Water leaks through the heater vents?

[Major Woody]

My 56 has drain holes at the lower windshield corners, you can feel them from below.

If water is only getting in when the car is parked, I am leaning toward the hood seal at the cowl. It might look good but on an oval, nothing holds it down in the area where it curves forward at the cowl. Later cars have little holes there which match up with barbed projections on the seal to help hold it in place. Second guess would be the trim clip hole covers which glue on from inside on an oval. Note that water getting in under the back window could make its way into the heater channel and emerge in the front, and you might not think to look there. Third guess would be running board mounts, but there would need to be a big problem there in order to force water to actually pool up inside the heater channel.

If no air is coming out the lower vent when you turn the heater on, then your heater boxes are probably not hooked up correctly. The cable, when pulled, should simultaneously open the flap within the front of the heater box which allows air into the cabin, and a lever in the box also pulls shut a little flap at the back of the engine that forces the warm air into the cabin instead of backward out of the cooling tin. And of course you have to have the corrugated metal tubes that connect the heater boxes to the body. Sometimes they are gone for one reason or another.

The factory heating system on an oval window bug can kill you with carbon monoxide if not properly maintained. Be SURE you do not have any leaks in the curved exhaust pipe coming off the front cylinders before you take a ride with your heat on. An exhaust leak there would introduce CO directly into the cabin. A lazy mechanic might choose to disconnect the heat instead of fixing the exhaust system.

There is mention in an earlier post about paper defroster hoses. You car's hoses are corrugated steel. There is a loose hole at the bottom of the A-pillar. The corrugated steel hoses are just poked into those holes, bent to face the rear of the car where the heat is coming from, and tacked into place with a little strip of steel. I believe they begin rusting right on the factory floor. Water leaking into the truck could easily get in there.

If you want a good test, jam a bath towel in the space at the top of the A-pillar on the side that leaks, and hose the front half of the car down. Wait 20 minutes and take the towels out. If they are dry, then reply back because you know the rain isn't getting in at the trunk, cowl, or front trim holes.

[cyberdyne systems 101]

I have a leak of water from the front too, I found that when i removed a rubber bung covering the lower door hinge screw, it was full of water. Now i've already traced the leaks to the trim holes, but I was wondering shouldnt there be a drain hole at the bottom of the A pillar? Any pics would be welcome.

CS 101
_________________
When I think of something to say - I'll be the first to know

56' Oval
71' Westy

[Eric&Barb]

Hi CS 101,
No, because all body holes were to be sealed at the factory. Allowing water to constantly drain through the body results in massive rust problems.
Depending on year of VW Bug, either you should have Dumb-dumb (SP?) (A puddy like sticky stuff used for RV window to body sealing) sealed over them on the inside or the later rubber boots for each of those holes.
_________________
In Stereo, Where Available!

[cyberdyne systems 101]

Ok thanks Eric & Barb! So its a case of stopping the water getting in in the first place - ok will do.

CS 101
_________________
When I think of something to say - I'll be the first to know

56' Oval
71' Westy

[cyberdyne systems 101]

Just had a thought on this - although you dont want water to enter the car - it still has drain holes in the doors for instance and as someone pointed out the windscreen area - now that would surely drain into the A pillars from the windscreen? I'm not saying we're talking about loads of water but whats the point of the drain holes if it just fills up the a pillar?

CS 101
_________________
When I think of something to say - I'll be the first to know

56' Oval
71' Westy

[Major Woody]

It really shouldn't be able to fill up the A pillar. There is a big hole there through which the defrost hose passes. It drains from the A pillar partly into the heater channel and partly onto the floors through a spot welded seam.

[billmetric]

I think the main problem is more a lack of drainage not bad seals by themselves, water is going to find its way into the heater channels thru a hole in the channel inside the A-pillar area probably by the defroster tube, the hater channel has to fill up quite a bit like 1/4 inch deep before it spills out of the heat outlet, I would just give the water a place to escape
_________________
There is an idea of a Billmetric; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there...

[DrDarby]

Folks he said the car was parked in the rain and water was coming out of the channels.
It could only be from one of two places. Windshield seal leaking at the lower corners and into the defroster tubes (they exit right at the heat outlet on a '56) or trunk seal leaking and the upper cowl is bent a little allowing water to dump into the A pillars. The cowl leak is pretty far fetched as the defroster tubes shouldn't allow water past & into the channel and cowl water should drain out the area just below the bottom door hinge.
_________________
Midwest Autosavers, Inc. Woodstock, IL

[Major Woody]

[cyberdyne systems 101]

This is somewhat related to the topic, I just connected up my heater cable, and found that not much air was coming through the heater vent at the floor or windscreen. So I took a look under the rear seat and removed the top cover of the heat tube and looked in to see that the tube stops as soon as it enters the heater channel - I'm certain there should be an inner tube that guide's the hot air to the vents. The thing is apart from the quarter panel the heater channel looks original, so how could it have been removed? My only guess is that it was partly removed for some unknown reason when the quarter panel was done, and that most of the pipe is in tact further into the heater channel.

On using the car there seemed a reasonable amount of heat coming through but not as much as my previous Oval. My only thought to improve things was to insert some sort of flexible tube to direct the air forward.

CS 101
_________________
When I think of something to say - I'll be the first to know

56' Oval
71' Westy

[Major Woody]