Need advice : frame at door hinge leaks water

[Tom F&L GoR]

My '94 stays outside 100% of the time and has been water tight. Lately I had water on the driver floor and rechecked all the typical leaks at the intersection of the door-zipper window-windshield base area. That was fine and after poking around under the carpet (just inside the door, on the wall to the left of the driver left knee) I pulled on some factory black sealer and water ran out of the door hinge pillar beam. Quite a lot.

My question is: where is the top of this beam for water to get into?

The parts manual shows the hinge pillar beam assembly, which is the entire firewall including both footboxes. (feetbox?) I am guessing water entry is somewhere at the base of the windshield or top of footbox near wiper motor? There are several overlapping sheets of metal and I can't tell if these are water tight or not.

I would appreciate any comments, especially if you've seen the bare frame and can describe more of this area. Thanks.

Water came out of location A. Line B is the door sill.

 

[dave6666]

Why not just fill it full of low expansion urethane foam - the window and door version of that product?

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

I thought of that until I realized I don't know where else it might come out. There is a rubber grommet-cork on the top of the foot box. I removed it and blew air into it. I think there is a gap between the roof of the footbox and the top of the door pillar underneath. Could result in urethane all over the pedals or elsewhere.

 

[dave6666]

OK. How about pulling the exhaust off and dilling a hole up from the bottom so it will drain there? Assuming you never find the source above.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

It's on the list of possibilities but I don't like it. The door pillar rests on the box channel (line B) that is the door sill, so a drain hole would feed this long horizontal volume. Water could simply run forward or rearward instead of down and out. To get it down and out, would need a hole in both the top and bottom of this box channel. But here in NY we have long "dills" so I'm sure I can reach.

 

[dave6666]

OK Tom. Maybe some more brilliant contributions from Texas. Squirt some Mr Bubble in the hole you found that let the water drain out. Take a small capillary and u-bend it so it will be in this soapy puddle. Add air to create bubbles, blocking the hole in front of you with a rag or something. Look for where Mr Bubbles comes out.

 

[Vman455]

I'm curious--if your Viper stays outside, what have you got in your garage?

Not to hijack or anything...

 

[Steve-Indy]

First rule...do no harm. Second rule...leave no residue.

Apply a vacuum to the hole from which the water drains, then add smoke (either real smoke or from a commercial smoke generator which uses a fine powder and a small rubber squeeze bulb) to the "top side" where you suspect an entry point(s)...and watch to see where the smoke goes as it disappears down holes, seams, or cracks.

Just a thought...

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

I like the bubbles/smoke ideas. I'll work on that. However, I'm half way expecting that the door pillar is meant to be open at the top and exposed to somewhere under the dash. The leak, I suspect, is possibly at the base of the windshield or the overlapping sheet metal on top of the footbox.

Two car garage has mini-machine shop (6" lathe, hyd. press, drill press, bench, war chest of tools), tire shop (Coates 40-40 that can manage (barely) 17x13 rims, air compressor), 40mm brake (parts, disassemble & assembly "clean room", shipping boxes), lubes blending (some additives, samples, base oils), Viper extras (headlights, coolant tubes, inner door skins, radiator&fan, stock seats, shocks & springs) and a few boxes of files. And wife's garden stuff. All normal stuff.

 

[sdaddy]

All RT/10's seem to leak around the rubber seal on the door by the mirror. The rubber does not meet the body both in front of and behind the windshield frame. This normally results in water running down the door and dripping off your door speakers. I just bought some 2" X 2" gray foam at Lowes and cut it into stips on both sides about 15" long. I jam it as far back into the front of the door as I can when I close the hood on it and it seems to help. It stays in place without being attached and is not really visable in the gap between the hood and door. It seems to help when you get caught in the rain.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

All RT/10's seem to leak around the rubber seal on the door by the mirror. The rubber does not meet the body both in front of and behind the windshield frame. This normally results in water running down the door and dripping off your door speakers. I just bought some 2" X 2" gray foam at Lowes and cut it into stips on both sides about 15" long. I jam it as far back into the front of the door as I can when I close the hood on it and it seems to help. It stays in place without being attached and is not really visable in the gap between the hood and door. It seems to help when you get caught in the rain.

Yup, know all about this one. But this time it is something different. New. Pioneering, even.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Smoke it, smoke it...quick, easy, cheap, no mess, and little to lOse!

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

A clever guy at Home Depot suggested the canned smoke used by alarm companies to test smoke alarms. I will look into that. As mentioned, I think the top of the door post is supposed to be open so the underdash area will fill with smoke. Hopefully some will find it's way through the firewall and tell me what's going on.

No body shop or frame repair guys have hints?

 

[GTS Dean]

Any sign that a bit of seam sealer has gotten brittle and come loose? Do you notice the water after it's been sitting, or when you drive? After washing, my car always has a large puddle on top the toe box, but I usually sponge it up so it doesn't leave a ring.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Looking at two areas:

The bottom of the box section the door hinge attaches to is merely goo-ed to seal the bottom of it as it positions over the frame section that runs horizontally over the exhaust and is the door sill. This is also the forward edge of the plastic kick panel (that is glued on) and the OEM glue/goo is brittle. This area is directly above the catalytic converter, so it gets cooked every drive.

Second idea is easier. The rubber accordian that covers the speaker wires has long been broken at the door end. It looks like the body end (oval hole in frame) may be hardened.

I noticed it too late after a "wetting" because it would run down the inside wall starting at the height level with the bottom of the door, underneath the wall carpeting and create a wet spot under the floor carpeting. Since nothing else on the door was wet, I didn't pay attention until I stepped on the wet floor. Now I have it pretty much bare, hope for a few nice days to poke around and find the fix.