My 97 "MAJOR water leak"

UltimateSVT

UltimateSVT

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Miami, FL(Home of the rust free MARK VIII's
Ok, so I need some help here. I noticed a couple weeks ago during a heavy downpour that there was water dripping steadily on my passenger side carpet right underneath the glove compartment. I thought it might be the a/c but it only happened when it rained. well, as some of you know, South Florida has been hammered with rain since Saturday afternoon. Monday while driving to a client's house it started again & really heavy. I take everything out of the glove compartment, flip the lid down & had my father pour water outside the car. down the side of the front windshield... nothing... he started to pour water down the center of the windshield & that's when it started to leak.
It appears it's coming in through the vent system & into the (please correct me if I'm wrong) a/c fan. If you look at any of your Gen 2's, the fan housing has a lip & that's where it's leaking from. Ironically the fan would come on & off every coupe days which means it's shorting at times. I won't have any more problems with the leaking for the next few days because it's nothing but clear skies for the next week or so but I'd like to fix it this weekend. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
that leak is a common thing i think.. something doesn't seal somewhere.. obviously, i know. lol. but i've seen it on here before.
 
My Great 8 said:
You just can't catch a break!! You have the worst luck with these cars!! I will come down Saturday and see if I can help.
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Rich, I'm telling you... I have horrible luck with Mark VIII's. I almost feel bad for this prairie tan car. It's nearly perfect but now that it's my DD, here come the issues! My dad drove it 2,900 miles (2,000 of them all the way through Florida, Georgia, the Carolina's & Tennessee)& it has behaved like a true champ.

chris2523 said:
that leak is a common thing i think.. something doesn't seal somewhere.. obviously, i know. lol. but i've seen it on here before.
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I didn't bother to search because it's the 1st time I've heard of it since I've been on LVC.
 
fresh air duct under the windshield on the pass side, you have to take the wiper arms off then remove the plastic cowl to get to it. the bead of sealer around the duct is most likely cracked around the back side and letting water in. easy fix with some silicone or use the right stuff and get a tube of seam sealer.
 
BAD97LSC said:
fresh air duct under the windshield on the pass side, you have to take the wiper arms off then remove the plastic cowl to get to it. the bead of sealer around the duct is most likely cracked around the back side and letting water in. easy fix with some silicone or use the right stuff and get a tube of seam sealer.
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yeah, read your last thread on this! I'm going to remove the hood on this car, it has original paint & I don't want to risk damaging it. Plus it's not the first hood I remove. Rather do it right so I only do it ONCE!
 
FWIW, with pics even...

http://www.lincolnsofdistinction.org/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=223265&postcount=40

Personally, I still think the real culprit isn't the seal around the air inlet, it's water flowing straight into the mouth of it, by running under the cowl cover. I went out and bought a black plastic binder from Office Max and was gonna cut it up so I can make it into an upside-down 'U' shape to go right over the inlet. Strap it on with a zip tie and there ain't no water ever gonna get in.
 
I know your main problem was solved, however, I feel I have a suggestion to add as an afterthought, one which will probably lead to a solution to the intermittent fan issue:

It is probably not shorting from the water that is causing a malfunction in your a/c fan. If your Gen2 has an intermittent a/c fan issue ALWAYS look at the fan harness leading from the fan motor to the control box FIRST!

Not to be condescending, but this is a very common problem, so it's worth repeating:

It is HIGHLY likely the fan motor harness is loose and causes the issue, no matter how minor or major the problem, if it is an intermittent fan operation issue, suspect and check this FIRST!

My '97 has BOTH of these issues right now. The first issue, concerning the leak, I temporarily remidied with some glue. The second problem, the issues with the fan, is not quite solved at all. I just reach down there and wiggle it around until it works when it cops out on me...


(that's what she said, rofl)
 
prolonged exposure of water dripping on the blower motor relay will cause fan problems as well as the harness. i have removed so many blower relays that have corroded green terminals and pc boards inside them from water dripping on them. its easy to check the blower relay too just remove it and it snaps apart in half so you can see inside it. its 2 plastic halves that snap together. i still have a bunch of them blower relays in my garage.
 
The point is, the water leak and the intermittent fan are directly related. The leaking water causes the fan problems. So solving the leakage is top priority. THEN you can fix the fan issue and it shouldn't return again.
 
I had this problem. It was leaking down and causing the fan motor to stop working intmediatly. It wasn't the seal on the base it was somehow getting in from the actual inlet. I reapplied the re-directer under the plastic cowl cover and neatly applied a piece of black hd water resistant duct tape to the top of the inlet just incase it got past the dam(not the whole thing). Havn't had a problem since and in no way has it effected air flow.
 
Post pics please

hey can anyone post a pic of exactly where this leak is coming from or explain more in detail where it is located at
 
- hey ulimatesvt buy goop and clean the hell out of it before applying the goop heres a pict of mine the 97

vbpgimage.php
 
I just noticed this problem with my 95 today, I saw a small rust spot on the carpet in the rear footwell from the seat track touching the carpet and when i touched it to see if it would wipe away i noticed the entine rear footwell as well as underneath the seat and half of the front passenger footwell was SOAKED with water. I lifted the front rubber floor mat and followed the water mark/wetness to directly under the glovebox area. I looked under the car for the rubber plugs to make sure one wasn't missing with they werent. I looked at all of the door seals which are perfect. The only other thing i can imagine would be the sunroof, but i don't see how the headliner or anything else above the carpet would be dry still, so i'm ruling that possibility out. Is this a common problem with both GEN 1 and GEN 2 Mark VIIIs? The threads posted in the past about this issue have been only GEN 2 Marks. I assumed the water was coming through somewhere by the base of the windshield. This thread kind of puts me at ease at the simplicity of the fix..so long as this is where the water is coming from. Anyone else have this happen with a 93-96 Mark??
 
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