My '66 Barracuda driver floor board area will get very wet if I leave her out in the rain. Its about a 10" by 6" area just a few inches from the edge of the driver seat. Any ideas where to start and trace the entry point or clog? I don't make it a habit to leave her outside but once in a while when I get her worked on its left outside. Its been a problem for a longtime but I never addressed it since she is garage kept and driven on nice dry days.
Driver floor board wet? ...tracing leak
- Thread starter ZooKypr
- Start date
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Sully1190
Look. It's a Gold Duster.
All I can say is check the door seal. It's what was wrong with my Duster.
theothergarth
Well-Known Member
Where the wipers come through the firewall is a good place to start. Other places to check would be the drains on the side of the cowling and years of silt and debris around the cowl vents.
68383GTS
Well-Known Member
Yes wiper seals
Robj
Well-Known Member
If it has the vent box under the dash, feel up in there when you see the wet spot. Like theothergarth said it could be plugged drains or debris or it could be rot in the cowling. When I got my 70 Swinger, the drains were plugged and I could feel the water puddling in the vent box if I reached up in there.
Vent box, wiper pivot seal, windshield gasket, holes in top of cowl where hood closes on to are the usual suspects’ water can penetrate. (Hint driver’s side vent box is held in place with three nuts, and can be easily removed for cowl inspection) Once you find and fix the entry point of water to car’s interior it is a good practice to remove carpet and discard all wet and previously saturated padding, clean carpet with water & ammonia, and allow it to dry in sun. Replace all soiled padding with like material. Make metal repair to floor if necessary, clean & repaint floors as necessary to prevent additional rust through from inside.
Removing and replacing wet padding, and cleaning carpet will prevent mold & nasty smells from inhabiting your car.
Removing and replacing wet padding, and cleaning carpet will prevent mold & nasty smells from inhabiting your car.
Saetun
Sinister Swinger
This!
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
Does a '66 have the vent box doors? Open 'em and stick your hand up and around into the cowl, see what sort of dirt/ mud/ debri is in there. Go out into the front fenders. There's a drain hole on each side for the cowl.
theothergarth
Well-Known Member
If it is clogged drains, here is a good method I found....I had my son on the hose and filling the cowl area a little at a time. As he was doing this, I started poking in the drain hole, pulling out debris as it got wedged in the hole. When most of the bigger stuff was pulled/washed out, I reached up through the vent boxes and swirled my hand around while the boy alternated water on and off. It would start out muddy, get clear and he would stop the water. Then repeat. This took about 15 minutes to get it nice and clean and wash out nearly 40 years of NM dust.
The wiper pivots can be serviced working through the dash openings.
The crap that is flushed out of the cowl often stops again behind the dog leg section of the fender. There is a small opening underneath between the 2 bolts. I once had to remove the 2 bolts and pull out on the fender to get the clog out.
The crap that is flushed out of the cowl often stops again behind the dog leg section of the fender. There is a small opening underneath between the 2 bolts. I once had to remove the 2 bolts and pull out on the fender to get the clog out.
Sully1190
Look. It's a Gold Duster.
Where precisely are these vent boxes?
theothergarth
Well-Known Member
can't say for sure all A bodies have them, but 73 and 74 Dusters do. If your car has them you can't miss them. They are the big black boxes with doors that reside by your left knee (drivers side) and right knee (passenger side) (on left drive cars anyway 
). On the passenger side, it's part of the heater box under the dash. On the drivers side it's a stand alone.
). On the passenger side, it's part of the heater box under the dash. On the drivers side it's a stand alone.
Sully1190
Look. It's a Gold Duster.
can't say for sure all A bodies have them, but 73 and 74 Dusters do. If your car has them you can't miss them. They are the big black boxes with doors that reside by your left knee (drivers side) and right knee (passenger side) (on left drive cars anyway
And you just take the door off, reach through, and clean out debris with your hand? Sounds simple enough.
Sully1190
Look. It's a Gold Duster.
I have a 74 duster, and I cannot find these boxes anywhere. There's no box on the driver's side, and the heater box on the right side doesn't have any doors on it. Furthermore, my front fenders are hollow. There's no drainage deal in them that I can see.
One person touched on it. Instead of all the guessing, just go out on a sunny day and have a hose run onto a small section at very low pressure-like bathroom faucet when brushing teeth speed lol. Run in each area for a few minutes while someone else is inside the car. Run in one spot for a few minutes. Q!uit altogether for a few minutes-incase you hit the right spot and it just takes a little while to get to floorboard. Rinse, repeat. Good Luck.
I had a problem with mine, but mine ended up being where a chrome strip screw and clip went around side pillars of windshield area. A dab of temporary silicone and its gone. Temp because I will get it done right when I get the body work and paint done.
I had a problem with mine, but mine ended up being where a chrome strip screw and clip went around side pillars of windshield area. A dab of temporary silicone and its gone. Temp because I will get it done right when I get the body work and paint done.
theothergarth
Well-Known Member
Actually, I had pulled the heater box/passenger side vent to replace it with an aftermarket HVAC system. The new heater box did not include a vent option, just a block off plate for the hole. I decided to do the same on the drivers side as well, so when I cleaned them I had removed the vent boxes and just had to reach up through the hole and clean it. Not sure if you could do it without taking the boxes off either unless you're a contortionist. If you don't see them in your car, they have most likely been removed by a PO. (Unless some Dusters came without them originally?) Look up under the dash in the corners and see if you can identify something that looks like a block off plate where they would have been.
theothergarth
Well-Known Member
This is the only picture I have that shows the vents before I removed them. The passenger side one is closed, the drivers side is open. The carpets are the result of years of water infiltration through the vents.
Sully1190
Look. It's a Gold Duster.
Odd. I don't have those. I'll have to look later to see if there's a way to get there anyways.
Just noticed the wiper seals are missing! Must of detoriated over time. I also drove her for about 20 miles with the vent boxes open and nothing but a strong wind current was coming out. No debris flying out. If there was any debris in there I would think the air current would be partially blocked if not totally blocked. With that being said I can rule out the vent box obstruction.
Has anyone tried replacing the seals by removing the wiper arms, greasing the pivot and sliding them down? Also, do the wipers just pull off with some force or is there a release lever? I don't want to use my "gorilla strength" and break something. lololol...Its caused me more work than needed in the past.
You'll need to remove the wipot pivot to properly service it.
There is a special tool made for removing the wiper arms but most of us get by without it. There is a tiny catch under the arm located oposite the blade. The blades spring pressure against the glass creates a bind in the splines that does a lot more for holding the blade on than that little catch does. A forked door panel tool can work to remove the arm. The trick is to not damage the cowl with the heel of any tool used.
Here's a little tip... The wiper pivot never turns a complete circle so all the wear inside it is within 180 degrees rotation. Most evident in the drivers side pivot. Use a sharpie to mark the housings on the bottom before you remove them. When reinstalling, rotate your marks to the top. The worn area on the shaft now runs in a unworn portion of the bushings. Result is smoother, quieter operation.
There is a special tool made for removing the wiper arms but most of us get by without it. There is a tiny catch under the arm located oposite the blade. The blades spring pressure against the glass creates a bind in the splines that does a lot more for holding the blade on than that little catch does. A forked door panel tool can work to remove the arm. The trick is to not damage the cowl with the heel of any tool used.
Here's a little tip... The wiper pivot never turns a complete circle so all the wear inside it is within 180 degrees rotation. Most evident in the drivers side pivot. Use a sharpie to mark the housings on the bottom before you remove them. When reinstalling, rotate your marks to the top. The worn area on the shaft now runs in a unworn portion of the bushings. Result is smoother, quieter operation.
Sully1190
Look. It's a Gold Duster.
Bumping for great need. Is there any other way to get in and clean out debris or clogs? Since I don't seem to have any vent boxes in my car?
I've never seen one that didn't have fresh air vents under both ends.
If you went through the front wheel wells to remove the inner fender spash shields you could see the small openings where the water is supposed to drain out.
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