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Water Management System Drains

bamabucket

bamabucket

Full Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
120
Location
Homewood, Alabama
Like many others, I had a midgate seal leak that saturated my carpet padding before I detected it.  I have replaced the seal, cleaned all drains, and intend to replace the padding and carpet.  I am trying to take other steps to prevent leaks (after reading the numerous posts on the subject) and to improve draining and I wanted to ask some related questions.  Is there a problem with removing the flaps from the drain valve in the trough under the hinged grate and the fishmouths from the small small drains inside the cab on the midgate hinge panel? The idea is the improve drain flow and make them less likely to clog. They must be designed this way for a purpose, but I don't know that is.  Is there a problem with drilling small drain holes at various places in the floor to drain leaks before they soak the padding?  I know from other posts that this has been done and it seems like a good idea. Can carbon monoxide get into the cabin through these holes? 
 
I would first locate source of leak and fix as needed with new seals as you have done, all other seals would get a thorough cleaning and moisturizing with seal lubricant (not wd40 like some use.) I would also lubricate the seals around the rear window and bed panels. If you have a sunroof don't forget to clean the drain tubes for that as well. Also check the rubber wire looms on the front door hinge area both sides and make sure they are in good shape and stuck on, they can be a source of leaks too.
Personally I wouldn't remove the drain covers or add extra drain holes in the cab floor. The added holes could cause carbon monoxide leaks and speed up rusting of the floor allowing water to reach bare metal.
Sometimes a steep parking situation can affect drainage and parking the opposite way (uphill or downhill) can help with drainage.
 
Thanks for the great suggestions. What I didn't mention was that my first indication of a problem was with a leak at the top of the A pillar.  I did trace that to a clogged sun roof drain that I cleared.  The front carpet and padding was soaked, which I thought was from that leak.  I dried out the carpet in the front and thought the problem was solved.  However, water was continuing to pool at the right front of the driver's side and re-appeared several days after the carpet was dried.  Checking further, I found that the carpet was wet next to the driver's seat and saturated in the back seat area.  I might add that the AV has always been parked nose down in the driveway, sloping down and to the left and I had not previously cleaned the drain system other than removing pine needles from the top of the bed covers and drain grates by the sail panels.  I pulled the bed mat, midgate, and grate to find that the drain under the grate was plugged with dirt and pollen (never had checked it before) and the lower seal was damaged and leaked.  This had probably been going on unnoticed for a long time.  I researched the water management system on this site and learned a lot. I then thoroughly cleaned all drains, replaced the midgate seal, and lubricated all seals in the midgate and back window area with silicone grease.  I also will start parking nose uphill and have purchased a car cover to keep the pollen out of the drains when the time comes for the very heavy pollen season.  These steps (along with periodic drain checks and cleaning) will probably prevent this problem in the future and I won't need to mess with the existing drains or drill holes in the floor.  It has been a hard learned lesson but for me those are the ones remembered.  My thanks to the many posts by AVers that guided me through this. 
 
I recently solved my long time passenger side leak in my 2004 AV. After many failed attempts of locating the source of the leak, I once again gave it a go by pulling back carpeting and drying the area, i also removed the under dash cover just above where the passenger feet would be during normal sitting. It?s held by three 7mm hex screws, but removing two of them can allow you to rotate the cover enough to get a look underneath, as the third screw is hard to get at (above the hump and behind console). After doing this, it rained. I then checked for any water in that area. I saw fresh drips, which were coming off the outside of the blower fan (which looks like the backside of a speaker) and onto the floor. Normally I?d think my ac drain would be causing water to leak from here but knowing I hadn?t driven it for a few days, and seeing the fresh leaking after a rain I knew otherwise. So I removed the blower fan, by first unclipping the wiring harness and from there it?s a twist in/out part.  After removing, I got my head under there and with a flashlight looked up.  I could see way up through to where the rectangular cutout that allows for the fresh intake of air to the fan via the cowling above the firewall.  Then I noticed the end of a rubber hose sitting over the edge of this cutout with a dribble of water coming off of it. I reached up and grabbed the hose and then got a full on release of water out of the hose into my face. This happened to be the end point of my sunroof drain on the front passenger side which runs down the A pillar.  It seems that the hose is supposed to sit just on the other side of this cutout where there is a trench that leads to the rain gutter below the windshield.  However this hose even when I pushed it back out of the cutout and over the lip where it?s normal position should be, it didn?t want to stay put, I would give it a jostle and it would flip back upwards and over the lip and point into the air intake again.  It may be that over the last 14 Years the hose developed a curving that leads it to want to go in the wrong direction. I added a couple inches of larger hosing over the end of the hose via duct tape (temp fix but may just leave it for good) which allowed it to go further into the rain gutter, and giving it more hefty of a weight at the end to keep it from flipping out of its normal place.  If the hose would?ve been initially designed to be a bit longer, or had a tab holding it in place, this would never have been an issue.  Prior to this water leaking, I remember that I?d frequently been driving on some very bumpy terrain, and maybe this is how the hose initially bounced out of its normal location and renestled itself where its contents would be entering the passenger compartment via the fresh air duct.  Hope this helps someone.  I?ve had many rains since and no more flooding, and have put in new carpet at last.
 
Ritchieos said:
I recently solved my long time passenger side leak. After once again pulling back carpeting and drying the area, i also removed the under dash cover just above where the passenger feet would be during normal sitting. It?s held by three 7mm hex screws, but removing two of them can allow you to rotate the cover enough to get a look underneath, as the third screw is hard to get at (above the hump and behind console). After doing this, it rained. I then checked for any water in that area. I saw fresh drips, which were coming off the outside of the blower fan (which looks like the backside of a speaker). Normally I?d think my ac drain would be causing water to leak from here but knowing I hadn?t driven it for a few days, and seeing leaking after a rain I New otherwise. So I removed the blower fan, by first unclipping the wiring harness and from there it?s a twist in/out part.  After removing, I got my head under there and with flashlight looked up.  I could see through to where the rectangular cutout that allows for the fresh intake of air to the fan via the cowling above the firewall.  Then I noticed the end of a rubber hose sitting over the edge of this cutout with a dribble of water coming off of it. I reached up and grabbed the hose and then got a full on release of water out of the hose into my face. This happened to be the end point of my sunroof drain on the front passenger side which runs down the A pillar.  It seems that the hose is supposed to sit just on the other side of this cutout where there is a trench that leads to the rain gutter below the windshield.  However this hose even when I pushed it back out of the cutout and over the lip where it?s normal position should be, it didn?t want to stay put, I would give it a jostle and it would flip back upwards and over the lip and point into the air intake again.  It may be that over the last 14 Years the hose developed a curving that leads it to want to go in the wrong direction. I added a couple inches of larger hosing over the end of the hose via duct tape (temp fix but may just leave it for good) which allowed it to go further into the rain gutter, and giving it more hefty of a weight at the end to keep it from flipping out of its normal place.  If the hose would?ve been initially designed to be a bit longer, or had a tab holding it in place, this would never have been an issue.  Prior to this water leaking, I remember that I?d frequently been driving on some very bumpy terrain, and maybe this is how the hose initially bounced out of its normal location and renestled itself where its contents would be entering the passenger compartment via the fresh air duct.  Hope this helps someone.  I?ve had many rains since and no more flooding, and have put in new carpet at last.
Click to expand...
Awesome 1st post Ritchieos!  (y)  Thanks for sharing and  :welcome: to the club
 
Outstanding, Ritchieos!

Thanks for sharing.

(y)
 
MS03 2500 said:
I'm not sure if you can see the pictures they are on photobucket.
Click to expand...

Pictures are showing up, for the time being.

"Proudly Hosted by PhotoBucket."

But, they are showing up, none the less.

(y)
 
EXT4ME said:
Pictures are showing up, for the time being.

"Proudly Hosted by PhotoBucket."

But, they are showing up, none the less.

(y)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I notice that last year,  just after they started sending me emails wanting me to come back.
 
Jeeze never heard anyone request them before

Can I suggest cutting up a sponge and shoving in holes?
 
Sounds like you need to visit a pick a part place.
 
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