Cab Water Leak - Cowl Seam - Early '05 Production

Howdy boys,

I've had my '05 Taco for about a year and a half now and just in the past 4 weeks I've been experiencing a water leak into the cab of the truck after it rains. Now, I have not been able to pin point the leak itself, but typically, after it rains my drivers side front floor pan will be soaked. This includes the carpet and the underpad. I haven't really been able to find too much on this site regarding leaks, but a google search pulled up this TSB which fits my production date of 12/04: http://www.customtacos.com/tech/files/tsb/BO00405r-05-Leak.pdf

Now I did the first part of what is mentioned in the TSB and pulled the wiper arms and the cowl under the wipers and soaped the area down with A/C on high and all the windows and doors closed to pressurize the cab, but to no avail.

So I believe my next step is going to be to pull the drivers side front fender and check the seam at the front corner of the cab. Does anyone have a link to any info on how to do this? I'm sure I can figure it out on my own, but reading through a shop manual certainly may make things go a little quicker. I searched the typical online source, but I was able to find everything but. Any help or previous experience would be appreciated, I'd like to get this taken care of before the snow and salt flies, or else I'll have some real problems. If all else fails after I pull the fender, I'll be heading to the stealership at god knows what labor rate!

 

Have you had your front windshield replaced? Is the seal still in good shape?

 

I knew that question was coming.

I'm confident the windshield isn't leaking, soaped that down at the same time as everything else.

But, thank you.

 

-------bump------

Decided to pull the fender tomorrow on my day off, will inform of my success or failure.

 

Yep, found that already, I posted the link in my first post.

What it doesn't tell me is how to actually remove the fender.

 

Pulled my D.S. fender today and found my leak, I hope.

I filled it in with some Permatex Automotive Seam sealer, I'm hoping this does the trick. I'm going to let it cure and then pressure and water test it tomorrow night before I put it back together.

Pulling the fender wasn't too bad, I broke a couple clips, which was inevitable. I just put in an order to toyotapartscheap for those, I whole $5 worth.

 

Any luck? did it fix your leak?

 

Have not had a good rain yet to find out. We're supposed to get a shower later in the week, so I'll know shortly, and I'll be sure to post the end result.

 

can't help with your problem, but I have the headliner on my dbl cab out right now looking for my leak.

mainly I'm trying to figure out why my driver's side rear seat seatbelt is getting wet.

 

My third brakelight was leaking when I did my pressure test, not enough to cause concern though, that is where I'd start. Beyond that, check your roof ditch moldings.

 

Spent the last two hours drying mine out today. Ordered the Kent high tech seam sealer recommended by the TSB. I'm going to tear fender off this weekend and fix it for good. I put a hose on it today and I can see it dripping down the inside of the firewall. Has to be the cowl seam.

 

It was frustrating to say the least. I'm sorry to hear that you have the same problem.

The smell in my truck has certainly subsided now that the floor is dry, I pulled the underpad right out after I fixed the leak and threw it in the garbage. I ordered a 10' roll of this stuff to replace it: http://www.lobucrod.com/

As far as order of removal, this is what I did, not saying it was the quickest. I'm by no means an expert on Tacoma's, I spend the week working on Freightliner Trucks.

1. Pulled the grille
2. Drivers Side headlight
3. Took most of the clips off the bumper so I could pull it out of my way.
4. Pulled the wipers and plastic cowl
5. About 3 bolts under the hood at the top of the fender
6. 2 in front of the D.S. door after you pull the rubber moulding out of the way. The top bolt points towards the back of the truck, the bottom one points towards the front. I thought that was kinda screwy. You'll end of removing the bottom one after you get rid of the plastic inner fender.
7. I think there was 2 bolts at the bottom road-side of the headlight, just behind the bumper.
8. The rest is just removing the mudflap and plastic inner fender

I hope that gives you a bit of an idea of what you're getting into. As long as you are mechanically inclined, it should go pretty smoothly. A 10mm socket and 3/8 drive ratchet with a couple good extensions should remove almost all the fasteners.