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Comments
When you say door moldings are you referring to the rubber weatherstripping on both the doors and the car? Have you ever replaced them? With all your experience with these cars, have you seen any with rust?- the one good thing about these cars in regards to that is they are a body on frame- the frame would have to rust out to make it unsafe. :shades:
the gaskets on the fasteners will crush down that is ok. the thing to be sure of is that the inside of the air inlet is tight against the plennum chamber. the outer housing (which you removed with the 8mm and 11mm fasteners) is the starting point of the penetration in the air vent, as long as that is your leak. make sure you seal this as described in the previous post the extra sealant that comes out when you tighten down the housing when brused over will form a seal around the back of the outer air vent cover. i have seen this problem as well as cowl seem and hvac main seal leaks in town cars right off the showroom floor, so sometimes age is a factor but not always. the foam gaskets and other sealants will shrink and crack with age in any vehicle. finding out what area the water is coming from is the most improtant step, otherwise you are just guessing and possibly wasting your time and efforts. Lincoln town cars , Ford Crown vics, and mercury grand marquis have had these problems for at least 20 yrs. with slight variations per model.
LOL if i can be of help let me know.
hi
on the drivers side did you actually see water comong from the weatherstrip and soaking the floor?
on the pass side do you see water dripping or the floor wet and where?
when you tighten the fasteners just give it enough to compress the sealant around them and a little more . you don't want to force them so tight that you strip them out. when you run water over the top for a while, with the carpet pulled back watch the bottom of the hvac box( on the inside of the car) there is a section on the right hand lower corner that is a rounded mounting flange with the back end of a mounting bolt Like a carriage bolt head. see if there is a trail of water coming from the bottom of it. sometimes it is hard to see, use a bright flashlight and move the jute padding as much as you can for visability. also on the right side lower a-pillar/kick plate area move the rubber backing under the wire connectors back as much as you can and see if there is water coming down the firewall in the wheel well area( again sometines it is hard to see without a flash light and knowing whatyou are looking for) but if either of these things are occuring you have your work cut out for you. the carpet is a foam backing on some which to dry out you would need to take out the pass seat and remove the rear seat lower cushion
remove the trim pieces that secure the carpet and lift the entire pass side up. use a wet vac to dry with fans. it does take time. if it is dry you won't have any mold issues you can use any disinfectant if you are concerned Lysol is fine.
I have to work on one of these this week (Ironic isn't it). but this one has a cowl seam leak as well and the only way to get at that is with the fender off .
let me know what you find.
I don't want to see you waste your hard earned $$$ on something you may not need.
good luck
i don't know about the sherwin williams product . as long as it is pliable long enough to work with while yu put the vent cover on , i guess it could work.
suggest you test it first to see how long yu have to spread it after applied.
Never the less, I called Sherwin Williams and the product they sell is made by 3M, and they didn't have it in stock, so I'm going with the Ford product. Do you think I should put some sealer on the gap where part of the foam gasket that is exposed holds the fresh air housing to the cowl?
and unless you are going to complete the entire vent repair i would not put any sealer there. ( it will make removal difficult later).
just for comparison i have fixed probably 200 of these vehicles over the last 23 yrs
. and maybe 20 have had factory defects in the windshield urethane.
use the butyl if it is not a runny product . you want a sealant with some body to it
good luck
Do you repair cars for a living? I'm located in the Philadelphia suburbs and would be willing to come to you if my fresh air vent fix doesn't work.
thanks,
rob stone
I sealed up the fresh air vent assembly today- I went to the Ford dealer for the butyl based sealer and they gave me silicone rubber and told me this was the replacement or updated product they were using for that product number. I know you told me Ralka that if I had to redo it after using silicone that it's going to be hard to take it apart but I just couldn't wait any longer. I needed to use my car. I haven't tested it by running any water over it- I'm hoping the carpets dry our first. I did get a lot of the silicone on the rear of the gasket so it sealed really good in the back. I also squeezed down the housing while I tightened it like you said. I noticed two of the screws on top were not holding too tight(they're sheet metal screws w/8mm nut heads and I should probably try to get an oversize one to tighten better. The tightness of these screws, I believe, isn't as significant as the two "inside" ones that hold down the back side of the housing. Anyway, I'm hoping it doesn't rain until the carpet drys out. One good thing about the cold is that when I'm driving around now I have the heat on the floor at 90 degrees to help the carpet dry.