02 Suburban Water Leak

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JPVortex

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Hey y'all having a major water intake issue on the interior of my 02 Suburban. It's on the passenger side and when it rains it gets all over the floor. I tried spraying water a couple months ago and couldn't find specifically one area where it was from. I did notice that the foam right below the bottom of the windshield behind the dash was wet, so maybe windshield seal? or the cowl seal is bad and that foam below the windshield was catching some of the water?

But it has gotten dire. Today I tried turning on my heat and the blower motor sounded AWFUL. I took the blower motor out and low and behold its soaked, dripping, and because it was cold there was ice inside of it. So I need this leak fixed now, as I need my heat.

What do you guys think would cause this leak? I know theres that plastic plate under the wiper cowl, but my wiper arms are seized onto the studs, couldn't get them off.

Any suggestions for this whole matter would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
 

strutaeng

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I noticed the other day my driver's side floorboard was also damp the other day on my 99 Silverado. I had removed the wiper arms and repainted them a few weeks ago, so I didn't want to hammer them out. I bought a tool to remove them and suspect there's something in the cowl that's allowing water to get in. There's a thread somewhere on the GM full-size forum (?) I came across a few months ago and they had a similar issue.

Once it warms up I'll remove the cowl and see what I find.
 
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JPVortex

JPVortex

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I noticed the other day my driver's side floorboard was also damp the other day on my 99 Silverado. I had removed the wiper arms and repainted them a few weeks ago, so I didn't want to hammer them out. I bought a tool to remove them and suspect there's something in the cowl that's allowing water to get in. There's a thread somewhere on the GM full-size forum (?) I came across a few months ago and they had a similar issue.

Once it warms up I'll remove the cowl and see what I find.
Yeah it's very very annoying.

The cabin air filter is totally dry too, just pulled that out minutes ago.
 

S33k3r

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Check all the holes you can find coming through the firewall. Make sure all the grommets are good. Check your door seals. Water can come in through them, drip down the A-piller, and then look like it's coming from somewhere else. Check the fresh air intake, under the hood. If it is clogged with leaves/debris, it can cause issues like this. With your filter being dry, however, I wouldn't think it would be the fresh air intake...

Now I am suggesting outside my knowledge: Do you have a sunroof? I hear the drains on them can sometimes get clogged and do this, but I don't have specific links to provide on this.
 
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JPVortex

JPVortex

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Check all the holes you can find coming through the firewall. Make sure all the grommets are good. Check your door seals. Water can come in through them, drip down the A-piller, and then look like it's coming from somewhere else. Check the fresh air intake, under the hood. If it is clogged with leaves/debris, it can cause issues like this. With your filter being dry, however, I wouldn't think it would be the fresh air intake...

Now I am suggesting outside my knowledge: Do you have a sunroof? I hear the drains on them can sometimes get clogged and do this, but I don't have specific links to provide on this.
No sunroof, not sure the door seals would cause as much water to be in the blower motor as there was. It just seems like no matter where I spray water I cant find where it's dripping from. I did try spraying it at the door seal. I can say the foam below the windshield was damp when I had the top of the dash pulled out.

My number one suspect right now is that plastic cover under the windshield cowl. Apparently the factory sealant GM used wasn't very good on that piece. Also, doing some research, seems a common symptom of a leak there, is you guessed it, water in the blower motor and on the resistor etc. I think I may try pulling the cowl cover off and spraying directly on there with pressurized water from a pressure washer and see if it lets any water in. Will check other grommets under the hood for sure as well. Other than that, maybe windshield seal?
 
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JPVortex

JPVortex

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Update here. Ive found nothing. Spent the past 2 hours dumping gallons of water everywhere I can think, and I only managed to get one drip of water from god knows where.

Dumped water on door seal, took the wiper cowl off and dumped it all over the plastic cover, poured it down the antenna seal where it goes into the cab. All over the windshield, and nope, nothing. I can go to the top of the dash and reach my fingers down, and the foam beneath the windshield does feel wet though, so maybe windshield? Im honestly sort of at a loss on this one. About to just put this new blower motor in and make it a wearable item(LOL).
 
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JPVortex

JPVortex

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Update here. Ive found nothing. Spent the past 2 hours dumping gallons of water everywhere I can think, and I only managed to get one drip of water from god knows where.

Dumped water on door seal, took the wiper cowl off and dumped it all over the plastic cover, poured it down the antenna seal where it goes into the cab. All over the windshield, and nope, nothing. I can go to the top of the dash and reach my fingers down, and the foam beneath the windshield does feel wet though, so maybe windshield? Im honestly sort of at a loss on this one. About to just put this new blower motor in and make it a wearable item(LOL).
I know it also flows down to the electrical connectors in the passenger footwell right on the farthest right point, below the a pillars. and I look all the way up from under the dash with a flashlight and I can see frozen drips of where it has been leaking. Just no matter what I cannot get water to start dumping into it.

The only drip I got was when I poured it all over the plastic cowl cover, but who knows, theres melting snow all over the truck right now, and it could just be that getting in from where the leak actually is, and not from the water I put in the cowl.
 
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JPVortex

JPVortex

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Another update! I have a lead, and may have found the problem while recording??? Heres a video, sorry its kind of long. Let me know what y'all think...

 

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