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trying to pinpoint water leak in the cab

2K views 26 replies 7 participants last post by  LoveHate 
#1 ·
Well folks I've just about got my new to me 1997 ZJ squared away after fixing my leaky freeze plugs and desludging my 4.0. Now I'm on to the musty moldy leaking cab. Every day when I open the truck it stinks horribly with a musty odor. I went to a job a few weeks ago and when I got home the steering wheel, seats and shifter were all covered in mold from the moisture. Its also being inhabited by frogs, lol, every day I keep evicting them.

I wanted to try to find out on the forum here about all the problem leak areas on my ZJ Laredo. I did a little research and it seems that the roof rack is a prime suspect for leaks but I never have a wet head liner. My front floor boards get the wettest and the rear floor boads seem to get a little moist but not much. All the seats seem pretty dry to, maybe a little moist feeling in the front. Any ideas on where my problem area might be? Thanks
 
#9 ·
Ok I just went out and had a look, I'm still not sure what to look for with the whole A/C drain tube, but I looked up under the passenger side of the dash, nothing looks messed up. I did notice when I took up the floor mats that I can push down on the carpet and end up with a puddle of water on my hand on both passenger and drivers side. Its worst than I thought, I didn't know I had that much standing water in this thing. If it is the A/C then wouldn't there just be water on the passenger side?
 
#10 ·
Passenger side, try this:
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/repairing-clogged-ac-drain-501895/

Driverside, your cowlseal are probably bad and needs to be resealed.
Heres is mine after i had scraped of most of the old seal.

and here is it after i had resealed it:

very easy to fix when you open the hood.
Mine leaked through the roofrack bolts to, i removed them and put RTV in the holes and then put them back in.
 
#11 ·
#12 ·
I just checked that black box behind the passenger side carpet and with the A/C on it has water coming out of the bottom of it. So now I just need to drill the 1/4 inch hole and clean it out with a coat hanger right? Also this still doesn't solve the driver side issue but the cowl seal is definitely dry rotted.
 
#13 ·
Reseal the cowl and it will stop raining in.

You see the part that i have drawn a circle around, the black part in that circle is a hole that goes right in the cab.

I did both sides when i was doing it because the other side was starting to crack to
 
#16 ·
Yes i used rtv.
Scrape of the old seal before you reseal it, the old is hard as a rock anyway so it comes of easy.
 
#17 ·
Yeah mine is hard and dry rotted too, i already broke most of it off and guess what.....its fixin to friggin rain, lol. 30 inches in the last month here in Panama City. Oh well the cab already has probably 2" of water under the carpet.

Do I need to do the passenger side too, its just as bad? Also I ran a 4' coat hanger rod in the hole I drilled in that black box and it didn't seem to hit anything, did I do it wrong? black box had a steady stream of water coming out of the bottom of it where it meets the firewall when the a/c is on, now its coming out of the hole I drilled. thanks for anymore info pierre, you have been a big help.
 
#18 ·
I would do the other side to if its just as bad its just 2 more minutes of work.

On the ac drain i dont think you did anything wrong, the coathanger is used to clean out debris if there are any.
I have lucked out on mine and never had to that to my ac drain.

Water coming out of the hole you drilled is a good thing, put a plug in that hole and you can drain it whenever you need to in the future.
 
#22 ·
I think someone on here did that to his ( i was trying to find his thread but didnt)
If it was my jeep and it leaked there i would do it.
 
#23 ·
JBrady5555 said:
Well folks I've just about got my new to me 1997 ZJ squared away after fixing my leaky freeze plugs and desludging my 4.0. Now I'm on to the musty moldy leaking cab. Every day when I open the truck it stinks horribly with a musty odor. I went to a job a few weeks ago and when I got home the steering wheel, seats and shifter were all covered in mold from the moisture. Its also being inhabited by frogs, lol, every day I keep evicting them.

I wanted to try to find out on the forum here about all the problem leak areas on my ZJ Laredo. I did a little research and it seems that the roof rack is a prime suspect for leaks but I never have a wet head liner. My front floor boards get the wettest and the rear floor boads seem to get a little moist but not much. All the seats seem pretty dry to, maybe a little moist feeling in the front. Any ideas on where my problem area might be? Thanks
Pull the cowl off and look to see if the cowl drains are clogged. I just had to do this on my 97. I had leaves and pine needles clogging the drain on the drivers side and under the windshield wiper motor. Remove the wiper motor assemble and spray all the crap out and the drains as well. I also pulled the wheel well liner out and had to remove a crap load of crud from both sides from inside the fender closest to the door. It's designed to drain rain water from the windshield into the cowl and down the inside of the fender and out the bottom. If it is clogged the water backs up and will over flow into the exterior air duct into the vents. The A/C drain is not large enough to drain a large amount of water fast enough and it then ends up on the floor board. Hope this helps.
 
#26 ·
Well I rtved the drivers and passengers side cowl seal and I also did the circular part of the ac drain black box. I ran the coat hanger back in my drilled hole one more time, when I run it in and out I hear slot of water splashing around so something still isn't right. That thing is clogged somewhere still. I've been thinking of drilling a 1/4" hole the the floorboards to help with drying this thing out, my carpet is basically floating on the drivers side. Objections?
 
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