opinion needed on a stupid pain-in-the-butt water leak...

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2kids

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Stupid water leak(s). My thinking is it's either the windshield gasket or the wiper gasket....I'm hoping it's the wiper.

I took a pic of the source of the leak, I'm hoping you can see my weak attempt at drawing an arrow at the leak as it's splashing in my eye....

The wiper bolt is located to the left of the leak - my arrow pointing to the leak is the black arrow closet to the purple wire.

Well guys what do you thing? wiper gasket or windshield?

Later and thank you!!
Darcy
 

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Or, get the garden hose out and spray the wiper pivot area only. You could tape off some plastic over the windshield area to help with this. Then check for leaks... If it does you have found your problem, if it doesn't you spray down the windshield starting at the bottom only, check for leaks, move to the pillars, check for leaks, move to the top, check for leaks. No money spent and you have found your problem...
C
 
I've never had an A-body that didn't leak at or near the wiper. It's a poor design to begin with. You should start with trying to seal the wiper shaft first.
 
clhyer said:
Or, get the garden hose out and spray the wiper pivot area only. You could tape off some plastic over the windshield area to help with this. Then check for leaks... If it does you have found your problem, if it doesn't you spray down the windshield starting at the bottom only, check for leaks, move to the pillars, check for leaks, move to the top, check for leaks. No money spent and you have found your problem...
C
Click to expand...


This^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Thanks for the suggestions and feedback everyone! I'm on it and will let you know.

Darcy
 
Still working my way through tracking down a few leaks on my 71 Dart.

Much to my surprise I have ruled out the wiper gasket seals - they are not leaking.

I've got a fair amount of leaking from my firewall gaskets. I have seen some kits recommended on other threads like this one:

http://www.engine-swaps.com/Pages/ProductsType/GasketKits.html#head2

Has anyone just used some 3M caulking strips on their firewall - like around the steering wheel gasket, heater tubes, etc....

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Marine/Home/Products/Catalog/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECIE20S4K7000000_nid=GSLRY5ZD4SgsQH8HT14PGTglGSYHDCPW39bl

Thanks,
2kids
 
I worked at a dealership. We were taught at school that the best way to find a water leak is to pressurize the cabin and spray soapy water (on the outside of the car) where you suspect your leak is.

Here's how to do it: if you have a working heater, turn it all the way up with the fan on high. (car running - don't forget to open the garage!) and shut the windows. Spray the soapy water around the windshield gasket or firewall or wherever you think the water might be coming from and check for active bubbling. Just like finding a leak in a tire, same principle. Costs nothing to try and only takes a minute or two.

This method works EVERY SINGLE TIME, never had it fail me. Windshield gaskets, door weatherstrip, roof seams, rear window seals on truck sliding windows - anything you can think of where water can get in.

Can't say I've tried it on an older car though. You may find more than you want to know about!
 
Firewall gaskets. Sure if you raise the hood and spray water right at them they may leak.
They wont leak excessively in normal conditions. This same foam gasket material was used at rear bumper brackets and many other holes in the body where water, dust, air noise, fumes, ants, etc.. might pass through. It never was a water tight seal. Just filled small voids between parts.
Wiper pivots to cowl is the one place where the same gasket material was used along with a bead of caulk. I suppose one could ad a bead of caulk to all of them.
I'm really not certain what is up or down in your posted picture but it looks like that leak is in the body welded seam(s) where several parts are welded together to create the cowl to A-pillar transition.
 
RedFish said:
Firewall gaskets. Sure if you raise the hood and spray water right at them they may leak.
They wont leak excessively in normal conditions. This same foam gasket material was used at rear bumper brackets and many other holes in the body where water, dust, air noise, fumes, ants, etc.. might pass through. It never was a water tight seal. Just filled small voids between parts.
Wiper pivots to cowl is the one place where the same gasket material was used along with a bead of caulk. I suppose one could ad a bead of caulk to all of them.
I'm really not certain what is up or down in your posted picture but it looks like that leak is in the body welded seam(s) where several parts are welded together to create the cowl to A-pillar transition.
Click to expand...

I think I may have gotten a little enthusiastic with the watering hose yesterday while doing my leak testing which might explain why I was seeing so much leaking from my firewall gaskets.

I'll keep trying.

I do think the welded seam you mentioned is leaking in more than one place. I think I might have fixed the driver side portion in my photo.....the passenger side is much harder to get to in order to fix it!

So is that welded seam area something one would re-seal when the windshield is out? (in other words you could access it at that point?)

Thanks!
 
rmchrgr said:
I worked at a dealership. We were taught at school that the best way to find a water leak is to pressurize the cabin and spray soapy water (on the outside of the car) where you suspect your leak is.

Here's how to do it: if you have a working heater, turn it all the way up with the fan on high. (car running - don't forget to open the garage!) and shut the windows. Spray the soapy water around the windshield gasket or firewall or wherever you think the water might be coming from and check for active bubbling. Just like finding a leak in a tire, same principle. Costs nothing to try and only takes a minute or two.

This method works EVERY SINGLE TIME, never had it fail me. Windshield gaskets, door weatherstrip, roof seams, rear window seals on truck sliding windows - anything you can think of where water can get in.

Can't say I've tried it on an older car though. You may find more than you want to know about!
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yes I think my car is so far from air tight right now this may not work for me :) But I will definitely keep it in mind.
 
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