02 Suburban Water Leak

[JPVortex]

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]

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.

 

[JPVortex]

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]

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.

 

[JPVortex]

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?

 

[JPVortex]

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).

 

[JPVortex]

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.

 

[strutaeng]

This thread has some information you may find useful: https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/wet-passenger-carpet.71561/

 

[JPVortex]

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...

 

[JPVortex]

Another little update. Took the trim off the windshield, and yeah.... Pretty sure that's the leak.

 

[S33k3r]

Are you going to take it to a glass shop and have them install with a new seal?

 

[JPVortex]

Are you going to take it to a glass shop and have them install with a new seal?

At some point probably yes. For now I ran a bead of RTV all the way down the passenger side of the windshield, from the top at the start of the urathane to the bottom where it ends. We'll see if it seals better, rain is coming in the next few days!

 

[S33k3r]

At some point probably yes. For now I ran a bead of RTV all the way down the passenger side of the windshield, from the top at the start of the urathane to the bottom where it ends. We'll see if it seals better, rain is coming in the next few days!

Good luck NOT being all wet!

 

[JPVortex]

Good luck NOT being all wet!

Thank you!!

 

[JPVortex]

It rained last night, good news bad news. Good news, foam just underneath the windshield is NOT soaking wet, only damp from the old water when it did leak. No water in blower motor either now. Bad news, Ton of water still on the floor. BUT, I found where the supposed second leak is coming from, the door grommet. Previous owner pulled a stupid move and to run speaker wire through it, he put 2 holes in it, guessing because he didn't feel like pulling the grommet off to run it through. In addition the grommet is loose and wiggles around on the interior side(not door side). So I slapped a ton of silicone on it temporarily to seal it, and I have new grommets coming in for both driver and passenger side in the next 2 weeks from GMPartsGiant.

 

[S33k3r]

Please keep updating. I certainly look forward to you slaying this particular demon.

 

[BigDogYJ]

I was just chasing a water leak on my 2000 Silverado that also caused the passenger side floor to be soaked as well as a toasted blower motor. Mine ended up being a leak at the seal on top of the windshield basically over the steering wheel. Since im usually parked in the street and it leans to the passenger side, the water was running across the top of the headliner over to the passenger side then down the A pillar trim and against the dash which ran into the blower motor cavity and trashed the motor. Got it dried up and sealed the top with some clear urethane sealant for now since it looks like that seal is attached to the glass prior to it being installed. I didn't want to risk damaging the glass by removing the seal. So the current seal job will have to hold until the glass cracks and really needs to be replaced.

 

[JPVortex]

Update here, had a heavy rain last night and the passenger side is soaked. All the wiring behind the kick panel is soaked, the carpet, and there was a small puddle on top of the passenger side of the dash on top.

Think she’s gonna need a windshield sooner than later.

 

[JPVortex]

Final update here, going to mark this as solved.

Windshield had multiple major leaks. Got significantly worse these past few weeks, and this past rain it dripped all over the dash and into the glovebox, to the floor.

In between jobs right now(going to start as a lube tech at a Chevy dealer!) and don’t have the money for replacement right now. So I got some Permatex Windshield sealant and applied a bead all the way across the top of the windshield. It’s super unsightly and ugly but it seems to have sealed! No more leaks when testing with air and some dish soap. Fingers crossed this will hold me over until replacement.

 

[JPVortex]

well I guess I marked this solved a little too early but no worry. Windshield stays sealed but floor was still getting soaked. Wasn’t the cowl panel or the door jamb boot thing. So I decided to pull the passenger fender off. And sure enough the antenna seal is leaking. Little RTV and it should be all good! To be sure I took the seal out and sprayed a little water in the hole to see where it landed, sure enough it landed right on the passenger floor. Also when I took the seal off the inside of it was moist.