Leaking cowl vent-am I missing something?

[FarmerJon]

As I drive my P15 more and more often, I have started to see how many of the "small things" really affect the daily use and enjoyment of the car. 

First on the list to fix is how much water gets into the car. It is difficult to even wash the car without flooring the front floor. If i get caught in the rain, water drips through the dash onto my feet.

I suspect the cowl vent as the main culprit. Car is an older amateur restoration,  so I may be missing parts or they may be poorly installed. Is the gasket supposed to be glued down? To what?

Is there supposed to be somthing under the inside of the vent to catch and drain water? 

Obviously the vent panel needs to be better centered.

 

Windshield gasket appears to be in good shape, but may be part of the problem. 

Any thoughts?

 

[soth122003]

That big groove that runs around the vent cowl is where the gasket is supposed to be glued down to. Behind the gasket is a little gutter that runs around the cowl. At the front of the vent cowl behind the seal, is an wider area of the gutter about 1 inch wide and deep with a hole there. On the bottom side of the vent cowl in the front is where a drain hose attaches and drains the water out through the fire wall.

 

In your second pic, you can see the wide area behind the big groove where the cowl forms the point and it looks like the hole may be covered with dirt or rusty debris. Scrape at it lightly and see. If you find the hole, you can try to vacuum or blow it thru. Then look below like in your 3rd pic and see if there is a hose coming from the front point of the cowl.

 

If that Hole is plugged up and the seal is not glued down, Your car, during rains and washes, will take on water like the Titanic. Ask me how i know.

 

Joe Lee

[DonaldSmith]

My car has an air distribution box below the cowl vent.  The box has its on drain hose to the engine compartment. FrarmerJon's car does not.  Must have been an option. 

The drain hoses have to be cleaned out occasionally, to get rid of seeds, leaves and twigs.   And the cowl gasket has to be right.  My car had rust on the radio housing, from past failures.  

 

 

[Sniper]

Yes they must be glued down I recently replaced this gasket on my Plymouth. I used 3M weather stripping cement in accordance with the directions on the tube. One piece of advice though is used two people to install that gasket and make sure you touch it down where you want it cuz once those two pieces meet you're not going to move them to .ake any adjustment 

[FarmerJon]

Thanks guys, gluing it down makes absolute sense,  I knew it shouldn't just float up the vent face!

 

Looking at it this afternoon,  I noticed the gasket has a lip on it. Does that go up or down? It was previously installed pointing down, but doesnt seem to fit very well. With the lip up, it seems to fit snugly in the channel. I figure that I will need to pull the whole vent to do a good job gluing the gasket.

[Dan Hiebert]

Yes, lip goes up.  It is significantly easier to deal with gluing the gasket down when the vent is removed.  Taking the vent out is not hard, you just need to be a bit flexible...not as in open-minded, but contortionist.  Removing the vent will also give you the opportunity to see just how it works (the kind of thing I find helpful) and adjust it for proper fit when you put it back on.

[Sniper]

12 hours ago, Dan Hiebert said:

It is significantly easier to deal with gluing the gasket down when the vent is removed. 

 

Oh yes, I forgot that part.  Take out the vent, clean up the area well,, test fit the gasket all before you glue.

 

12 hours ago, Dan Hiebert said:

Removing the vent will also give you the opportunity to see just how it works (the kind of thing I find helpful) and adjust it for proper fit when you put it back on.

 

And lube the pivot points, my vent was froze up when I bought the car and actuating it was actually causing the cowl itself to flex around, I am kind of hamfisted, lol.