Wet feet-need help

[delicatessen]

Sure it's not brake fluid leaking back there ? I've seen two master cylinder's leaking so far.

You can buy a seal kit for it if it's leaking.

That would eat the carpet over a period of time.

Break fluid is also heavily corrosive, so it would eat the floor pan as well.

[Details Monster]

I know my leak is not brake fluid;I know the diff and just checked the fluid level last week. I too have done the quarter panel seam fix (fun job ; in fact I took it all apart again to make sure I did not miss something. I also took my whole F@$king dash off too look for the leak. One day I will figure it out; for now I hope to survive the winter by parking in my car port.

[mararmeisto]

Another option, admittedly a bit costly, is to have the windshield pulled out and inspect the window frame. Because these windshields are pressure fit, it's only the gasket holding it in there and keeping the outside out (there is no sealant gooped-in around the rubber gasket like some vehicles). If the frame is rotted (rusted), then the water could be tracking in along some uneven edge.

For the Moon Machine, it was the stress point at the top of the window frame, edge of the roof. I put some Sikaflex into both and that solved my wet-issue.

Just some thoughts...

[jrman]

So, I'm a little bummed out.

I read Jesse's comment as per;

Sure it's not brake fluid leaking back there ? I've seen two master cylinder's leaking so far.

You can buy a seal kit for it if it's leaking.

That would eat the carpet over a period of time.

Truthfully, I didn't consider this because I was sure that there was no brake fluid leak under there. In fact, I know there was no leak there last year when I was searching out the original moisture problem. I took things step by step, first the quarter panels (huge improvement), then the gutters (slightly more improvement), then used talcum powder on the fire wall (guess it's not the fire wall in a cab over design - well the behind the steering column anyway) and yes.....found a very small leak coming down from the behind the dash. Believe that is from the windshield and have not bothered to fix as of yet...again, very small and I removed my carpet anyway so moisture & smell is history. I'm happy with the somewhat rough rubber mat I've put in the footwells for now, and will do something more refined later (thinking Rhino lining...I'm a bit of an addict to that stuff!!!!).

So...today I've got some time to kill while waiting for a co-worker - start poking around again by the steering column...and yes, I now have a brake fluid leak confirmed too! I can see the fluid on the lower side of the booster diaphragm, and a nice little trial down the steering column. No corrosion that I could notice, and the reservoir is actually slightly over full, so clearly either a new leak, or at least very very slow. I was worried at first since I could not see the fluid line between Max & Min and thought it might be empty and I was well on my way to brake failure - but confirmed the rezzy is slightly over full hiding the fluid line from plain view.

Well....guess I'll have to look at that too soon.

So, Jesse - about that seal kit....wouldn't happen to have a part number for it would you!!!!f

Cheers.

[Details Monster]

Well I finally figured my leak out. Water was coming in the windshield wiper posts. It turns out that they were loose; I folded back the rubber cover, tightened the nuts up and have not had a wet floor in a few weeks. Ya!

[miller]

I cant even undo the 5 screws holding the front panel in to seal the gap next line is to seal the windscreen. In the meantime i have removed the bung from the footwell, any water can bloomin well drip out of there. plus some breeze from ambling along should help dry the carpet until i pluck up enough courage to try again

[Golf Cart]

I cant even undo the 5 screws holding the front panel in to seal the gap next line is to seal the windscreen. In the meantime i have removed the bung from the footwell, any water can bloomin well drip out of there. plus some breeze from ambling along should help dry the carpet until i pluck up enough courage to try again

I had the same problem with the screws, cept I got 1 out . I actually broke the head off the phillips (Motorcraft) and the same for a few bits from my B&D self propelled driver. And thats after soaking it in WD-40. I'm thinkin i might grind off the heads and replace the screws. But first gonna check my wipers out

[Luna-Sea]

Water was coming in the windshield wiper posts. It turns out that they were loose

I did not even think of that one!
If they were not loose before I'm sure they are now from smackingn them with my snow brush!

thank you!
and Right On!

[impalator]

How come I never thought of the wiper posts..... I sealed everything.... had the window seal "poly-urethaned" by a window place (in black) sealed the gutter cracks... and still - I had the carpets out to really dry them off... and on the rainy day last week, I still noticed a bit of water coming down by that little "hump" where the plastic foot rest left of the brake is mounted....

I'll be checking the wiper mounts... that is so clear and obvious that I should have figured that one out much earlier.

Somewhere I also read that underneath the front plastic panel (black/gray panel in spite of a grille - the thing between the headlights with the Mitsubishi emblem) there is a potential for cracks or worn out seals that can lead to leakage.

I have yet to try to pull that thing off - apparently quite risky as it can easily break when removed - so I'll check the wiper posts first and if it still leaks I will have to check underneath the plastic panel.... The question is: Where could it not leak?

I know I ranted before about issues with my van - when I first got it and meanwhile I really like my van as it is running great and a lot of fun...

But one thing where these Mitsubishi engineers failed quite miserably is to keep their units watertight...

I also say this as I had a dodge colt (i.e. mitsubishi colt - it was a 1989) and in 1999 when I had it, it leaked all the time... the rear, passenger foot wells were always soaked...

I've had many old cars but never had any leak issues except for Mitsubishi made vehicles....

[Details Monster]

I cant even undo the 5 screws holding the front panel in to seal the gap next line is to seal the windscreen. In the meantime i have removed the bung from the footwell, any water can bloomin well drip out of there. plus some breeze from ambling along should help dry the carpet until i pluck up enough courage to try again

I had the same problem with the screws, cept I got 1 out . I actually broke the head off the phillips (Motorcraft) and the same for a few bits from my B&D self propelled driver. And thats after soaking it in WD-40. I'm thinkin i might grind off the heads and replace the screws. But first gonna check my wipers out

I had a few tough screws as well. I used two methods to get them out:
1) impact screw driver - works great until the Phillips head is drilled out.
2) Use a dremel tool to grind a slot in the head an use a BIG standard screwdriver to provide torque to remove the screw.

[jfpdelica]

I think that anyone who has tried this repair has had a few troubles from sticky screws. An old secret to metal-self tapping screws is , if you give them a light strike at the head of the screw it will release some of the rust that holds them in place. This really help me with a few nasty ones. Hope this helps someone. 8) Jeff

[sasquatch-hunter]

Duck tape a bunch of Sham Wow on the front panel and you will be fine. Are you still following me, camera guy?