My '84 Suburban Drips Water Onto Front Floor When It Rains

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CORVAIRWILD

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UGLYTRUK
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1984
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K2500 Suburban 4x4
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6.2
I bought this 1984 K 2500 4x4 Suburban in San Francisco 10 years ago, and every time it rains water drips on the front driver floor adjacent to the cowl by the hinge post. Passenger side is worse, the carpet is always soaking wet and I have to lift up the carpets to let them dry to stop it from rusting. Any help here as to where the leak is coming from? In the cowl I guess???

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yevgenievich

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Either windshield or drain in the sides of a cowl clogged are two easiest to check for
 

CSFJ

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These were known for leaks around the windshield gasket. Not uncommon to find extra urethane windshield sealant added between the seal and the body. The '87 I parted out had it between the glass and seal and between the seal and body. I guess they weren't taking chances. It's too bad they don't seal better. When they do work right, it's nice to be able to pull the glass without needing to cut through the sealant.
 

yevgenievich

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I did the urethane an still get a drip. I think it was drying too fast during the install
These were known for leaks around the windshield gasket. Not uncommon to find extra urethane windshield sealant added between the seal and the body. The '87 I parted out had it between the glass and seal and between the seal and body. I guess they weren't taking chances. It's too bad they don't seal better. When they do work right, it's nice to be able to pull the glass without needing to cut through the sealant.
 

CSFJ

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I did the urethane an still get a drip. I think it was drying too fast during the install

My older brother bought an '83 model new off the lot, and remember him talking about the windshield guys pumping a lot a sealant into the lower corners a few years down the line when he had it repainted.
 

bucket

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My C10 leaks pretty good on both sides, it's coming from around the windshield gasket.

Also, I LOVE how that two tone paint comes up on to the hood and turns into stripes!
 

CSFJ

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Ditto on the stripes, that's pretty sweet.
 

Honky Kong jr

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Awsome Burb I’m with everyone on the paint scheme:waytogo: as for the leak my Chevelle suffered the same thing front and back. A friend of mine installs windows, he came up with some liquid butel pumped it into where it was leaking and it never leaked again. You could sprinkle baby powder around the seal and blow compressed air around the inside , that’s how I did it at the stealership,to find where the leaks are and have it put in in those areas.
 

1987 GMC Jimmy

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Wow, very nice. I really like that paint scheme. Like so much I want to do it on mine. It reminds me of certain types of paint schemes that were popular on GA airplanes in the eighties and nineties up until about '96. Is there a story behind it or any other info? Also, thanks for bringing up the leak issue. I had no idea this was a problem, and I'm glad I'm not having it right now. At least the evaporator case is relatively small on these and doesn't cause problems that I've found. I had major leakage in my Caprice around the evaporator case, which in that one the heater core, evaporator, and blower are all inside that one box. A lot of surface area for a leak...
 

Craig 85

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On my 79 I had an issue with the windshield leaking at the top right about 6" from the center of the cab. When I replaced the gasket I found there was a burr in the metal windshield flange that had prevented the gasket from fully seating in the channel. A little grinding and no more leaks.
 

rpcraft

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Man you better get rid of that thing quick in case some kind of disastrous flood traps you inside... I'll gladly take it off your hands!!!

LOL
 

CORVAIRWILD

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I just found all these wonderful answers in my spam box, along with a few spam's from good friends of mine, I guess their email got hacked.

The story of the stripes was I was at a car show and a guy had a '71ish Challenger, and the hockey stripe was kind of similar to the Camaros of the late 60s, which ran down at the tip of the front bumper, so this guy had bought the car new and when he had it painted, he turned the stripe up and went across the hood, again similar to the various (humble bee stripe) options GM offered on the Camaros and Chevelles. So when my truck was being painted I thought about it, and I asked the guy if he could do the same thing because he said he was having trouble turning the pinstrip so tightly to go down to the marker light, and I just showed him what to do on my diesel K5 Blazer. When I pick the truck up, I was so surprised and impressed.

The original Stripes tape, and I wasn't interested in paying whatever price LMC charges, and my guy said he likes to do real painted on stripes. If you look inside my door jambs or tailgate, you'll see remnants of the original tape, and this is not an exact copy, but you'd never know it.

When he painted my now ex wife's 95 diesel Suburban, which I also brought from out west so it has no rust, I had him replace the stickers on the hood with a decal that says 6.5 turboweasel. a guy on eBay was selling exact copies of the original GM sticker, so I had him modify it for a few extra dollars, and the painter clear-coated them onto the hood. When we went to pick up the truck, the job was so perfect you be sure it was done from the factory, and my ex-wife was really pissed, but they couldn't be removed because they were clear-coated on!

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CORVAIRWILD

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The truck was painted three or four years ago, and needs to go back for a little bit of touch up from the inevitable rust. I bought it in San Francisco 10 years ago, and had it painted kind of compliments of the insurance company. But winter is brutal here, and no matter how much I rust-proof it and take care of things, it's inevitable that it's going to rust a little bit. The shop is over 300 miles away, so we'll see if he takes up the job and then I got to bring it there and come back and go get it and come back. Currently he's doing a 72 GTO rust-bucket, so this truck is a piece of cake, it just needs a little bit of paint work on the rockers, and both tail lights were repaired, one due to a heavy smash, and he welded in a beautiful patch, but the seam is starting to rust. I smashed the passenger side with my trailer, he did a beautiful job patching it, but then my ex-wife wacked it again, not as bad. But I think this time I'm going to have a new quarter panel put on because the inner well is rusting at the top where they join really bad

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shiftpro

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The truck was painted three or four years ago, and needs to go back for a little bit of touch up from the inevitable rust. I bought it in San Francisco 10 years ago, and had it painted kind of compliments of the insurance company. But winter is brutal here, and no matter how much I rust-proof it and take care of things, it's inevitable that it's going to rust a little bit. The shop is over 300 miles away, so we'll see if he takes up the job and then I got to bring it there and come back and go get it and come back. Currently he's doing a 72 GTO rust-bucket, so this truck is a piece of cake, it just needs a little bit of paint work on the rockers, and both tail lights were repaired, one due to a heavy smash, and he welded in a beautiful patch, but the seam is starting to rust. I smashed the passenger side with my trailer, he did a beautiful job patching it, but then my ex-wife wacked it again, not as bad. But I think this time I'm going to have a new quarter panel put on because the inner well is rusting at the top where they join really bad

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That panel by the gas fill will be a bit of work. Excessive bondo, and probably rust underneath it all. The sooner you get at it the better.
 

PrairieDrifter

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The truck was painted three or four years ago, and needs to go back for a little bit of touch up from the inevitable rust.

Corvairwild! Nice to see you on this forum. I’ve watched quite a few of your videos on YouTube. You’ve got some nice burb’s:cheers:
 

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