^ my thoughts exactly. Looks like there is no way around it.

 

I actually know of some on here who installed an aftermarket heater instead of going thru the hassle of pulling the dash for a heater core...

 

I'm bumping my thread for a couple pictures. After finally getting around to swapping the heater core I finally got to put eyes on the leak issue I originally started this thread about. Coincidentally while I had the dash board and HVAC box out of the truck it started to rain, so I climbed in my interior-less XJ and waited. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes I saw where the water was coming from. It's the bottom of the foam seal surrounding the blower motor.


Now I've seen guys RTV their blower motors in but that's retarded and clearly not the issue. IF you've got water on your passenger floor board, I'll almost guarantee this is your issue.

Bottom line, you need the $60 foam seal kit that ONLY Mopar sells. You're gonna have to pull your HVAC box to install it too.

Here is the opening for the blower motor (viewed from inside the truck with HVAC box removed). Notice the lowest corner, THAT'S where it comes in.



Here is the dead seal on my HVAC box. Look close and you can see the water trail marks.



This is the damage is causes if left unfixed. All of the mating under my carpet was soaked.





Here is the $60 Mopar kit. Go buy it and set you a day to get in there and fix it. Notice how much thicker the new foam looks as compared to the compressed dry rotted foam I had in there. I drove the truck this morning, still raining this morning, and not a drop of water made it inside.





Also, not meaning to call you out, but DO NOT do this. You will overheat your truck. The best solution is to cap each line separately and leave them sitting in the bay. I could not keep my truck from over heating when I connected them together.

 

good write-up. good pics.

 

Thanks! I hate leaving a thread open ended.

 

DId you remove the heater box just to replace the seals?

 

no, it coincided with a heater core replacement. My original plan was to just make my own seals from some adhesive backed foam but realized when the worn seals were the reason water got in I better just buy the correct parts from Chrysler.

I had assumed the water must be coming in from my windshield or something. I had checked the cowl already and it was clean.

 

Ok, I was gonna say that would be alot of work. I just did mine and had to pull it back out cuz the hot/cold flap was stck. Now i have a small gap between the foam and firewall. It worked the first time. I think somethin is jsut tweaked. either way im not taking it out again. Ill just throw more foam at it and maybe some rtv.

 

s14unimog,

Great thread, did you have the jeep part numbers for those foam gaskets?

Mine is leaking and i used some of the clear flex seal for now to stop the leak until I can plan to pull the dash and replace them. Guess while im in there I will do the heater core to be on the safe side.

What write up did you use on removing the dash?

I lightly sanded my floor pan and used some POR15 paint, then top coated with lizard skin spray on insulation as I plan to remove the padding from behind the carpet.