Water coming out the floor vents

Been battling a puzzling problem for awhile now.
When I purchased my wagon it had been garage kept since new, but once it was used regularly I have discovered a few water leaks.
Most recently I backed out of my driveway (slight incline) after a rain and water started streaming out of the floor vents.
I repaired one where one of the cables goes into the heater box, which was dried out sealant, but this has me stumped.
It's my '87 Caprice, non A/C car.
I noticed the bottom of the windshield glass is delaminating, but I don't know if that is related.
Help! This is driving me insane. :banghead3:

 

Look back in a 1/2 ish or soo..... I think I know your exact problem. My Buick had the same ishue, it's a bad GM design. I'll snap a pic........

 

Thanks Tedy!

 

Welcome to yet another episode of.....


"Another Crappy Design by"



........


The air intake on the late 70's- 80's GM's is a design waiting to fail, not if but when. I've seen many where the car just keeps getting flooded on the passenger side and some to the point of the floor rots out.

My Buick had "the leak" when I got it. Peal up the rubber strip, unscrew the plastic vent and I'll bet you will see water stain going into the car. Clean it all with white gas, lacour thinner etc..some thing that won't leave a residue. IMO don't use silicon unless you want to keep fixing the problem. Once cleaned up I used a neoprene caulking, use just enouph to fix the problem, don't oooze it on just incase you have to remove the vent later.

Hope this helps....





I have a bit of cleaning to do in there.....shop vac!

 

I'll go check that out.
Thanks so much!

 

Ok, I got the vent screen off with some resistance. I can see no noticeable rust trail. You are talking about at the top where the plastic housing meets the metal cowling I assume? I see what you mean about a poor design though!
The sealant appears to be intact, but dry and inflexible. Wouldn't be surprised if that is the issue. What did you use specifically to remove the sealant?

 

and....

Plastic, NOT metal


......

Then with a rag and laqour thinner I removed what was still left over.

Make sure it's clean, clean, CLEAN, the car and the part.


Hope this solves your problem, it solved mine.....some 2-3 years now.


....trust me on this though.......
:ban:

 

Got it. Ban on silicone noted. Thanks for the pictorial. Thankfully I have a plastic putty knife. The fun is getting this done before the thunderstorms roll in... And away I go!

 

I have found that a drivers licence some times works just as good if not better than a plastic scraper..... a DL is my winter frost scraper of choice

 

Made me laugh out loud, Tedy! Thanks!

 

Drivers license may crack and it's $50+ for a replacement. Use a small ice scraper or plastic knives. You can get those free at McD's. And most of us have almost 10 of those finger nails. Use one till it wears out and get another.

This is driving me insane. :banghead3: As for this---too late !

 

No, they are not free at Mc chew and Phoo.....you have to buy a gut bomb to get one..... and then your in the bathroom all day..... It's like driving 50 miles to save $....your $50 DL is cheaper than spending the day in the .....







I luv ya cat, you know it's all in fun...... cept for the $50 DL

 

Did you take some sneak pictures of Stormin' Norman's bathroom renos ? Gosh this brings back fond memories of winters in Illinois.
And at most local fast food eateries here the plastic spoons and things are in the open just for the taking. Don't need to buy anything. But I think they expect it.

 

Hey all,
I save all those unsolicited credit cards and AARP cards for use as plastic spreaders/scrapers.

They work great, they are FREE and you don't have to leave the house to get them!

 

Since my wife is old we belong to AARP. But all those other cards we throw away. Too tempting to buy things we don't need and can't afford. I've actually used a small stick to scrape sealer off. But I also use a nearby Dogwood tree to shape metal.
Another place on cars like 55-57 Chevys where leaks appear are those short rubber lines at each end of the front and rear window for drains. They rot out.