Water leak and fender gap question

[MC Hammered]

Water leak issue:



Water is dripping down through the gap under the rubber gasket shown in pic above, underneath the fusebox and then side of the gasket where the fusebox wires enter the car and then enters the car as shown in pic below.



These two pictures show where I used a screwdriver to confirm the water entry point.




Questions:



The picture above shows a gap between the lip of the driver side fender and the lip of the firewall. Is this gap supposed to exist?



The picture above shows a gap BELOW the rubber gasket when it is put in place. Is the rubber gasket supposed to seal to the bottom of this? Os should I use some seam sealer to close this gap?



The picture above shows the fender/firewall gap on the passenger side. Whomever painted the car before used tape to close the gap as you can see the beige primer that is exposed after I peeled the piece of tape off.

The fender gaps: Are they supposed to be this way or am I supposed to move the fender closer to the door to close the gap?

[Rose E30]

Bump, I am having a similar problem to this!

[sndohio]

same problem here , I put little bit silicon on fender gaps but its still leaking

[sndohio]

anybody know whats the parts number of that seal ?

[MC Hammered]

Bump, I am having a similar problem to this!

same problem here , I put little bit silicon on fender gaps but its still leaking

The gap is not the issue.

The problem is the big grommet for the fusebox as I have shown is allowing water to seep past the firewall.

Only way to prevent water from getting in is to replace it, which is a big PITA, or seal it up with silicone like I did as shown below.

[MC Hammered]

One of the last leaks up front came from the big fusebox bulkhead gasket. It must have shrunk just enough over the last 20 years to let water seep in now



Using a tool to confirm the location of the point of entry




So how is water getting there? Well there is this tiny gap you can see underneath the hood gasket



Gap shown with gasket removed



Rainwater will run down the side of the car, drip through the opening, run underneath the fusebox and down the outside of the front strut tower where it eventually meets the side of the fusebox bulkhead gasket.

Since the gasket is not sealing the water will just seep through over time and enter the cabin.

So I began by removing these remnant pieces of sound deadening from fusebox area. Doesn't do much except hide dirt and debris and wait for rust to form



What it looks like with the sound deadening removed and you can see all the dirt built up underneath it. If you look carefully at the lower center part of the image you can make of the bulkhead gasket.

Path of water flow from the above gap to the edge of the gasket is shown with the red arrows.



I don't have a before picture but there was a lot of debris built up in the gap you see in the image below.





To seal up the edges of the bulkhead I used Proform PF224 urethane based body sealant



My very special tools to do the job



I pumped in a bunch of the sealant into the gap and then proceeded to smooth a bead of it around the entire edge of the gasket.

Obviously the caulking gun will not access the area, so putting small amounts on a gloved fingertip and smearing it into place it how it was done.

[Rose E30]

Thank you very much, I will try this over the weekend.

[sndohio]

where did u buy the Proform PF 224, I couldn't find it locally

[jrobie79]

what he said^