Bad design Toyota! Water leak expected. WTF! Recall... oh sorry TSB!

There's allot of old beat up jalopies and high performance nuts running around my side of town. They have done allot of shade tree work on their old cars. There's no emission inspection stations here in Florida. Today's cars are built to draw in a small amount of fresh air in all the time, whether or not you have the vent completely closed. I got fed up and made a permanent fix. Just wonder why they didn't put a cover on it or roof, instead a box with no top?

 

Yep. With the holes already on the lip of the opening it looks like a cover may have been in the works, and then the bean counters probably nixed it…

 

Maybe the fumes are from the secondary intake charcoal filter being removed? I did that on my 05 and never smelled fumes but was 4cyl, not sure that would be the difference tho.

 

My valve cover, after 10 years started leaking oil onto the exhaust manifold. In which the cabin air intake box is located directly behind it. After replacing the the valve cover gasket, the oil leak and oil burning smell went away in the cab.

 

You did say exhaust fumes, dunno why I went straight to gas fumes........

 

I wish I could see the pics in the OP

 

4 cylinder engine leans towards the passenger side. Valve cover gasket loses its seal due to age. Oil seeps out of valve cover onto hot exhaust manifold. Old burning fumes go directly into cowl vent, into cab of truck. I've also have had problems in traffic some kids rice rocket, or a diesel truck. Wish I had done it years ago!
All modern cars are equipped with flow through designed ventilation. They use positive pressure at the windshield cowl air to force air through the hvac system to keep fresh air moving through the car. It's purpose is to prevent any CO/CO2 buildup in the interior from the engine's exhaust. Some manufacturers go so far as to limit recirculation time. My work van for example will only allow the recirc to be active for 15 mins and then it automatically goes back to fresh air.

 

Thanks.

 

Be Careful stuffing air intakes that are supposed to be open with foam. Not sure about current tech, but cars back in the day were designed to have positive cab ventilation to prevent fumes from building up in the cab and killing you.

 

Did this fix the issue? I have the same thing happening to my 2011 when I go thru the car wash.

 

I'm also wondering if this fixed the issue....

 

I did this to my truck and it fixed it. I also put wire mesh below the sheet metal to keep rodents out.

 

For those that are still having the water leak issue, can't you just get the updated cowl and be done?

http://www.tacomahq.com/1864/toyota-tacoma-cowl-water-leak-tsb/

 

I definitely would, but I seem to be having this problem with my 13. That said, I have not identified the source of the leak/intrusion. Basically, after it rains, by car smells mildewy and the windows have a ton of condensation on the inside. I confirmed that my A/C condenser drain tube is unclogged, and I was hoping this cowl issue would be the problem. May it's not. I plan to park outside during our next rain storm (shouldnt be long) and try to pin-point the leak.

Any other ideas of than A/C drain and cowl?

B

 

TSB for an '05 that comes out after the 36 month warranty has expired is kind of pointless. Pay for a new part that may or may not fix the issue (TSBs don't always fix them), or spend a few dollars for supplies (adhesive and flashing) to fix it permanently.

 

My '15 doesn't have this issue. Most likely due to the new cowl. Personally, I would rather have an OEM part fix the issue than some duct tape, but to each their own.

 

Since I am experiencing the same issue with water in the carpet on the passenger side floor.

I have read this entire post and want to thank all of you for suggestions.

I am not bragging; I just want to give all of you a glimmer of hope. I have 315,000 miles on my 2005 Tacoma (bought it new). This is the very first issue that I have had w/ my Tacoma excluding normal maintenance and since I had to have my wind shield replaced because of a rock falling off a dump truck and cracking my wind shield so I cannot blame it on Toyota. I bought my wife a used Chevy Trailblazer 4X4 and have had nothing but serious problems with it and I am a Chevy guy.

Good luck to all you Tacoma drivers!

 

For a second, I thought I was in the Third Gen section.

 

Thanks for all the help. I used a piece of lexan about 5.75 x 12" which could have been 14" but it's all I had so I actually torched the edge and bent down drip edges. I also used a couple of spacers to allow more air flow and put 100% silicone all over them and the edge that goes against the cab hopefully to keep any vibration/wind noise at bay. I also bent the tab with holes in it on an angle with my thumb. I didn't remove the cowl, just lifted the one side and it was not a problem.