water leeking on passanger side floor

[ratrod53]

Hello I have a 91 amigo.....
I was told on the Isuzu forums to com here,,, I have water leaking in from my vent below the windshield ,,, I was told that I could find help here.. I cant not figure out where the water is coming from.. I think its from the venting from below the windshields vents just below it... can anyone help how to fix this problem,,, I am tried of putting plastic over the truck every time it rains... the truck was garage kept till I got one year a go ,,, and I have checked every where else all rubber seals are good even around the wiper seals.... HELP thank you

[Thelgord]

Turn on your heater, any fan speed other than off. If you see water leaking, it is your heater core. If it is indeed a seal to the exterior, they may still be in good shape on the surface, but the adhesive used may have gone bad. Tracing water intrusion is a real PITA. It could be leaking higher up the windshield and working its way to a lower point on the inside. There are a lot of variable to look at.

[ratrod53]

hello


new heater core last winter.... it only happens when it rains.... I have tried everything I could think of ,,,, I am sure its from the air vent below the windshield ..leaking down on to the floor..

[Thelgord]

If that’s true, then you may have to pull the dash, or at least the carpet under the dash, back and see if you can find any holes. It is not unheard of for this area to rust through in other vehicles. I am assuming the VX is no different.

[PK]

Pull your heater fan motor out and check for water in there. There is a way for water to come from outside (not the heater core) and end up in the blower fan.
If it gets too deep the blower motor will fail as well.

PK

[Y33TREKker]

There was a thread here awhile back where a member had tracked down such a leak to an area where the body pinch weld seam sealants hadn't been applied adequately.

IIRC, he ended up removing the passenger front fender, cladding, and wheel well liner, then applying extra sealant to about every body panel seam he could see where the leakage could possibly originate.

Some have also had their windshields replaced and eliminated the leak.

For what it's worth, I had a similar situation one time when my VX had been parked on a driveway with an uphill incline during a rainstorm. Ever since that incident, I've always parked the VX nose down, and have not found any water that's leaked inside again.

[Jayd-S]

Hi Ratrod53
Geoff here, aka Jayd-S. I made the post where I had checked every seam nook and cranny and had the fender off and a whole lot more.
I have three VXs now, can't seem to get enough of them!
Since I made that post, in on of my other VXs I discovered one final way that water can and does get in and after going every other route, I have to admit that this might actually be the holy grail and cause of many wet carpet issues before.
From manufacture, the VX windshield is held in place away from the metal frame by approximately ten plastic spacers and the urethane sealing bead runs around the frame where the spacers are already attached. What I found was that in one place a plastic spacer was higher or thicker than the original sealing bead and by the look of the water marks, green algae and the lack of any surface flattening of the bead by the glass, I would guess that it had never formed a proper seal since it was first manufactured. In this particular VX, the carpet and felt under the carpet looked like it had been a very long standing problem.
What you can do for a quick test, is to remove the inside plastic trim of the front window pillar on the side that leaks. Ease off the rubber door seal parallel to the front windshield, then use a skinny plastic pry bar to pry the top and middle push-in fastners then carefully slide the trim upwards to unhook the bottom hook retainer. Now look for any watermarks; the plastic trim tends to channel water down behind the dash. Run water with a hose from the top of the windshield. Without the plastic trim in place, if the windshield spacer and defective seal is your problem, then you will begin to see small beads of water appear and drip.
Don't waste time trying to remove the head linning to check for this kind of leak as the water tends to wick towards the top corner on the side of the vehicle which is lowest when parked.
There are two fix options:
1. Remove the head liner and both window pillar inside plastic trims, then run a bead of black urethane sealant between the frame and the glass up one pillar, across the top and down the other pillar and you are done. Sounds easy but removing the head lining in order to run the top bead, is a pain in the ***! You have to remove the front and back inside plastic side panels before you can remove the head lining but if you are on a budget and don't mind a little work and a stiff neck, it is straight forward. OR...
2. You could have the windshild replaced, making sure that they do not use plastic spacers. With today's urethane sealant, the plastic spacers are redundant anyway. Three days after I got my yellow VX on the road, a rock hit my windshield and I ended up having to replace it. Thought it would be hell to find a replacement and big bucks but was shocked to find the best deal in town at Safelite Auto Glass. They are across the USA and they had the new windshield installed in 40 minutes for $200 all in and included a lifetime waranty on parts and workmanship!
Hope this helps!
Feel free to PM me if you want to pick up the phone and talk over a little troubleshooting. I may be able to save you a lot of time and frustration.
Geoff

[ipd]

Windshield replacement is usually fairly inexpensive no matter what vehicle. The secret is they make them to order. They have templates for most vehicles, and they just form one to fit for the needed application.