Interior water leak in 2003 T & C

[Andy5750]

First of all, what's up with the search feature? I did a "search for the search", and got a message that it's been disabled. What gives?

Anyway, after a heavy rain, a fair amount of water gets into both the driver and front passenger floorboard area. When the search was working, I found that a common cause of this was the drain lines located under the plastic cowl cover in front of the windshield getting clogged, so I checked these yesterday. There were a few leaves in this area, and some were actually in the drain tubes, but not really a whole lot. So, I thoroughly cleaned out what was there. I had pulled the insulation on the passenger side out to repair the blower fan, and had left it all open to allow everything to dry out.

We got a light rain overnight, and while there isn't any water on the floorboards, the insulation that is left on the passenger side footwell is pretty wet, and I'm fairly sure it was from the rain we had last night.

Any other ideas how water could be coming in? It can't have anything to do with the AC condensation drain line, because the problem happens only after a rain (so an external source). Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

[jamesslcx]

I would lay down inside of the vehicle with a flashlight while someone saturates in and around the cowl area with water from a garden hose. You should be able to see where the water is coming in.

[Andy5750]

I did what jamesslcx recommended after having pulled back the carpet and insulation. I took a picture, which saved in jpeg format, which this forum states is a valid format type, but when I try to upload it, it tells me jpeg isn't a valid file format. Argh! This forum has been acting up all day - first the search function stopped working, then the entire forum shut down.

So, I'll try to describe the source of the leak. There's a big black plastic box in the passenger side footwell which houses the cabin filter. At the back of this box is a round connector about 3" in diameter that goes into the firewall, and is sealed with a round foam seal. The water is coming from where this connector for the black plastic box meets the firewall in the passenger footwell. It seems that if I could remove this box, apply some sealant on the firewall where it attaches, and get a new foam seal, I might be able to at least minimize the problem. Does this make any sense? Anybody know how to remove this box? Thanks.

Edit: One other detail: When my daughter sprayed water in the front cowl area, the leak, while small, started almost immediately. In other words, it doesn't seem that the mechanism is one where something fills up and starts overflowing - it starts leaking literally seconds after the car is wet.

I've read that interior leaks are very common on 3th gen Chrysler minivans. Are they a common problem on the 4th gens? Thanks.

[indyram]

Although we never had a problem like this on our 2002 grand caravan I did have the problem on my 2002 grand prix. It was a pretty common thing on those grand prixs where the seal around the bottom of the windshield would come loose and allow water in. I would check that. You would have to pull the cowl and should be able to see the weather seal.

-Ryan