Sometimes you just can't win

When we first bought our newest Maverick, one of the first things we did was check the cowl for water leaks. If it had any rust problems we wanted to find them while the bodywork was being done. We did the old pour a gallon of water in the cowl trick and not a single drop ended up in the car. I even checked the cowl as best I could while the fenders were off and saw nothing to worry about. I thought we were home free. We have not worked on the car for a few months due to other work we needed to get done, so the car was parked in a garage all this time. Today I had a free moment, so I took the car out and washed it. I figured this was a good time to check for any water leaks we may have missed. To my absolute horror, the passenger floor was soaked. I stuck my hand up under the dash and the heater box was all wet. To say the least, I am bummed out. NOW the car decides to freaking leak. First chance I get I'm going to drop the lower dash and pull out the heater box and see whats going on up there. I'm hoping it's just a windshield leak, but judging by how wet the floor and heater box got, I don't think I'll be that lucky. One way or another, the leak will get located and somehow it WILL be fixed. We've done it before and we can do it again. When that happens I will post pics on how we repair a rusty cowl without tearing the whole car apart to do it.

 

Ooooh. I've got my fingers crossed for you.

 

My car has recently developed a similar leak. It's not from the cowl but the water drips off the heater box and the ledge above the package tray.

 

you are not alone jean. mine started leaking about two weeks ago.been so p.o'ed have not said anything. iam hoping i can fix mine from the inside.

 

Sorry Ms Jean,
Hope its an easy fix. (Although we all know it usually isn't).
Jerryfow2

 

Bummer, sorry to hear that!

 

sorry to hear that. i poured a gallon of water down the cowl of the sprint and nothing came out inside also. my orange car i didn't and got burned, but i do have a rust free cowl whenever i get around to it. will be looking forward to seeing the repair pics.

 

I had the same wet floor board and thought it was the vent, but then I saw it leak while I was driving -the windshield weatherstrip is cracked under the chrome trim.

It was good bad news.

 

Maybe it's just the gasket?

 

Sorry to hear,,,hoping for a easy for you,,windshield or wiper arm? Good Luck!

 

Update....The water leak has been located

The more I thought about it, the less convinced I became that the water leak was coming from the cowl. If there was a rust hole in there, it should have leaked when I did the water test the first time. The windshield is a new one and so is the windshield gasket. We urethaned the crap out of the windshield and gasket when we installed them, but there was still a chance the water was getting through somewhere. So this morning I did another more controlled water leak test. I dumped the water in the cowl first. The water ran out onto the floor, but none ended up in the car. Rule out the cowl leaking. Next I poured water on the lower windshield molding. Sure enough, the water started dripping onto the towel I placed on the carpet. As much as I hate water leaks of any kind, I feel a whole lot better about this one. I'd much rather deal with a leaking windshield than a leaking cowl. One more thing to put on the " Things to do " list.

 

Awww man...and I was hoping to see another good article on cowl repairs. Just kidding Jean...I'm glad for ya. I would have to think that cowl repair is probably the most dreaded job of any that you would need to do on a Maverick...or old Mustang.

 

MavMark has some good cowl repair pics (not sure if they are on his site or not). Mine are scattered around various threads on my message board and probably here, if they are still on the server. I haven't painted or welded the top back on yet so my pics are not complete yet. On the plus side, I can still take more pics of what I've done if I missed any important ones. Honestly, it was scarier than it was hard. Once you get started, it's not real bad, just a lot of work.

 

I did a repair on mine from the bottom side. Of course it was after I had the dash out which made it quite easy. I cut out the bad section on the drivers side (a/c car with no vent) and used the cut out as a pattern. I molded another piece of sheetmetal approximately 1" bigger around in diameter, cleaned everything thoroughly, and used 3M panel bonding adhesive with a very large bead, and glued that sucker back in. No welding required and no leaks. I figure if you can glue a quarter panel on with this stuff, a small patch panel under the dash should work well too. Three years later and still looking and holding great. If I have to do another one, I will certainly pull the dash out before I start cutting into the top side and attempt the same repair. G'Day!

 

That is pretty much how we repaired the rusty cowl on the Stallion we used to have. The leak was on the passengers side and the car had no a/c, so that made it a little easier. We dropped the lower dash and pulled out the heater box. After everything was out of the way we could reach up into the cowl panel. The hat was shot, so we cut out the old one , cleaned up the remaining rusty metal with a rust converter and made a new hat. We took a piece of sheetmetal and cut it so it would fit snuggly inside a coffee can. We then trimed it down so it was about two or three inches high and welded the ends together. That piece was then welded to another piece of sheetmetal that was cut to form a base. Once the whole thing was wrestled into place we used urethane to ' weld ' it to the existing metal. We then undercoated the repaired area as best as we could. The cowl never leaked again. The hardest part of the job, aside from removing the heater box, is that you have to be something of a contortionist to get up into the cowl. It ain't easy, but it can be done.