Water leak

New member signing up to look for answers. My family has been virtually Chrysler exclusive since WWII. Dad's 87 Ram was getting pretty rough so I pushed him to get something new (largely because I have to work on the thing and I don't have time for it anymore). Well he decides to buy a new Dakota on principle and I got involved. I knew that he would like the extended cab based on the amount of junk that he stuffs behind the seat. Naturally I expected him to get a truck with at least 1 rear door. That's when I learned the the 2004 Dakota doesn't even OFFER a 3rd rear door.

I convinced dad to take a ride with me to the Chevy dealer where he could see an S-10. No more S-10s, though, so we looked at a Colorado. As expected he really like the extended cab and the dual rear doors were standard. The salesman searched for a truck having the equipment he wanted so dad ended up with a dark red metallic one, Z85 4x4, base, bigger engine, auto trans, and a few other things.

Now dad is upset becasue he has a water leak that soaks the carpet. After some frustrating (unsuccessful) searching we got serious and removed the seats and carpeting. At that point it became obvious that the water was trickling down the firewall behind the accelerator pedal area. Rolling up the firewall foam sheet in that area revealed that water was trickling out the joint where a thick reinforcement is spot welded to the thinner firewall.

Then we removed the wiper arms and wiper motor/linkage to look for defects in the plenum area and here is where it gets weird. On this truck it seems that NO sealant was used between the plenum floor and the cowl front. When you pour water into the plenum it does run to either side and out drains in the fenders but water also runs out the front of the plenum. There's some kind of fibre mat across the whole firewall, though, so you can't see exactly what's happening. The mat does get saturated with water.

So has anyone heard of other Colorado pickups with a cowl leak? Right now I'm the bad guy for pointing dad to a Chevy.

Just get some silicone caulk and run it along where the water leaks.

New member signing up to look for answers. My family has been virtually Chrysler exclusive since WWII. Dad's 87 Ram was getting pretty rough so I pushed him to get something new (largely because I have to work on the thing and I don't have time for it anymore). Well he decides to buy a new Dakota on principle and I got involved. I knew that he would like the extended cab based on the amount of junk that he stuffs behind the seat. Naturally I expected him to get a truck with at least 1 rear door. That's when I learned the the 2004 Dakota doesn't even OFFER a 3rd rear door.

I convinced dad to take a ride with me to the Chevy dealer where he could see an S-10. No more S-10s, though, so we looked at a Colorado. As expected he really like the extended cab and the dual rear doors were standard. The salesman searched for a truck having the equipment he wanted so dad ended up with a dark red metallic one, Z85 4x4, base, bigger engine, auto trans, and a few other things.

Now dad is upset becasue he has a water leak that soaks the carpet. After some frustrating (unsuccessful) searching we got serious and removed the seats and carpeting. At that point it became obvious that the water was trickling down the firewall behind the accelerator pedal area. Rolling up the firewall foam sheet in that area revealed that water was trickling out the joint where a thick reinforcement is spot welded to the thinner firewall.

Then we removed the wiper arms and wiper motor/linkage to look for defects in the plenum area and here is where it gets weird. On this truck it seems that NO sealant was used between the plenum floor and the cowl front. When you pour water into the plenum it does run to either side and out drains in the fenders but water also runs out the front of the plenum. There's some kind of fibre mat across the whole firewall, though, so you can't see exactly what's happening. The mat does get saturated with water.

So has anyone heard of other Colorado pickups with a cowl leak? Right now I'm the bad guy for pointing dad to a Chevy.
I get water under the passeger side only when I put the rubber floor mat down. The truck is like a steam bath on the inside. The CC runs rightunder the passenger side...I took all the carpet out also and could not find a leak but when I put the floor mat down the water comes back.

I believe there was a TSB sent to the dealers about this deal. The early Colorados were not being sealed in this area and many of them leaked. You could/should take it to the dealer, and get nasty if necessary, to get it fixed and the carpet and padding replaced under warranty. It sure takes out the new car smell in a hurry. A search on www.edmunds.com in the Colorado forum turns up many complaints on this.

Definately, Take it back to get it fixed. There's no reason you should have to do all that trouble shooting. Insist on new carpet. Tell them you have a allergy to mold. hehehe. I really do. Had a similar problem with my s-10 in 97. It was a hassle, but they fixed everything and it was a great truck until the 70's stationwagon laid me out.

yah the colorados have a leaking problem near the back window too, check your head liner for wet spots, gm will fix this under warrenty.