[Robrote]

2005 Dakota Club, 4X4. When I have a hard rain, I end up with 2 inches of water on the drivers side foot well. I pulled the carpet back and ran water on the windshield and noticed water pouring in through 2 holes in the kick panel area.

Any idea why this water is running in there? Is there a drain that is clogged that would keep the water from coming in this area? Im stumped. Do I remove the cowl cover? Any help is appreciated.

Rob

 

[dak123]

Hey, same problem here on 2kdak4x4. Leaking from both front and back windshield areas. Found some of the water was coming in through where the truck body is crimped together (joints), not the actual windshield seals.

Try blowing compressed air from inside cab outside through soap covered joints to determine problem areas (same process as to find hole in tire).

Will remove both windshields and address these joints with epoxy/restoration because forcing caulk into joints did not fully address issue. Will fill with anhydrous expansion foam any empty spaces inside cab around any joints to aid in sealing leaks.

 

[Robrote]

Thanks for the reply. I did the expansion foam in the kick panel a few days ago. Not sure if that cured the problem yet. I hope I did the right thing with that. I hate to have to pull the windshield but I may have to. This came on all of the sudden. Very odd.

 

[Caravannman]

Here is one leak on my 2005 Dakota



This is what my high-mount cargo/brake light area looked like when I removed the 2 screws that hold the lamp assembly in place. It was very evident that water and other debris had been getting into the assembly. The gasket was mis-installed from the factory with one entire end tucked inside the opening. The photo album where this picture is located is public, so you can go there and see all the pictures pertaining to the repair. Use 912 bulbs for cargo lights and 921 bulb for the brake light.

http://s1263.photobucket.com/user/1991Roadtrek/media/26.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

There are also pictures of the 2005 Dakota A/C condensate drain. The drain can't be seen when the truck is all together because it is hidden behind a heat shield. To get to the drain you must remove the inner wheel well (9 plastic rivets have to be punched thru and then extracted), then using some magic 11mm tooling, remove the 2 nuts holding the heat shield in place. The drain itself is an oval or oblong hard plastic affair that is integral with the blower housing inside. There is a large foam gasket that seals the entire heater assembly where this drain penetrates the firewall. I used a 1/4 nylon tube (like used on refrigerator icemakers) to both suck back in the drain, and then to blow compressed air thru the drain. I didn't see any evidence of obstruction or debris either way. Those plastic rivets are $6 each from Dodge, so I used the generic ones from Dorman (about $1 each). The Dorman rivets do not so as good a job of pulling the plastic panels together, so I may search for a cheaper supplier of the style used by Dodge (they have to be pulled by some sort of rivet-puller).

Here's a link to the album, feel free to look around:
http://s1263.photobucket.com/user/1991Roadtrek/media/3.jpg.html?sort=3&o=8

Here's an actual photo of the drain:

 

[Robrote]

Thanks for the post. I can run a hose right down the Drivers cowl and see the water running inside the kick panel (with the panel removed). There has got to be a an open cavity, but it's hidden behind the fender or behind the motor. I am still in search of this leak.

 

[dakotaff]

Here's some information that some of you may like to see.

I recently had water on my drivers side floor after rain. I noticed my carpet was soaked, underneath my Husky floor mat. I noticed it would happen after any rain, and since I wasn't driving it during this time, I could eliminate some other common leak sources. I pulled the carpeting up to investigate. I noticed water dripping off of the bolt from the parking brake mount on the firewall and around the mount itself. It would drip down right in the conveniently located channel into the floorboard, as well as underneath the black padding beneath the channel. The carpet would get reeeeaaaaallllly soaked! My wet vac came in handy for sure.



I took a few pictures looking up further and did not notice any water above the brake mount.
After pulling the wiper cowl, I could not find a source of the leak, so I gave it to my mechanic.

He looked into it and ended up having to take out the dash, and found a weld had cracked in two places way up under the dash. He took it for a few days and used body filler to repair the leak. (picture to follow)

Here is a picture of a 2007 Dakota (not my Dakota) that has a nice big rust hole under the dash, you can see one big hole and also looks like some more areas are rusting down the line.



Here is the same picture, and the green line will show the weld areas that cracked in two places on my truck, allowing the water to leak through, onto my floor.
It's possible that the truck in the picture had the same repair done as mine, not sure though.



So this may be a spot that is causing some of your Dakota (& Ram) water leak issues.

Here is a picture of the whole dash removed, for your viewing pleasure...

 

[boutaswell]

Here's some information that some of you may like to see.

I recently had water on my drivers side floor after rain. I noticed my carpet was soaked, underneath my Husky floor mat. I noticed it would happen after any rain, and since I wasn't driving it during this time, I could eliminate some other common leak sources. I pulled the carpeting up to investigate. I noticed water dripping off of the bolt from the parking brake mount on the firewall and around the mount itself. It would drip down right in the conveniently located channel into the floorboard, as well as underneath the black padding beneath the channel. The carpet would get reeeeaaaaallllly soaked! My wet vac came in handy for sure.



I took a few pictures looking up further and did not notice any water above the brake mount.
After pulling the wiper cowl, I could not find a source of the leak, so I gave it to my mechanic.

He looked into it and ended up having to take out the dash, and found a weld had cracked in two places way up under the dash. He took it for a few days and used body filler to repair the leak. (picture to follow)

Here is a picture of a 2007 Dakota (not my Dakota) that has a nice big rust hole under the dash, you can see one big hole and also looks like some more areas are rusting down the line.



Here is the same picture, and the green line will show the weld areas that cracked in two places on my truck, allowing the water to leak through, onto my floor.
It's possible that the truck in the picture had the same repair done as mine, not sure though.



So this may be a spot that is causing some of your Dakota (& Ram) water leak issues.

Here is a picture of the whole dash removed, for your viewing pleasure...

What a pain in the ass. I think I'm just gonna sell my Durango since it was a trade for an Outback 3 years ago. It's been good except for a slow short drain somewhere and a weird problem with the door open indicator.

 

[Caravannman]

I thought I had my water leak fixed for several years. A few months ago I noticed the passenger side front carpet getting soaked. I removed the windshield wiper arms and the plastic cowl to gain access to the lower cowling compartment. I figured out that there were 6 possible places for leakages in this compartment: 4 were body seams near the fender attach points on either side and 2 were from rubber grommets that were installed to cover/block factory holes. Both the grommets were hardened by age. I removed and cleaned them and treated them with some special o-ring lubricant I had found. The 2 grommets were identical - this is important because the holes are NOT. The grommets appear to fit one hole which is perfectly round, but not the other which is actually an oval. I cleaned everything up and used an RV sealant called Dicor to seal over the body seams. I also used lots of sealant over the 2 grommets and underneath before I pushed them in place. It has been 3 weeks with several rain storms and no leaks. I don't see how Dodge could expect a round plug to seal an oval hole. I really think this was the main culprit.