67-72 Suburban cab leaks.

[SCC2560]

So I have a 1972 Suburban C20. It is my daily driver and I have been trying to clamp down on all the leaks in the cab since the rain has started here. My interior is fairly new so trying to keep it dry and from my understanding these things are notorious leakers when it rains. Was hoping to hear from other Suburban owners, where they found leaks in there rig and what they used as a solution?

So far I have redone the windshield seal and found that on the drip rail above the front windshield there is a seam that leaked strait into the cab.. 2 leaks down who knows how many more to go!!! Thanks.

[HO455]

Welcome aboard. The front windshield, cowl and drip rail have been my worst areas. The water runs down from the cowl past the firewall seems and out the bottom of the area in the back of the wheel well area. Unfortunately this same area ends up being full of dirt and leaves from the cowl vents. Cleaning the build up of debris will do wonders to let the water run out and not inside. I did a search for "cowl rust" before cleaning mine. That gave me a picture what I was trying to clean. I removed the cowl and vacuumed as far down each side as possible along with blowing air down to remove about a gallon bucket of crud from each side Cleaning the holes and seams from underneath the same way. I pulled the kick panel vent flaps as well to get into the area below them and vacuumed and blew them out too. Repeat as necessary. Afterwards I installed some screens under the cowl vent to help keep large leaves and stuff out.
I have a gate and hatch and sometimes the little well where the barn door latches would go is full of water but I have not been able to trace that down.

And let me be the first to say we would love to see some photos.

[randy500]

Under the cowl on each side of the cab there is a seam, they usually leak there, the part that leaks is under the cowl, follow the seam at the lower windshield on each side down to where the fender mounts, clean out the old seam sealer and re seal it.

[SCC2560]

Awesome info.. I will try and dig into that this week and see what I can find in there. Thanks a lot!!!

[vectorit]

Check your new windshield rubber..
Mine it seems the channel for the glass is wider than the glass, so water tends to seep past the glass when it is raining hard or I am spraying it down.

I have stopped most of the leaks past the glass using linseed oil on a hot day, dripping it onto the glass and letting it fill the channel. Later it gets hard and has helped the leaks. Not gonna say this is the best way to fix, but it seems to help in my situation.

I do plan to get new windshield rubber soon.

I have also noticed that my side glass is not a tight fit in the new rubber I used, but being that it is on the side I have not seen leaks like the windshield.

I bought all my glass seals back in the 1990's, so I am hoping the stuff today is better.

[SCC2560]

That's a cleaver way to do it! I love home remedies like that.

I got a new windshield rubber put in and so far so good. I'm just using the plain black one without the stainless, not sure if that makes it easier to seal but I'm having good luck so far. I got a new set of the Dakota digital RTX gauges and I want to make sure there is no moister behind the dash before I install them...
Found that the seam sealer in my rain gutters was part of the problem as well. It would run in and down the top of the windshield seal making it look line the windshield. Both sides too, damn thing.... Some new sealer took care of that quick... Going to take a look at the inside cowling here next week to see what it looks like in there....

I would like to do my back side windows next cause the seals look original in this rig. Not sure of a good source for those...

Did find that my rear marker lights were leaking into the back.. forgot those were open into the cab on those burbs. Found my spare tire area looking like a fish bowl and wondering " What the Hell???"

After that onto the tail gate and doors.