA to clean. I just removed the top screw and pulled back enough to clean. It was packed, makes sense(why this side plugged)as again I believe most of the flow should be to that side!

 

[Dariusz Salomon]

The screw that holds the right plastic grille corner that runs under the windsxreen-cowl grilke-silicone that and it should stop. This one is notorious and it sits directly above the HVAC hole. I did it quite recently and it stopped the leak.

 

[Caman96]

The screw that holds the right plastic grille corner that runs under the windsxreen-cowl grilke-silicone that and it should stop. This one is notorious and it sits directly above the HVAC hole. I did it quite recently and it stopped the leak.

That is only one of the culprits. I sealed that and then resealed it only to have water still coming from blower motor. Seems there are a few different reasons, mine was left side drain being clogged.

 

[Dariusz Salomon]

That is only one of the culprits. I sealed that and then resealed it only to have water still coming from blower motor. Seems there are a few different reasons, mine was left side drain being clogged.

Oh yes-of course the drains must be cleaned too. At least it's not a sneaky,trecherous leak like in volvo c70 that goes under the carpet. That kind we can find at the back of our tahoes and burbs. I just sealed mine.

 

[Caman96]

Yeah I’m glad it’s over. It was driving me nuts!