Water Leak Drivers Side Door Lower A Pillar area...
 

Any words of wisdom would be helpful, rain drips down between the drivers door and the side of the dash onto the very front of the still plate area curves up to vertical. It seems to come into the car at the lower A pillar/door area, right were the door weatherstrip meets the A pillar weatherstrip but I see not obvious entry path. Both weatherstrips are in excellent shape and no visible tears. Could it be leaking under the weatherstripping frame that attaches to the windshield frame? I hate to tear out a perfectly good weatherstripping to find it did not fix the leak.

1989 C4

It could be coming in from the upper corner where the roof meets the pillar(under the dog ear), and draining down. It could also be coming in from where the edge of the weatherstripping hangs over/meets the door window.

What I've been doing to trace leaks, is to grab a bottle of water, and starting pouring on the suspected area, waiting a minute or so, and watching what the water does, then opening the door to see it's path. If I know there's a leak, and pouring doesn't work, I splash the area a few times and see if that does it. I'll also pour water over any part of the car or weatherstripping that water could travel across to reach the suspect area, as sometimes it's not obvious what route the water is taking to create the leak.

most do it.

mostly because of the windshield trim and/ or the weatherstrip retainer trim.

My 84 was leaking in this same spot. Weatherstrip was in great shape as well. Took the windshield trim off and resealed between it and the a- pillar and leak is gone. Hope this works for you as well. :thumbs:

When you state windshield trim, is that the trim around the edge of the windshield or the metal strip that the weather strip mounts in?

I took all the trim down to the bare A-Pillar out. Safe-lite had replaced the W/S and really did not do a good job at all. It was leaking as stated above and also had a leak on the inside that was running down the center of the windshield behind the rear view mirror.

Thanks, I guess I need to remove the trim and see what is under there first.

The original sealing strips were badly deteriorated. Looked like a flat rubber strip with adhesive on it that was disturbed when the windshield was replaced. I used a can of permatex black gasket maker. It was a pressurized can and worked out really well.

Here's an idea (I did it yesterday)...make sure the targa top is tightened down. Not sure if this will fix it but a thought

One of the first things I checked.

After some water testing, it appears to start leaking about half way up the A pillar, so the leak is somewhere at or below that point. Right now, my guess would be a bad seal between the windshield trim and the weather strip retainer, either way, I will need to remove the weather strip and trim to reseal.

Seems like the designers made it hard to replace a windshield if you have to replace the weather strip also.

If your windshield has ever been replaced they usually do not reseal the metal windshield trim to the windshield. The trim uses a rubber gasket from the factory but I have had my windshield replaced twice and each time I ask them to leave the trim off so I can seal it myself. If they do it (safelite, autoglass, etc...) they will usually leak and have wind some noise. Black RTV or Black adhesive sealant works very well just clean up excess.