by veefre Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:56 pmJust wondering if anyone else has resolved this issue.
Now, I know most older vehicles tend to spring leaks around the windshield, and that may be the problem here, but I'm trying to narrow it down.
I drove the van in the rain about a month ago and noticed water dripping on top of the floor mats. I wondered if it was being forced in by the wind through the vent system. I dried it up and then I parked the van and forgot about it.
The van has been sitting uncovered for the past few weeks - it was dry when it was parked. We've had a lot of rain in the past week or two, and now I discover that a fair amount of water has leaked from the front sheetmetal and/or windshield and collected under the floor mat. The leaks tend to come at the sides, drives foot well (above windshield washer reservoir and fuse panel) as well as on the passenger side (above the heater, I think). Most of it seems to run down the forward wall and gets under the floor mat that way.
This SEEMS to point to a leaky windshield gasket, but before I go smearing silicone sealer all over the universe, I'm wondering if there are other penetrations or water leak suspects that I could address first. Like wiper mounts, or squirter mounts, etc. Even the vents.
Any ideas? And what's the best way to re-seal a leaky windshield if that's what it turns out to be? Pull the windshield (it's pitted and has some tiny dings and could use replacing anyway) and use a new gasket?
For the moment I'm just putting newspaper under the floor mat and changing it when it gets damp. This leaking has been going on for a while, it seems, as I scraped the loose rust away last summer and treated the floor wells under the mats with a rust-resisting red primer. Even patched some rusted through spots with JB Weld.
The new windshield will probably wait until dry weather, although I suppose I could park it under cover, let everything dry out, and replace it before then.
Now, I know most older vehicles tend to spring leaks around the windshield, and that may be the problem here, but I'm trying to narrow it down.
I drove the van in the rain about a month ago and noticed water dripping on top of the floor mats. I wondered if it was being forced in by the wind through the vent system. I dried it up and then I parked the van and forgot about it.
The van has been sitting uncovered for the past few weeks - it was dry when it was parked. We've had a lot of rain in the past week or two, and now I discover that a fair amount of water has leaked from the front sheetmetal and/or windshield and collected under the floor mat. The leaks tend to come at the sides, drives foot well (above windshield washer reservoir and fuse panel) as well as on the passenger side (above the heater, I think). Most of it seems to run down the forward wall and gets under the floor mat that way.
This SEEMS to point to a leaky windshield gasket, but before I go smearing silicone sealer all over the universe, I'm wondering if there are other penetrations or water leak suspects that I could address first. Like wiper mounts, or squirter mounts, etc. Even the vents.
Any ideas? And what's the best way to re-seal a leaky windshield if that's what it turns out to be? Pull the windshield (it's pitted and has some tiny dings and could use replacing anyway) and use a new gasket?
For the moment I'm just putting newspaper under the floor mat and changing it when it gets damp. This leaking has been going on for a while, it seems, as I scraped the loose rust away last summer and treated the floor wells under the mats with a rust-resisting red primer. Even patched some rusted through spots with JB Weld.
The new windshield will probably wait until dry weather, although I suppose I could park it under cover, let everything dry out, and replace it before then.
