Has anyone had experience fixing a water leak, passenger side by the firewall? Specifically. water is dripping down from the upper area where the passenger would put their feet. Do you think I should tackle this fix from the outside or the inside? I'm thinking this is going to be a tough one.... Thanks.

 

sound like your heater core took a crap...by pass it and hope it doesnt get real cold...if you do need to fix it you need to pull out your dash...i think someone has a write up on this but im not sure maybe they will chime in...

 

Is it water or coolant?

If it is water,then the a/c drain hole is probably clogged up with debris..


If it is coolant..................

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....highlight=core

 

Interesting possibilities, grim, but interesting. The reality is, its pouring rain and its dripping at a steady rate so I think it's a leak in the cavity in front of the windshield where the wiper arms are. You know... that small and really difficult to work-in area (those who have changed wiper arms know what I'm talking about!). Problem is- I have no idea how to reach in there and seal it. I can see some rust and thats likely that's the culpret. Perhaps a sealant spray? Is there such a thing?

 

I wouldn't seal it if it's a clogged DRAIN.

 

Are you using your airconditioner (some do in the winter)-if not probably not from that.
Any sweet smell like hot antifreeze-if not, probably not the heater core.
Try and spray water from a hose, or pour a gallon of water on the outside. If it leaks inside, there is the answer. If it's a rust whole/leak, then try and seal it with bondo/fiberglass/rubber puttys.

 

We had a grand am that would get a puddle in the passengers side whenever it drove through water. somehow the water was coming IN from the bottom but not going out.
never did figure it out, didn't care to either

 

/\ ive had that happen with a cutlass ciera i had didnt care either i got it to resell and it was a warm dry say when i sold it

 

Firewall to A-Pillar weld is rusted-out at the base of the windshield. The only way to see it.....or repair it correctly (iirc) is by removing the dash.

Here's a pic:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/376954/3

 

Check also to see if it's coming through the blower motor... I had a problem with the yellow plastic plug ("windshield spacer") at the base of the windshield on the passenger side (under the wiper cowling), which is directly on top of the fresh air entry vent. It was leaking, and as it's directly over the vent and blower motor, the water drips right down into the blower fan. Replaced with a new one and siliconed it, and leak was gone. Bad design IMO to have it directly over the blower.

 

If it is a rustout as shown above, I would treat the rust with naval jelly, then slaver it up with silicone caulk.

 

Stick a neighborhood cat/dog in the car and have it drink it. If it dies, you know it's coolant.





Or you could use a white paper towel to check for color, see if it smells like or has the oily feel of coolant.


I'm not sure what's worse, coolant sucks because it's not simply water in your carpet. Water sucks because chances are you are looking at the same amount of work as a heater core, but with less certainty in the results.


shvelle, how much rust is on the car in other places? Has the car ever been in any accidents?

 

shvelle, how much rust is on the car in other places? Has the car ever been in any accidents?[/QUOTE]

That pic was from my old '90 silver car - it was rusted everywhere... (badly). I spent more time repairing rust on that thing than anything else.
That rust apeared to be caused by a dried-out, or leaking window seal. You can see in the pic that a previous owner had the windshield replaced and LOTS of black window sealant was used to stop the water leak.
I just discoverd that rust when I was removing the dash b4 sending the car to the wreckers.
Another source of water is the cowl drain area. I've talked about this b4 and used to have pics on my site showing what I went through to 'fix' it. Dirt and debris block the drian and then hold moisture which causes the cowl drain to kickpanel weld to rot-out. When this happens, and it rains, or you wash your car, the water will dribble down the kickpanel/firewall and soak the underpadding of your carpet. The underpadding stays wet for weeks after that, and ultimately rots a hole in the front corner of your floors.
Same problem aflicks (sp?) '60's Mustangs.
Hopefully it IS your heater core - cause fixing the leaks I'm talking about is not fun at all.

 

Anyone know how to get the core out of the plastic box? I have the dash removed and I can touch the core but can't see anymore screws to get the box to open.

 

shvelle, I would love to see the pics of how you "fixed" your cowel drain area. I think this is where my problem is.... or perhaps the "firewall to A panel" area but first snow has hit, no garage and I can't be taking out the whole dashboard now!

 

I don't think he did

 

I did fix the cowl drain problem on both my maximas.
I did not fix the firewall to a-pillar rust tho, cause I was crushing the car at that point.
I will put some pics of the cowl drain surgery on my site later tonight when I get home.

 

Pics would be awesome thank you. Its a damn tricky place to work on best I can tell...

 

A few pics are up now. And yes......, yes it is...

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/376954/3

 

Pics are great thanks- You mentioned taking off the fender and I guess also you have to remove the front quarter panel? Never done that ... is it difficult on a rust-prone car? Excellent repair by the way.

 

i had a leak in my heater. this leaked into my ecu. this caused a short in the distributor. car backfired, check engine light came on, then cut out on the motorway. ran batt flat. got towed to mechanic. no spark

removed ecu and it was full to the brim with coolant.

distributor had shorted out

distributor 2nd hand $400
ecu $400
labour $280

 

ouch $1080 could buy a great parts car..

judging from the rust pics posted, i think i'd rather deal with the heater core opposed to structural repairs. good luck.

 

Damn, i've bought 2 for under 500. I'll sell you the next one

 

You can get all those parts at a junk yard.

 

No, no. I said great parts car. I basically meant a perfectly fine max, although a perfectly fine max shouldn't be a parts car. I wouldn't shell out $1k for non-drivable 3rd gen. I only paid $700 for my loaded ve-5 which is my daily driver atm. Then there was the black vg auto i bought last year for $500. Both black cars just needed injectors. My pearl vg ended up being free after the insurance settlement a couple years ago. I did buy that one for $2800 though. 87k miles, perfect paint and body. But it was definitely worth $2800 regardless of the fact these cars are undervalued.

 

Goon and Hestic: Reading > you

nzcoz nzcoz is offline
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in other words he ain't on this continent so his pricing and availability is way different than ours

 

I've read this thread looking for some help.
Does anyone have any pictures of the AC drain or how to access it? Do you go in under the dash from the passenger footwell or the engine bay?

Also do you snake it out or what do you use?

Thanks very much

 

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/748507/7

I hope this link comes thru. It's a good explaination of the heater/ac setup in our cars. It explains how to clean out the AC box of the 10 lbs. of fir needles it's ingested the last 15 years. The AC drain is very hard to see. You must get under the car and get back by the firewall on the passeger side and look up above the steering rack. The ac drain has a rubber cover, about the size of a silver dollar, just out of reach there, with a short tube sticking out the bottom (if it hasn't rotted away yet).