Hey guys, new to the forum, but not forums in general.

I did some searching and didnt find too much that helped, but I just recently bought a 2003 ranger edge 4x4 single cab.

After ripping the rubber flooring out to give a good cleaning, I noticed the insulation on the bottom of the floor was wet as well as a saturated hush mat on the driver side floor. I found 3 different spots that water is coming in but cant seem to find the source of entry for 2 of the 3.

1st spot- the bottom of the "A" pillar is rusted out and water is coming in through there. (dont know where its coming from though)

2nd spot. on the passanger side, on the firewall I noticed a small amount of water dripping from the foam seal that surrounds the a/c blower motor box. (Also cant find where its coming from)

3rd spot, the rear window is leaking. (the seal along the top of the window leaks)

Just trying to get a backgorund for these trucks. the first 2 spots i cant seem to find where the starting point is. Clearly for the 3rd spot i need to reseal my back glass but the "A" pillar and firewall really have me stumped.

Any suggestions, previous encounters?
All help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advanced guys!

 

My rear window leaked, As did my 3rd brake light. I have a 2 door, and the roof seam above the pass side back side window leaked also.

 

Third brake light is the biggest culprit.

When it leaks it looks like the rear window gasket, your might be but replace it and then re check for a leak.

 

Reseal the third brake light for the leak in the back. Make sure to check that the cowl drains aren't clogged with debris. Might be your problem since it's on both sides. I had a similar leak on the passenger side and bought a new hvac box and went through countless hours and money trying to fix it. Finally took it to a collision guy who ripped out the dash to find a seal in the cowl by the antenna had disintegrated. All fixed now. Good luck.

 

for the leak that's around the ac box see if your drain in the fire wall is pluged. mine was and it leaked into the cab. also check the drains in the cowl by the wiper motor they get all kinds of garbage in them

 

well did you find the leaks ?

 

Well, I resealed the back window and that fixed 98% of the problem (it was a lot bigger of a pain in the *** than I expected lol). I am still getting a little bit of water seeping in along the bottom of the A pillar. I know the leak is coming from the cowl, but have not had the time to pull the fender off to see exactly whats going on. It is only getting damp, its not actually dumping water into the cab, so it has me pretty confused.

Also I have not had any more moisture from around the ac box. I sprayed down the entire truck, and cant seem to get it to leak... so thats that haha.

Once i get the fender off and find the exact cause I will let you guys know, and get some pictures up for future reference...
thanks for all the input thus far!

 

I KNOW that the 3rd brake light has a pretty poor gasket design to it. Rain runs off of the roof, and hits the 3rd brake light housing which has a lousy gasket design, it enters at this point and ends up on the floor of the cab,

I'm surprised that the window was the cause over the 3rd brake light lens as it has a really bad design to it. Before you tear-up any more interior components; check that lens housing on the 3rd brake light.

"Gravity" exposes many engineering errors but they must be tracked down.

 

I slapped some silicone on the third brake light, the day I bought the truck. It definitely was leaking a little but nothing compared to the back window.
We had a really bad rain storm a couple of weeks ago, after the rain stopped I had an inch to an inch and a half of water in the driver side floor... I have the whole interior stripped right now, besides the drivers seat. All leaks are taken care of, except for the one at the driver side A pillar. If I had to guess, I think it is seeping in from a body seam from the cowl and slowly seeping in from where the a pillar is welded to the floor pan. The area gets saturated, but doesn't actually accumulate water in the cab..?. It seems like it gets wet, but doesn't get soaked, no matter how much water I dump on it. Its very weird and extremely frustrating.

 

Finding a leak can be tricky because where the water pools can be deceiving since it's simply seeking the lowest obtainable point in the cab. It may or may not be coming from that area.

But you must have a gasket related issue around a door, window, body panels or brake light. Double check your silicone gasket seal around the 3rd brake light for that can indeed take in a tremendous amount of water in a heavy downpour if not 100% sealed.

Given the amount of water, there should be some telltale signs on some components working up from the floor boards. Closely inspect the area under the dash for streaks of dirt running along wires, etc.

Ditto for your door gaskets. Make sure that your drain holes on the underside of the doors are open and clear of dirt/debris. Closely inspect the door gaskets for cracks or missing chunks of material. Looks for lines, streaks of rust colored dirt anywhere within the cab working up from the floor boards.

Take a high powered flashlight and look inside of the exterior cowl (air intake area just behind the hood) and see if that area is clogged or shows signs of cracked or missing gasket material between the mating surfaces of the body panels.

Pour water into the cowl and make sure that it drains quickly and freely from the underside of the truck.

Does this water accumulate while you are driving or while it is parked? Water under force (like when you are driving) can push water past a weak or broken gasket that upon a quick inspection make look sealed.

 

It is definitely coming in from the cowl. I dumped countless gallons of water into the cowl and the affected area was wet.. like I said, since resealing the back glass and brake light there is no water accumulating in the cab, it is just the a pillar getting damp.

 

A few years ago, if I remember correctly, I went in through an access plate in the cowl to clean leaves and debris out that can plug up, and overflow?