Water leak passenger side not heater core

[Troy 82]

On my 82, it leaks water when it rains on the the passenger side kick panel area. The water comes from where the hood hinge goes into the fender then it drips down & comes out where the recirculation door goes into the fender. Is it the seal on the kick panel around the door cutout? It doesn't have a hood cowl seal I've seen in the cataloges. I never noticed it leaking until know. Thanks!

[Troy 82]

After looking in my LMC cataloge it appears to be the "Hood hing deflector" were the water is coming in from. Is this the seal I need? Thanks!

[swervin ervin]

When I first got my truck, mine leaked there too. I pulled everything out and noticed there was some caulking stuff behind the door where it opens and closes to pull in fresh air. I bought a tube of gutter caulk (thinking it would be waterproof) and recaulked it. Put everything back together and have never had a leak since.

Just something to check.

[Troy 82]

I will check that out. The thing is if the hood is up & you have the recirculation door off & look up. You can see the slit where the hinge from the hood is. See daylight! The water comes from there. I wouldn't think the water should come down from that slit & go between the fender & cab like that.

[bigd65]

I bought 2 tubes of seam sealer. first I cleaned the groove of the firewall all the way across and then filled it completely with seam sealer. Then after it self leveled and was smooth, I used 2 cans of rubberized indercoating and sprayed it till it was leavel all the way across. NO WORRIES

[Troy 82]

I'm not sure if we are speaking of the same thing. In the corners on the firewall were the back hinge of the hood goes into the firewall there is a peiece of rubber. In my LMC book it's under exterior rubber. #14 Hood hinge deflector. There is a slit in the rubber were the hinge goes down into it. This were the water is coming from. Is this slit supposed to be there? The driver side has a slit in the rubber too. Thanks!

[swervin ervin]

Yes, the slit is supposed to be there. Water will get in around the hood and cab and drain out the bottom between the cab and the fender. If you'll get under the truck and look, there is a piece of plastic bolted between the floor and fender. Up above the plastic piece where the door is bolted to cab is where it's leaking. If the door caulking is broken loose at the bottom, water runs down the outside of the cab and gets in instead of going on out the bottom of the cab like it supposed to.

[bigd65]

Mine was leaking from the Cowl, It had started to rust through in some spots and was leaking down from behind the heater box under the dash. I cleaned the cowl real good and put some rust treatment and did the proceedure i listed above. These trucks are famous for leaking and rusting in at the Cowl, just make sure that aint where it is leaking. maybe you can catch it before it gets worse

[Grim Reaper]

Originally Posted by bigd65

Mine was leaking from the Cowl, It had started to rust through in some spots and was leaking down from behind the heater box under the dash. I cleaned the cowl real good and put some rust treatment and did the proceedure i listed above. These trucks are famous for leaking and rusting in at the Cowl, just make sure that aint where it is leaking. maybe you can catch it before it gets worse

Yep I have seen that before. If you lift the hood and look at the fire wall there is a seam that runs the width of the truck that forms the cowel box. I have also seen the seam leak under the A/C box and it get into the truck.

After romove the grills at the base of the windsheild. I cleaned it real well inside the cowel area and painted with a rust proofing paint. Then I used the Duplicolor spray in bedliner stuff from auto zone. It's thick and will hang in the seam while it dries.