new to tercel in the north coast

[terastoria]

and a very merry Christmas to you and yours as well.

[terastoria]

here's my green goblin

[dlb]

wow, looks like a steel for $400! great find.

[terastoria]

It has some issues but for a 31yr old $400 car it's decent.

[terastoria]

it turns out i didn't find and fix the water leak into the cabin, i'm totally stumped as to where it may be coming in from as nothing under the dash was/is wet the cowl drain, drains properly the door seals seem to be in good condition.
it is possible that it's leaking from where they mounted the roof rack as it's just bolted through the roof and headliner, but it's not wet anywhere up high it's only on the floor... any suggestions or ideas of where to check?

[dlb]

the roof racks sound like a likely culprit. try removing the screws and liberally coating them with marine sealant before reinstalling them.

[rer233]

Had similar problems with two Tercs a few years back. Water would accumulate on the pass. side floor. When I hosed down the windshield area, I could see water dripping from the glovebox area near the firewall. I removed the wipers, cowl panel below the wipers and traced the problem to water intrusion between the mounting clips on the lower windshield moulding and the body. I removed the screws, popped the clips out of the body, put a small amount of strip caulk in the holes, and re-installed the clips and screws. I had a couple screws that didn't snug up, so I found some slightly bigger ones that would. Problem solved.

BTW- both cars had replacement windshields (imagine that!) Hope this helps!

[Mark]

On my old hatchback, there were rusted holes at the top of the wheel wells. Whenever I drove, water would get flung up by the wheels and soak the carpet. Of course, if yours gets wet when you're not driving, that wouldn't be it.

[terastoria]

wouldn't the windshield leaking cause the dash to be wet as well? i'll try and look at the roof rack tomorrow and see if that's it. it would be my guess as well but it's not wet anywhere but the floorboards, wouldn't it make sense that the headliner would be wet as well?

[Petros]

often when the window seal leaks it runs down the fire wall and soaks the carpet. pull back the carpet to expose bare metal, and hose the windowsill down. look for droplets on the bare metal on the firewall. Also inspect around the fan inlet, if for some reason water is going into the blower box from under the grill (in front of the windshield on the passenger side), it will leak out of the blower box.

Also, you can try this trick, usually works. Tape up the outlet vents under the rear hatch, close all the windows and put the blower on high with outside air. this will pressurize the inside of the car slightly. Use a spray bottle with soapy water and squirt it all around the windshield, door seals, and anywhere else moisture can get in. looks for bubbles forming at the leak. lift the hood and spray the firewall as well, faulty firewall seals can also allow moisture in since the tires can often splash water up on to the fire wall.

[dlb]

wouldn't the windshield leaking cause the dash to be wet as well? i'll try and look at the roof rack tomorrow and see if that's it. it would be my guess as well but it's not wet anywhere but the floorboards, wouldn't it make sense that the headliner would be wet as well?

windshield leaks are rarely visible, in my experience. it usually gets in and then runs down the frame and body so you don't see it until it's on the floor.

same thing applies to the roof rack. there are lots of paths from the roof down to the floor. even if the water did drip on the headliner, it's actually quite hard so the water would probably run off it to either side, and then down one of the pillars.

[terastoria]

good to know, i will be trying all those things next week when i'm on vacation. my current task is to get the vacuum leak sealed up around the base of the carb, until the new one comes in the mail.

[terastoria]

for those that have been looking for the insulator i believe i've found them from toyota.
http://www.toyotapartsoverstock.com/sho ... odel=15454

it appears that the part number is 21901. so far this site is the only place i have been able to find them they're $26 usd though.

[Petros]

21901 is the sheet metal heat shield (they call it an insulator) are you sure that is what you want? Hard to imagine that would crack and cause a vacuum leak. The heating element insulator is 21913, either $40, or $57 (do not know the difference).

Do not spend that much, I am sure I have one of those, a used one, in a box somewhere, I just have to find it. I am sure there are others on the forum that have extra heated insulators as well.

[Notmikeb]

Actually it appears that 21901 in that diagram is indeed the heater insulator.