Driver side water leak fills floor board

So I have a 97 XJ that leaks every time it rains. The driver side carpet gets soaked. I did the hose test and I fixed the one around the harness that comes through the fire wall under the dash and the one where the door harness comes in. The leak is still present even when the water isn't coming down the windshield but is still going in the vents in front of the windshield. I can see the stream coming down not the fire wall but the side "fire wall" if that makes sense. I can't find the leak to save my life. I'm worried if this continues happening that my floor board will rust and have to replace it all. Im afraid to pull the carpet now because that last time I cheacked which was when I first started to notice this and it was fine but that was over a year ago. I did peak in a junkyard jeep that had most of the dash removed and there is one permanent "plug" in place high up on the side "fire wall" that had some seam sealer maybe, and my only guess would be that sealer went bad and the leak is coming from there but that would require the whole dash coming out to seal up!

Any suggestions on what to check next would be so helpful!

Sounds like the drain for the cowl is plugged

Where is this drain?

Mine has a leak like that also. I think the water gets around the hood seal at the ends and runs down the firewall and seeps in between the top of the frame and the firewall. A crack in the sealer can be seen below the master cylinder/booster in my rig.

Ben824 said:

Where is this drain?

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inside the cowling are where the wiper mechanism is.

Another known leak area is the blower motor seal. Because it bolts on from under the hood it has a perimeter seal. It can dry and crack, or sometimes when someone replaces the motor the seal doesn't get put back correctly.

Digger87xj said:

inside the cowling are where the wiper mechanism is.

Another known leak area is the blower motor seal. Because it bolts on from under the hood it has a perimeter seal. It can dry and crack, or sometimes when someone replaces the motor the seal doesn't get put back correctly.

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Can you be a little more specific as to the exact location of the drain? I have had the cowl off before but you can't really see very well in there so I don't know how I could find it all too well without having a good idea as to where exactly it is in there.

Can't tell you specifically. never had the issue on an xj, but there has to be somewhere for the rain water to go, and if it's plugged or restricted, water will back up and drain into where it's not wanted.

Probably doesn't even look like a drain other than where sheet metal parts come together.

Feel around on the bottom of the door under the wing window. My XJ always leaked when it was parked facing down hill. It never leaked facing uphiil or when moving. I finally found that water was running off the roof, into the gutter, and then straight into the door seal (which was warped) and in at the very front of the door...right onto the floor.

It could not be seen, until just a little trickle peeked over the door sill...a stream eventually about 1/16" across...enough to flood the floor over night.

No wing windows on my 97 but I get where you are saying to look. However I don't think it is the door because, as I mentioned earlier, I have done a hose test, ran water from a hose down the front of the windshield on the driver side of the Jeep and found where the water is coming in at. It doesn't run down the firewall but comes down from high up in the dash beyond where I can see on the side where the door wires come through the body of the Jeep. There was a small leak around the grommet for the door wires but I sorted that out. There is still a stream that comes down this wall from high up in the dash closer to where this wall and the firewall meet.

Ben824 said:

No wing windows on my 97 but I get where you are saying to look. However I don't think it is the door because, as I mentioned earlier, I have done a hose test, ran water from a hose down the front of the windshield on the driver side of the Jeep and found where the water is coming in at. It doesn't run down the firewall but comes down from high up in the dash beyond where I can see on the side where the door wires come through the body of the Jeep. There was a small leak around the grommet for the door wires but I sorted that out. There is still a stream that comes down this wall from high up in the dash closer to where this wall and the firewall meet.

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If I hadn't have read above, I would have said check where the brake booster mounts to the firewall. But the fact its coming from up high tells me its your windshield. There is really nothing else to leak up there. The blower motor does develop leaks, but that's on the passenger side, behind the dash. There is also a condensation drain that plugs up, but that's on the passenger side too. I would say check your windshield seal. A good indicator is if when you shut your door hard you see your windshield move. Or simply give it a push.

Pretty common for the bottom of the windshield seal to blow out, actually.

Let me be clear, im not telling you to go out and replace your windshield, but I have seen quite a few leak. My Comanche did it, it came down like a waterfall high in he dash. I watched the guy replace my windshield and he did not have to use the knife on the bottom of the seal at all.

Could you visibly seal where the seal had begun to show a gap of some kind?

It would be hard without pulling the dash....You have the rubber seal style windshield, I'm not sure if you can seal that from the outside without it looking like crap lol. I would first confirm it is the windshield that is leaking.

If I am not mistaken, the rubber around the windshield on my 97 is simply to cover the gap around the windshield but not that actual seal. I can bend the rubber back and see the butyl rugby glue that holds the windshield in place and seals it.

When I first noticed this a couple of years ago, I did a hose test and ran hose water down the windshield. I, however, still had a leak even if the water was just being run over the cowl and not down the windshield.

Had same exact some problem in my 91XJ. Drilled two (1/8") holes in low points in my floorboards. Still keep looking for the leak of course, but this kept my floor from become Lake Cherokee at least while I was searching for my fix. Just my 2c..