The infamous passenger side leak.

I have the leak somewhere as well, both passenger and drivers side get wet after rain

 

Same here. The link on the previous page looks like the way to go - although a leaky windshield or a lack of weather sealing around some aftermarket wiring could be the culprit for me also. I'll address all three since I need a new windshield and will be redoing all of the wiring eventually. It will be nice to get the cab sealed from moisture before adding sound deadner.

 

The driver side leak for me was fairly easy to address. I just used some of the same caulk to make everything water tight that was coming through the firewall. So I caulked around all the cables, wires, rubber grommets etc..everything coming through firewall, and that took care of the driver side leak. Piece of cake compared to the passenger leak. IT actually took my 3 days to fix that rascal. Caulk it. Let it dry overnight. try water hose test again before you put it back together (highly recommended). Still leaks. Recaulk it better again after it dries (I used a leaf blower directed to dry out under cowling for about 15 minutes to speed up drying after dousing it with water for test). let caulk dry over night. Do another hose test next day. Put it all back together.......geeez. What a pain...

On another note when you are doing a water hose test to check the leak, pull your carpet back inside the truck so you can see the water running down into the floor board. It is the best way to know if you have fixed the leak.

Also, if you ram the hose into the cowling at full hose pressure, be sure you are not feeding water over the top of the vent tube. That is one leak you will never fix as it is open all the way through. But my offender was the seam around the vent that was causing the leak unlike some of the other guys who could just caulk the seam on the firewall.

 

I havent torn into mine...but from the sounds of it...its going to be the same spots everyone else is having the problem with....

 

Tossing in weathertechs and ignoring it fixed my leak

 

still gets under the carpet though...

 

I know

I vacuum it all up and shampoo the entire truck every once in a while. I'm honestly surprised there's no funky smells or even mold.

 

I was constantly having to remove the mat, leave windows down to let it dry out for several days after every rain. Pain in the keester. I'm glad that is over with

 

Mine is doing the same thing, only now it has gotten much worse!

 

Best of wishes to you Hunter4x4. That is one job I never want to have to tackle again. Mine leaked for several years before it got bad enough that I was concerned it would begin to rust my 1996 beauty that I had so much work into. I actually never ended up pulling the dash. Everything I did was from outside the vehicle, but man...I don't wish that on anyone. I had to remove the passenger fender and cut through the metal supports just to be able to get access to where my leak was. Then I had to tack weld everything back together, prime it to prevent rust on everywhere I cut and welded, and then reassemble. I did fix my leak but had no idea it was going to turn into such an ordeal. Mine was an early model 1996 and once I pulled the fender it obviously was a little different than the other pics I had come across of other first Generation Toyotas underneath the fender. The access hole was smaller and unuseable hence the cutting and welding that was required.

 

Wow! I hate the thought of doing all that. Maybe on my 1999 the access hole will be large enough that I won't have to do the cutting and welding. I'm sure not excited about jumping into this, but I've got to do something. I absolutely love my Tacoma. I recently bought a 2014 Tundra Limited 4WD as the wife is talking about pulling a camper, but I didn't have the heart to sell my Tacoma. Taught both children to drive a manual transmission with it and my son drove it all through high school several years ago. It's still great for running around town, hunting, gathering firewood, etc. Plus it still looks great. Thank you so much for the input! Hunter

 

Don't sell her! She's a beaut.

 

Yep, that is a beautiful Taco

 

Thanks mikkydee! It is raining here today so I pulled the carpet back and it's easy to see that the water is coming in along the corner and behind a black plastic box. (See pictures) The insulation just to the right of that shiny bolt in the upper center of the picture behind the plastic was absolutely soaked just after a little rain. Any other ideas on chasing this leak down? Thank you! Hunter

 

That's your blower motor to AC evaporator part of your HVAC - you could check around where the AC and heater core lines pass into the cab before taking body panels off.

 

Did you follow the TSB yet?

 

It's most likely your leak comes from either the seam in front of the wiper arm or around the vent tube. In this pic above, you can see a bead of caulk has been applied to the front seam in front of the wiper arm but not around the protruding vent tube where you can also see the factory sealant is cracked if you look closely. Many were able to fix their leak by caulking the front seam in front of the wiper arm all the way across the vehicle. However that did not fix my leak. I had to also caulk around the vent tube which is the metal piece you see on the right hand side of the pic sticking upward. as mentioned, if you look closely you can see the sealant is cracked where the tube comes up through the bulkhead. It is difficult to tell from the pic but that protruding vent tube actually is round and completely hollow so be sure to get your caulk all the way around it if you can.

 

I’ll be chasing my leak soon. This helps, thanks!

 

Good luck man! If you're going to get tubing make sure it's 5/8 or bigger and don't forget wire!

 

Just confirmed Ive got this leak in my 02. Is there any consensus over whether to use a spray sealant (like in the TSB) vs caulk? Is there any reason to use one over the other? I'm gonna start getting supplies for this soon.

Also for people that did the TSB method - is the Acrysol degreaser necessary? Haven't seen anyone mention using it.