When I wash my truck (77) I get water leaking in on the passenger side floor along the kick panel up toward the top. It has been doing it for some time as there is rust under the carpet. It's not the heater. I can see water when I wash it so I think it comes from the cowl vent in front of the window.

Anybody know where this is supposed to drain to? How to clean it out? I suspect the cowl drain is clogged with leaves.

Thanx,

 

Have your cowl vent bowls been cleaned out lately? Mine were packed with leaves that had composted to mulch and water would overflowed onto the floorboards.

The vent bowls drains are located behind the splash shields. Remove the pushpins and peel away. I fashioned a hook out of a coat hanger and fished out the crap until the water ran clear. Oh, you may encounter one of Ford's engineering boo-boos... there is a bolt or screw protruding directly underneath the drain that will block large pieces that makes it more susceptible to clogging. Thanks FORD!

 

You can also remove your kick panel vents if you have them. If you do you can reach in and pull a lot of crap out that way. A shop vac is your friend in this case.

 

Kick panels don't come out. I can't find the drain hole. When I look into the cowl I can't see anything.

 

I accessed my cowl through the interior kick panel areas. It just so happened I was replacing my heater core on my A/C equipped '77, and found a huge amount of debris in the cowl drains on both sides.









Also, my truck was slightly leaking where the firewall and cowl panels are welded together up behind the dash. There is a bead of caulk/seam-sealer, that sometimes dries up from age, causing leaks.

David

 

They're there behind the fenders.. peel back the splash shield.. that tar paper looking stuff. Look for the rubber plug as shown in the pic above ^^^^^.

The side vents/panels are attached with 3/8-inch headed, fat body screws.

 

Man that looks like a pile of dino doo. If you look closely I think you can see a couple of tiny little hands.

I'm thinkin my problem is the factory seam sealer in the cowl has gone away. I'll pull the rubber boot off the passenger side and check from that end. I'll look into some kind of sealer/undercoat you could spray inside the cowl.

I'll repost what I find.

I see some dyno mat in there. Did that work good for you? I'm getting a carpet with a thick mat on the back from Stockinteriors.com. Not sure whether to use the dyno mat or not with it.

 

Hey Bear, check out the thread on my '77. Post #137 shows my Dynamat application.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...list-find.html

I'm happy with the stuff, but I still haven't ordered my carpet, or driven the truck a single mile, so I can't really say how well it works. There is a distinct difference in the resonance of the panels. Where they used to be tinny and gong-like, they all now sound solid. That has to make a big difference when driving down the road.

My thread also describes my removing my leaking heater core and then accessing my cowl to install my antenna and clean out the side cowl drain areas. Your truck has these same access holes on both sides just like mine. It don't think it matters what year, model or equipment, these large holes exist in the kick panel areas. On your A/C equipped F-100, you will find them looking exactly like the one shown in the above pics. It may seem like a real difficult hassle to remove various items such as the glove box liner, and the A/C duct and inner housing, but I guarantee it is not hard at all. http://www.ncspecialties.com/autobody/heater/index.htm This link shows how to remove the inner housing and fresh air duct for the A/C, just look at Step 2 through 5.
But you can probably just get away with removing the fresh air duct(shown below) and reaching in with shop-vac.




Depending on how good a contortionist you are, you might even be able to reach up into the actual cowl area, and you can probably find any of the leaking seams from the backside. I'm actually going to be doing this same thing on the driver's side before I get my new carpet just to make sure all leaks are sealed, because I still have one area that water just barely weeps in.

I don't recommend that you just start straying stuff up in there in hopes of stopping a leak. If the area has dirt or failed caulking, and you spray over it, it just makes a mess, and chances are the problem will still not be solved.

David

 

I discovered plugged up cowl drains the hard way in my 06 Mustang after I experience a waterfall from under my glove box after a hard fall rain. I now know how where those drains are and fortunately they are easy to access in the mustang from under the hood. Wish I'd known that before having a bunch of water poured onto my carpet. Makes me think I'd better find the drains on my trucks.

 

Thanks fro all the replys. I also have an 05 Mustang GT. I noticed the floor wet after a car wash and started smelling mildew. I finally figured out it was the cowl drains filling up with leaves. There are two rubber drains on the firewall. Pulled them off and dug out the leaves and flushed. No more problems.

When I get my carpet, dyna mat, and new seats that are on order I'll post progress.