Passenger Side Wet Carpet Part II

[Buffy]

As most of you know my VX is for sale. Well we had some significant rain here last week and I noticed the carpet wet on the passenger side. JUST GREAT! Well today I put on my detective hat and gave some thought to what was going on. The leak is something that has started recently. I also noticed my squirrel fan had started squeeling when it is very cold. So I pulled back the carpet to find it very wet. I then pulled the squirrel fan out and finally the black strip that covers the wiper arms and started applying the water to the passenger side. After about 10 minutes of this, water started dripping in. I was astonished at what a found..... There is a plastic grommet on the passenger side that is used to screw the black cover panel. Well the water is getting in though here and here is the best part. It is a straight shot to the inside of our cars. See pictures below:

Grommet from the top side:



Looking through the hole where the squirrel fan sits:



I put some silicone around the grommet and reinstalled it. I then applied liquid thread sealer to the threads of the screw. I am letting set up until tomorrow and will re-water test it then. We are supposed to get some rain on Tuesday so that will be the acid test.

I have had a couple windshields installed recently and I can see this being an issue with this grommet over time as wear is put on this piece. I am having Jerry Lemond search for me a new grommet. I'll keep the group posted on my water testing.

[Buffy]

Update: We've had a couple days of light rain and the inside is still dry. Today will be the real test though as we are supposed to have heavy rains here. I am hoping it stays dry and I can declare success!!

[samneil2000]

That's awesome. I need to pull that panel on mine and sand and paint it. Good idea to seal up that hole while I'm in there...

[Buffy]

It has been pouring rain all day today and the floor is still bone dry! Whooo hoooo!!!!!

[samneil2000]

I did this this weekend. My cowl panel was in bad shape, so I pulled it and sanded it along with the wiper arms. After sanding, I hit them with gloss black Rustoleum for a few coats.
When it came time to put it back together, I put about a quarter sized glob of "Goop" on that plastic nut and the surrounding area. I also tried my best to stuff some in to threaded area of the nut as well. After that, I covered the area with aluminum tape and poked a whole where the screw comes through the cowl in to the plastic nut. I hope it works!
I also pulled back the passenger side carpet to find it along with the padding and sound deadening and the firewall "blanket" to be soaked. I towelled up what I could and left the door open some while I could. I'm hopeful it will dry up well so I can lay the carpet back down.

[Buffy]

I had to pull all that white underlayment stuff out and squeeze the water out of it. It took several days to get the juke padding to dry out. When I was sure it was dry I put a little spray adhesive on the heat padding and put it all back in. Knock on wood mine is still bone dry even after several hard rains. I used the white liquid thread sealer and applied it to the threads of the screw which seemed to work nicely.