water leak

[Brad Hogg <roadhogg@xxxxxxx>]

There is no system like this on the left side (driver's side in North
America) so this type of leak is rare over there.

It is a poor design, just like the design of the inside of the rear quarters
on the 74-78 Chryslers.

I don't think this is neccessarily related to other rust on the car.  I
think it has mostly to do with how much trash has been allowed to get down
into that cavity and how wet it has been for how long.  People chuckle at me
when I labourously pick dried leaves out of that grate below the wipers but
leaves turn to dirt and dirt gets wet and water rusts, simple as that.

The only thing I can see that a person can do is to take those little
plastic (most often) grates out of there and blast the cavity with water.  A
garden hose would be good but a pressure washer is best of course.  Like
Roger pointed out though, keep watch on the inside of the car for leaks.

Taking that air box off is not that bad.  I've parted out a few of these
cars and it would just be a bunch of twisting nuts and bots to do the job.
I've thought about doing it on my 78 Newport because on that car, the
condensate from the AC evapourator makes its way into the car and soaks the
front seat passenger's floor carpet with REALLY HOT WATER!...that can't be
good.  It doesn't help the AC cool the car off any either when there is a
kettle boiling water on the floor on the other side.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark McDonald" <tomswift@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 8:11 PM
Subject: Re: IML: water leak


Brad,

Thanks for answering his first and most obvious question.  My question
is, you're talking mainly about the pass. side, right?  What about the
driver's side?

The car i have the leak on has very little overall rust.  Is it
possible for a car to be almost rustfree and still rust out in this
area?  (It sure seems like bad design on Chrysler's part, because
debris is always getting stuck in there.)  2, Is there any way to check
this without taking the whole car apart?  (That's kind of what it
sounds like to me.)

Mark

On Monday, November 24, 2003, at 07:01 PM, Brad Hogg wrote:

> Roger.  That grille is where the fresh cabin air comes into the car.
> That
> cavity also contains ALL of the wiper linkage etc.  There are two
> drains in
> this cavity.  There is one drain on each side of the car.  The firewall
> material tends to rust out around where the blower motor and duct
> assembly
> pass through the firewall.  To inspect for this rust, you'd have to
> first
> remove (at least take all the fasteners out of) the right inner fender
> well,
> remove the fender brace that runs from the top of the fender to the
> firewall, remove the power antenna, remove the blower motor, then you
> can
> remove the big duct assembly from the firewall.  You may have to
> disconnect
> a few heater hoses etc. to gain access to the air box.