jgalfo

I have a 95 coupe that has just had the windshield replaced along with the over the top windshield weather-strip. the drivers side is sealed tight but the passenger side I has a leak near the bottom of the door near your feet. there was a leak about half way up the door glass but replacing the window guide solved that. any suggestions or process to follow to find and fix what is leaking is appreciated

Cruisinfanatic

I'd take it back to the installer and tell them to fix it

jgalfo

the company replaced the weather strip that goes over the windshield and said nothing they did replacing the windshield
made this leak and refused to do more. now I just need to find it and fix it myself. has anyone else had to do this, if so can you give me some pointers

vette196

here's a long shot but worth a try....clean the 3 udders under the cowl. To get to the passenger side one you need to remove the fender panel between the door the tire (same panel to access the battery on drivers side).

Even if this doesn't help, its well worth the O.P. and others to do, especially the passenger side, you wouldn't believe what accumulate over 20 years

Crossed Flags Fan

We just had the windshield replaced on our 95 Coupe as well as the weather stripping around the windshield. It leaked on the passenger side about halfway down the passenger side window. After removal of the interior trim around the windshield and spraying water around it (on the outside), it turns out the problem was a small and un-noticeable gap at the top of the windshield next to the metal trim around it. (The inside trim around the windshield is like a "gutter" allowing the water to wind its way to another location before it can be seen.) I bought black GE silicone, put it in my calulking gun and inserted a ribbon of the silicone under that gap running it across the whole width of the weather stripping. . Waited a couple of hours, repeated the water test and it was gone.
Tracking down a water leak on the C4 is one of the more frustrating projects. Like any leak it usually starts in an area that is not where you see the drips.
If that isn't you problem location, you should try removing the interior trim around the window and start a water test starting from the bottom up and increasing the water pressure.It helps if you have a person on the outside shooting the water while you sit inside (with a towel) to see where the leak is coming from.
Be careful putting the interior trim pieces back - don't over tighten them as the old plastic is prone to cracking.
Good luck!

jgalfo

thanks , I will try sealing the windshield GE silicone

SJW

Suggest you try to pinpoint the location of the intrusion before attempting a fix.

As noted in post #4 above, make sure the cowl plenum drain tubes are flowing freely. If they aren't flowing freely, water will pool in the plenum, and spill over into the footwell. I've been able to access the one on the passenger's side without disassembling anything. I can get my hand down from above and onto the tube -- squeeze and massage until it opens up, then flood the plenum with fresh water to flush out the accumulated gunk and debris. My hands are probably above average in size, so unless yours are huge, you should be able to get your right hand down in there.

Below are photos of the three plenum drain tubes, provided by a CF member Starman62. First one is the one near the center, between the wiper motor and the brake booster:




This one is on the driver's side adjacent to the battery:




And this one is hiding on the passenger's side, just forward of the lower door hinge (shown here with the gill vent panel removed):




Here's a photo of the one on the passenger's side, not installed on a car, to give you a better idea of what it looks like. The "lips" that you see at the right-hand side are what tends to get stuck together with tree sap and other gunk, which prevents the lips from spreading to allow water to exit:




Start by running a controlled amount of water into the cowl vents adjacent to the wipers. If it finds its way into the footwell, the problem isn't a leaking windshield -- it's likely one of these drain tubes is plugged up.

If no leak shows up here, start to work your way slowly upward with controlled amounts of water until you get some intrusion. Take it from there.

Good luck.

Live well,

SJW

jgalfo

great suggestion I will try this

vette196

where were SJW when I was udderly stumped finding the 3rd(passenger side) one

SJW

Sadly, SJW has a life outside of CF, and he must attend to that with most of his waking hours. He only drops in here from time to time, mostly in lurk mode these days.

Sorry I wasn't around to help out (but I saw whatcha did there: "udderly" ).

A final recommendation when clearing clogged plenum drain "udders": Wear old shoes. When that udder lets go, if the plenum's full of water, you'll have a gusher. And there'll be some ugly stuff surfing on that outbound tide. BTDT.

Live well,

SJW

jgalfo

thanks a job for this weekend

Go Pack go

SPOT ON! Thanks for all of the detail and the photos! I never knew that right cowl drain existed and I couldn’t figure out where all the water on the passenger side carpet was coming from. Thanks so much!

vette196

couple of more years of that black goop and it would transform to crude oil...LOL

jgalfo

update for me. I had a devil of a time betting to the drains in the middle of the firewall. but I found that they were open and draining. cause of my problem was that the up and over the windshield rubber weather strip was incorrectly installed and the window guide was broken. therefor the window was out of place and the weather strip wasn't in the right place either, thanks to Ecklers being only an hour away I was able to get both parts and except for an occasional drip, problem solved.