Bad leak - is this hole normal?!?

[PeteR]

Hi,
I've got a bad leak in the old girl. When it rains heavily I get water pouring in from above the top hinge of the driver's door.  
I did some contortions and groping resulting in the discovery of a hole which appears to be in the top of the Shroud Lower Panel. You can see some pics of it at
www.reynolds-valveart.com.au/fc.html
The 4th pic shows where the water flows out forming a lake under my feet  
Is this hole meant to be there? I want to fill it with something (silicone or expanding foam) as a temporary measure until I get the rust/bog in the guard fixed.
Thanks for any advice,
Pete

[craiga]

Hi Pete,

I reckon its got a rust hole in the upper inner guard - where the top of the front guard sits on the cowl. This is a common area for them to rust and the outside may have been repaired without pulling the guard off.

To pull a guard off and repair it properly is pretty straightforward, and well advised,l because its only going to get worse.

Hope it all goes OK.

Cheers,

Craig.

[mcl1959]

Notwithstanding the possible rust area which Craig has mentioned, the hole shown is where the water is probably coming from as this hole should have a bolt with a rubber backed washer in it !!!!!!!!
The bolt holds the guard on at the top and was probably left out by the person who fitted the guard because it is difficult to fit.
You need a 3/8 th drive socket with an extension to get past the door hinge and you may have to loosen the other screws in the guard if the bolt will not go in because the holes are not lined up properly.

Without a bolt in this hole you have a direct water passage from the inside of the car to the inner guard area at the top.  Everytime it rains - water goes down behind the mudguard and straight into the car.
Check the other side as well - there may not be a bolt in that side either.
Ken

[PeteR]

Thanks Fellas

I read Craig's reply earlier today and resigned myself to removing the guard pretty soon. I grabbed the service manual and had look at which bolts had to come out. It said to remove the 3 concealed bolts within the cowl pillar and I could only find 2.....now I know where the 3rd one is!!!
It looks to me as if the captive nut or thread is no longer there, probably replaced by the bog along with that bit of guard  :-/  As a temporary patch I'll try some kind of sealer, eventually it'll get fixed properly (along with the rust in one rear door and a ding in the other) I need to attend to the motor first - sounds like there's an old holden employee in there trying to find his way out with shifter  

Thanks again, your help is much appreciated!

Pete.

[nicko]

what ever u do don't use silicon as it promotes rust

[PeteR]

To finish,

I filled the hole (with that messy expanding foam stuff) but still the water got in so I took the Old Girl around to the panel shop. There was a few rust holes as well as that bolt hole, but also a hole up under the chrome windscreen trim. The windscreen hasn't been sealed and water tends to bead in the corners, so I've got some mastic for that...

The driver's door appears to be sitting low - it's not sealing against the rubbers at the top and letting in water as well. I'll try loosening the door/hinge mounts and lifting it a bit (they're not countersunk like the hinge/body mounts are they? )

It's funny how you find these faults with your bus only after some decent rain!

Thanks to everyone again...

Pete