Just a few days after I shot a Mustang convertible with a tarp on it, I found this on a (typical) rainy day sorely needing one.
Curbside Outtake: Not Ready For Winter
– Posted on January 27, 2021
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Curbside Classics Archives
Just a few days after I shot a Mustang convertible with a tarp on it, I found this on a (typical) rainy day sorely needing one.
I have to out a tarp on my car too, whenever rain is expected. It’s a sedan, but the floors get wet after a heavy rain. I’ve cleaned the cowl drain holes, and put silicone around the edge of the windshield , but the problem persists. There are two long cracks in the windshield, could the water be coming in there ? These are just your “normal” GM windshield cracks. You can’t feel a breeze coming through.
“These are just your “normal” GM windshield cracks”
God I cringed reading that. Hello any Sunfire I’ve ever come across…
Forget winter; that’s not even ready for summer…
My 2007 VW Rabbit started getting mysteriously wet floors a few year ago and I couldn’t trace where water was getting in. It turned out to be the drainage tubes for the sunroof had become blocked, and water overflowed and worked its way down to the footwells (and one time, even the glovebox). There was no visible unsealed gap around the sunroof, but it’s evidently designed so water gets in around the edges normally. This turned out to need a major repair as the drainage tubes are hard to access.
My 626 has a sunroof that also leaks a little which is why I never liked sunroofs but the car was free. When it sits perfectly level there is no leaks and the drain tubes on each side handle water fine. When parked with a slight lean to the passenger side, as in right now, water would get in the front corner onto the headliner and work its way down to the floor. So one rainy winter there was a puddle.
Sitting in the car one rainy day I saw the leak. So I folded some aluminum foil in half making a 2×4″ piece into a spout. I slipped that into the corner to catch the water before it rolled around to the headliner. Small bucket on passenger seat and no more wet seat nor carpet. In fact it poured last night so I need to go out and dump about a half pint of water. My drain tubes run down inside the A pillar.
This is a 1990 Cavalier 4 door, no sunroof. The only other thing I can think of would be the plastic “plenum ” that outside air passes through going to the interior. I removed it, and checked the gasket at the bottom where it attaches to the cowl. It looked fine, and fit tightly. The windshield cracks start at the bottom , and move up. The passenger side crack is an inverted “L” shape with a total length of about 30″. The driver’s side crack is straight, and is about 18″ long.
My Mustang convertible is ready for winter, it’s hiding in a barn with a few bars of Irish Spring to hopefully keep the mice out this year.
Irish Spring? Haven’t heard that one. I guess living in sewers then means smelling clean is not for them.
Have heard of using lots of mothballs or a box of fabric softener sheets scattered all over the interior, trunk, engine compartment, and inside the tailpipe or steel wool in the tailpipe.
This one is at the decision point which has taken so many old convertibles off the road.
“Is this car worth the cost of a new top?” To me the answer is yes, but then it’s not my car.
The good thing with Mustangs is reproductions are widely available and relatively low priced
https://lmr.com/item/ET-CTK4B-BLK/9-95-To-2000-Mustang-Convertible-Top-Kit-With-Defrost
Being a GT helps too, this generation is kind of a black sheep in the Mustang world(pretty much second to the Mustang II) yet I can count on one hand how many V8 Mustangs I’ve seen end up in a self service junkyard without major accident damage
I really liked this plum color, I don’t know the breakdowns but this might be one of the rarer combinations from this generation
We’re dealing with a leaky rear floor on my boyfriend’s 2005 Lincoln Town Car. We’ve already cleaned the tubes in the windshield cowl, as recommended, and that didn’t help. His Town Car does have the sunroof. Anyone have any suggestions?
There should also be rear drain tubes through either the B or C pillars if it’s anything like my Cougar. Is the headliner wet, and/or is there any spot where it seems most wet? The thing I learned with Ford sunroofs is they’re basically a controlled leak and the “tray” the moonroof is in is basically guttered by the moonroof tracks, which should have seal tape in between. Open up the moonroof and look from the top to see if there’s any loose tape poking out, that may be where water is getting in between.
Just gotta get down to Harbor Freight and pick up a large tarp and a bunch of bungee cords. If you are diligent you can stave off the water intrusion. I had my old Jag convertible outside for a couple of years. I kept the tarps and covers in place and it went through several Winters unscathed. Luckily now it’s in the garage. Last night we got the first big drenching in the Bay Area. I had some stuff stored in my yard under a pop up shelter. I should have weighted it down a couple of days ago, before it started raining. I woke up this morning with it upside down and full of water! That’s the price of procrastination.
Many sunroof drain designs involve short metal pipes at the corners. Flexible plastic tubes are often pressed onto the ends of these metal pipes. The plastic tubes are routed down the front door posts, center posts on 4-door sedans, or down the back 1/4 panel if a 2-door or a 4-door hardtop.
Because these plastic tubes are only pressed onto the pipes, it is very important NOT to try to use compressed air to unclog the drains. Yes, you will unclog the short pipes, but you will also likely cause the flex tubes to back off the pipes, and the car will start leaking at the corners, either wetting the headliner or other interior locations further down.
The typical repair involves partial removal of the headliner, allowing access to the flexible tubes. Then after you pull off the upper end of the drain tubes, you can use compressed air to unclog the tubes. That said, the best way to clean the tubes will be found in the service manual.