New water leak on cabin air filter

I've been parking my 2016 Tacoma outside for the past 2 years and have recently had 2 instances where I found the cabin air filter was wet. After the first time I removed the wiper cowl (I guess that's what you call it) and made sure there weren't any birds nests or debris preventing the area above the cabin fresh air intake from draining, which there wasn't. After finding it wet again after a recent rain, I did some troubleshooting today and found the leak is happening when water runs down the windshield. Basically there is a rubber piece that touches the windshield that is part of the wiper cowl and water runs behind that rubber piece and some of it goes down into the fresh air intake and on to the cabin air filter.

So the question is, now what? I've had the windshield replaced within the last year or two and wonder if that plays a part of the problem or if the rubber piece is supposed to fit tightly enough to seal and just isn't doing the job anymore. I double checked and made sure the wiper cowl is installed correctly; that's not the issue.

I'm attaching a picture to show where it's leaking. I put a piece of clear tape over the area while I was troubleshooting and it stopped it from leaking, but obviously that's not a proper solution.

Anyone else had a similar problem? Any recommendations? I've thought of possibly running a small bead of silicon between that rubber piece and the windshield, but it may prove to become a problem if I have to replace the windshield again in the future.

 

I thought I read on here not long ago that the rubber piece on the cowl does not seal anything. You may have to look a little further for the problem.

 

That piece of rubber trim on mine is gapped pretty bad, but I’m not getting water in my cabin fan area. I’m not certain that piece is intended to be water tight.

 

If you pull the cowl off below the windshield, there should be a "gutter" channel that water runs into and diverts the water to the fender.
I had that happen on my 2nd gen. The channel was stopped up.

 

I was wondering how it was supposed to be water tight as well. I'll keep looking for a solution, thanks.

 

I'll take another look, I appreciate the advice. At this point I'd like to find the true problem so I can start working on a solution.

 

This should give you an idea

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/water-thru-cabin-air-intake-my-solution.88655/

 

I found a picture from where I had removed the wiper cowl cover a couple of months ago. I'm not seeing a clogged channel but at the same time I'm not seeing what would stop water from running down the windshield into the area circled in red which is above the cabin fresh air intake.

 

I don't see it either

Surely Toyota didn't do away with it on the 3rd gen?

I mean, they added a grate to keep mice and big stuff out of the intake, but deleted the channel?

Have you had the windshield replaced?

 

99% sure they did a bad job, seems to be comin problem of bad work

 

Yes, probably about a year ago

 

This is a common problem when the cowl cover seal fails. The water leaks into the HVAC system.
I designed a kit to fix this. Please check out KIT4.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...l-kits-and-hvac-screens.811746/#post-29114338






Other of other benefits to this.

• Keeps rodents and debris out of the air cabin filter
• Add a cowl intake snorkel for added protection when crossing deep water (2nd gen only)

These fit 2nd and 3rd Gen Tacomas!