Moisture Behind Dash

Hello all,

First post here. I bought a 2001 Sport a few weeks ago and have found that rain is getting in from behind the glove box. It comes in through this box that has a lever attached to it. The moisture is coming in through the foam part of it. Can someone help me identify what this part is and hopefully suggest a fix? I have attached 2 pics. Thanks in advance!

Bottom Part


Top Part

it looks to me that (correct me if I'm wrong) that its from the heater box. and it looks like that's the mode door. What likely is happening is that water is getting down in the cowl leaking through that foam seal. I would remove that component, and replace that seal....or just clean it and silicone it.

I would attack this from under the hood. The blower motor housing is located on the firewall, passenger side, below the a/c recovery canister. This is probably where your leak is originating. It has a foam seal, and a wire loom above it that likes to route and drop water in it. Put some silicone around the bottom lip where the housing mates up to the firewall. That should do it for you. It worked for me after finding wet carpet after heavy rain. Has been fine for 3 years now, and my jeep sits outside.

ixj

I'd bet money on the seal between the blower motor and the firewall as being the source of your leak. It's a common leak area in '97s and up. Replacing the seal is a PITA, as you have remove the dash, then the mixing box; to access the seal.

A simpler solution would be to apply silcon all around the seal, from inside the engine bay; where the blower motor is. That should stop your leak.

Also, check the wireloom that runs along the top of the firewall, above the blower motor. The one on my '98 seemed to carry water on it and then drip directly into the problem area. Just zip tie way from the firewall as much as you can, and that should also help....

If it is coming in through the foam you indicate in the picture it isn't the blower motor problem. That foam seals the air box to the body, but there shouldn't be water in that area to begin with. What is leaking is the splash guard sort of thing in the passenger side cowl area. It has its own seal, which is probably damaged. I had this happen to me and I narrowed it down by pouring some blue dye into the cowl followed by water. The water inside became blue.

PDF on my fix: http://jeep.blackonyx.net/pdfs/hvac_removal.pdf

Nice writeup, but man you took a lot of stuff off the dash! It's only necessary to remove a few things, unplug a couple harnesses- about 25 minutes to have the dash completely out of the vehicle.

You can't pull the HVAC box out without removing most of the dash. The dash frame is a single piece that needs to be at least pulled back for removal of the HVAC box.

Right. The entire dash comes out in 25 minutes without removing even half of what you did.

Sure it does. Where is your writeup?

Thanks guys. I'll try the silicone around the blower motor. Hope it fixes it.

Another option, while a ghetto fix, is to cut a hole in the cowl over that intake and silicone around the intake then patch the hole in the cowl. That is if that is where your leak is coming from. I seriously doubt it is coming from the blower motor as a) it doesn't see a whole lot of water, and b) that foam you pointed to is above the blower motor.

I didn't think it was worthy of a writeup, it is a very simple procedure. Maybe you should check the fsm or other information source so you don't remove unnecessary items?

1. Place the front wheels in the straight-ahead position.
2. Disconnect and isolate the battery negative cable.
3. Remove the left and right cowl side inner trim panels. See: Trim Panel\Service and Repair
4. Remove the steering column opening cover and the knee blocker as described. See: Knee Blocker Replacement
5. Remove the instrument panel center bezel, the cluster bezel and the instrument panel top cover as described. See: Instrument Panel Center Bezel Replacement See: Instrument Panel, Gauges and Warning Indicators\Instrument Cluster / Carrier\Service and Repair\Instrument Cluster Bezel Replacement See: Instrument Panel Top Cover Replacement
6. Remove the center support bracket as described.
7. Remove the steering column. See: Steering and Suspension\Steering\Steering Column\Service and Repair
8. Remove the screws from the centers of the instrument panel-to-body and instrument panel-to-headlamp and dash wire harness connectors near the left cowl side inner panel and unplug the connectors.
9. Remove the screw from the center of the instrument panel-to-floor wire harness connector near the floor pan transmission tunnel under the instrument panel and unplug the connector.
10. Unplug the two wire harness connectors located near the instrument panel-to-floor wire harness connector at the floor pan transmission tunnel under the instrument panel.
11. Roll down the glove box as described. See: Glove Compartment\Service and Repair
12. Reach through the inboard side of the instrument panel glove box opening to unplug the vacuum harness connector between the heater - A/C control and the heater - A/C housing halves of the vacuum harness.
13. Reach under the right end of the instrument panel to unplug the coaxial cable connector between the radio and antenna halves of the antenna coaxial cable. On Left-Hand Drive models only, also disengage the retainer on the radio half of the coaxial cable from the heater - A/C housing kick cover.
14. Remove the temperature control cable and blend-air door crank arm from the heater - A/C housing as a unit.

Instrument Panel Assembly Remove/Install


15. Loosen the right and left instrument panel cowl side roll down screws about 6 mm (0.25 inch) .
16. Remove the four screws and two nuts that secure the top of the instrument panel to the top of the dash panel near the base of the windshield.
17. With the aid of an assistant, lift the top of the instrument panel assembly off of the two dash panel studs. Then pull the lower instrument panel rearward to clear the cowl side roll down screws.
18. Remove the instrument panel assembly from the vehicle.
19. Reverse the removal procedures to install. Tighten the mounting hardware as follows:

o Instrument panel top to dash panel screws - 7 Nm (60 in lb)
o Instrument panel top to dash panel nuts - 7 Nm (60 in lb)
o Instrument panel cowl side roll down screws - 28 Nm (250 in lb)
o Wire harness connector screws - 4 Nm (35 in lb) .

Talyn said:

Another option, while a ghetto fix, is to cut a hole in the cowl over that intake and silicone around the intake then patch the hole in the cowl. That is if that is where your leak is coming from. I seriously doubt it is coming from the blower motor as a) it doesn't see a whole lot of water, and b) that foam you pointed to is above the blower motor.

Click to expand...

Actually, that was my first plan of attack towards the leak I had. Did exactly what you described, siliconed the snot around the cowl intake, and still had water coming through after running a hose over the windshield area.

At least I know that the intake cowl won't leak in the near future....

After I sealed the intake cowl, I nosed around in the engine bay and could see water dripping off the wire loom above the blower motor. That's how I figure out where the leak was coming from....

JJacobs said:

I didn't think it was worthy of a writeup, it is a very simple procedure. Maybe you should check the fsm or other information source so you don't remove unnecessary items?

Click to expand...

Nice copy pasta.. have any of your own info to add? Doubt it.

Ivan said:

After I sealed the intake cowl, I nosed around in the engine bay and could see water dripping off the wire loom above the blower motor. That's how I figure out where the leak was coming from....

Click to expand...

Were you missing the gasket between the hood and cowl, or is it really that easy for water to go down in the engine bay from the windshield area?

Talyn said:

Nice copy pasta.. have any of your own info to add? Doubt it.

Click to expand...

Well, when I saw your writeup it made the job look really involved, enough to possibly dissuade someone from doing it. I was just pointing out that it's not really so bad. Your Jeep, work on it how you want.

Talyn said:

Were you missing the gasket between the hood and cowl, or is it really that easy for water to go down in the engine bay from the windshield area?

Click to expand...

After cutting an access howl in the sheet metal above the cowl intake, it became evident that the plastic cowl lip was far enough above the sheetmetal where it mates. I made sure there were no obstructions (leaves, debris, etc) in the cowl area, where the water would normally drain off towards the fenders.

Having already cut the access hole above the cowl intake, I went ahead and siliconed the mating area. I turned the hose on around the cowl, and there was no leakage. I thought I had solved the problem, but when I further hosed the entire front windshield area, it started leaking again.

That's when I looked under the hood and could see water dripping off the wire loom, and into the blower fan area. Looking inside the cab, I could see water running from the top of the floor board, where the heater box is. It appears that somehow the hood seal towards the back of the fire wall doesn't seal as well as it should. Again, applying silicone around the blower mating surface to the firewall stopped the leakage inside....