Interior leaking issue, 1966 Mustang. Help appreciated.
Hi all,
I Recently picked up a 1966 Mustang coupe. I am having some interior leaking issues. Please let me assure you I have done my due dilligence searching, and have read a lot of valuable info, however my issue appears to be different than what I have read, so help would be appreciated.
I purchased the car at a car show, it had been parked there the whole weekend, and we had gotten significant rain, I stopped to look at the car a couple times and I did not notice any water inside. Also, I have had the car for a couple of weeks now in which the car has been outside and we have gotten some on and off rain in that time, and I have not noticed any water in the car in that time.
Now yesterday we got some significant rain and today when I opened up the car the carpet was soaked on both sides all the way to the rear seat. Now this certainly would seem to be a cowl leak, however I had a cowl vent cover on during this rain so Im not sure how enough water could get under the cowl cover to soak the carpet this much.
Any ideas as to where I should be looking other than the typical cowl areas, seeing that I was covering the cowl vent at the time of this issue.
Man, this sounds awful and it's such a pain in the you-know-where to dry out the carpet.
You need to look around the doors to make sure that the weather stripping is sealing them properly (My '66 fastback had a minor gap in front of the passenger side door and it was enough to completely soak the passenger side carpet when it rained or when I was washing it). I used a flashlight to look for places where the light slipped through when the doors were closed.
Other than that, check that the windows are all properly sealed, but as the carpet is wet front to back and on both sides, the windows would almost have to be open for this to happen.
I know leaks are a pain and often almost impossible to find. On my 65 coupe, I knew I had a cowl and was certian repairing it would fix my problem. Fortunately for me, I ended up having to replace my windshield seal. While it was out, I ended up finding a hole in the channel of windshield opening. If I hadn't had the windshield out, I would have never known where the leak was coming from once the cowl had been sealed up. Good luck finding your leak.
Could be leaking in front the bottom corners of the front windshield, the door perimeter, or where the door window seals against the back quarter window, other front leak points are the front windshield wipers where the arm comes in from the outside of the car ( you can buy seals in either rubber or leather), also the heater blower seal. I would check for any rust holes under the cowl, even though you have a cowl cover on it, water can get in from other areas sometimes, like the wiper arm!
Thanks for the replies fellas. I will certainly check some of these things out. There has been no shortage of rain here lately, so Ill certainly get an oppurtunity to try to track these leaks down.
I am wondering besides the cowl vent and wiper arms, is there any other spots water can get into the cowl?
Or maybe take it through an automated car-wash. I did that the other month and had the misfortune of finding out that *all* windows leaked something fierce and it was much more predominant when the water was under that much pressure.
Of course, don't do what I did - buy a deluxe car wash. After I got sprayed the first time, I also got sprayed each time it did a new cycle
I've had the same problem with my '65, and at first I had no idea where it was getting in, until I noticed water on the turn signal wiring after a car wash. As I drive the car daily and my skill level with body work is pretty low, I took off the windshield trim and sealed all around it with flowable silicone windshield sealer. I was amazed to see all the places where the sealant just kept flowing in! After several applications, I put the trim back on, and 98% of the leaking has stopped. Only a couple of drops make it in now, if any at all.
Thanks for the replies fellas. I will certainly check some of these things out. There has been no shortage of rain here lately, so Ill certainly get an oppurtunity to try to track these leaks down.
I am wondering besides the cowl vent and wiper arms, is there any other spots water can get into the cowl?
You should check under dashboard while someone washes the cowl area, it could be the upper corner where the firewall meets the cowl or where the fenders themselves bolt on. You really should go over this carefully as its a structural part of the car. I advise every mustang owner to use a cowl vent cover pretty much all the time, i had a 66 GT and the cowl started leaking a while back , I made a cover out of Magnetic Rubber, and it worked great. I was lucky enough to get an article written up about it in Mustang /Monthly about my covers. after i visited a local Trans am track { lime Rock } Good luck with the leak, just take out the rug first and dry the car out well or it's going to rust up pretty quick.
Last edited by pcfrisch; 4 Weeks Ago at 10:03 PM.
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Not long after I bought my car, I had a leak which I thought was the cowl, but it turned out to be the windshield seal. A previous had installed the windshield with just the rubber seal and without any butyl rubber compound to seal it up.
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I agree with Tom -
If you had a cowl cover on the car, the leak may be coming from the joint where the cowl, firewall, and inner fender meet. 40 year-old seam sealer dries and cracks and can leave a big gap here.
The other thing is probably no sealer in the windshield gaskets.
Good luck
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Interior leaking issue, 1966 Mustang. Help appreciated. 
