Surfer69

My car saw it's first heavy rain since I've owned it now about 9 months. Came out from work and carpet was wet in the back. Didn't leak from top seal so it must have been through back vents I'm guessing.

Can anyone tell me some tricks to sealing those vents since mine seem to be broken in the open position. Even closed they look like there is no place for water to exit? Is there any other locations to worry about? THX

jerryp58

Sorry, I don't know about the vents, but I had a rear window leak that would get the back carpet & comparments wet.

hdpete98

You should not be getting water inside with the vents open. The leak is probably at the drain tubes on each side. They are rubber hoses that get old and crack. the drain to the top of the rear wheel well. My bet is this is where the water is coming in.

Burgundy 69

Hi.

From what you say, it sounds as though the rubber plenum drain tubes are shot. If they are original (probably are), they are no doubt brittle and cracked like mine were. Replacement is actually pretty easy (I did mine this summer when my interior was ripped out). Remove the rear window storage rack and you will see the Astroventilation vent tray. Follow the trays out to the wheel wells and you will see there is a rubber tube that drains water away from the vent and dumps it outside of the car. As I mentioned, all of my interior trim was out when I replaced my drains, but I suspect you will be able to access them without removing the trim. The tubes have a rubber flange that was originally riveted (I think) to the wheel well on the ouside and a single hose clamp which secures the tube to the vent drain.

Replacement tubes were <$10 each I think. Just be sure to clean the metal neck where the tubes attach to the vent before installing new drains. My drains disintegrated when I remved them and left residue which I needed to sand away. Good luck


Mark

vettfixr

Do you have a luggage rack? If you do, the wellnuts closest to the back window protrude into the cockpit area. If they are dried out or not tight enough to expand properly they will leak water into the back. The other mounts go through the fiberglass above the gas tank area so if they leak it's no big deal right away but might cause a rust problem on the tank over time.

tshort

You must be missing the drain tubes. There are 2 drain tubes that attach to the drains from the inside and then attach to a drain above the wheel wells.

Edit
To add to the post above, you will need to take the drains off that are inside the wheel well to pull the drain tubes out. They are rivited so you'll need to drill them out. You will also need to take the rear tires off to gain access to this area.


[Modified by tshort, 11:41 AM 12/17/2002]

HDIronman

Check the weather stripping around the rear deck lid, and make sure the drain holes at the corners of the ledge are not plugged.

jac1502

I'm having the same problem in my 81, any thought on it.

Randy 71

Surfer69, Both of my drain tubes were dry rotted. I had mine fixed in about 30 minutes. No trim needs to come off. My total cost was FREE. My son had a bicycle tube in the garage (20 inch). I cut it to lenght, doubled one end that I stretched over the metel drain tube and slid the rest out the drain outlet that is inside the rear wheel wells. Worked perfect for the last 2 years. Hope this helps.

Randy

Surfer69

OK, excellent suggestions. I dont have luggage rack so pretty sure I'm missing drain tubes or they're shot. I will investigate and post back. (still raining....)

Forgot to say rear seal is tight, no problems there.


[Modified by Surfer69, 8:53 PM 12/17/2002]

Chuck Harmon

Randy,

What a great idea and suggestion! I replaced mine last year with production ones, but yours would have been a perfect repair.

Chuck :cheers:

Bill W

I had a similar problem a few years ago. It turned out that when the previous owner had sanded and prepped the car for painting, he clogged the tubes up. I just poked the stuff out and no problems from then on.

Chuck Gongloff

There are kits available to rebuild the rear astro vents. Dr. Rebuild sells them. It's a nice product. You can remove the entire assembly and replace the foam, etc. The "flappers" work by vacuum. There is a vacuum relay on the passengers side. Make sure it works. A combo rubber/metal pipe runs from that relay under the carpet, over the bulkhead, along the console, and into the heater control. It's that vacuum source that controls the opening and closing of the rear vents. Trace the vacuum pipe and see if you can find a leak. You can probably get it working again. Chuck

jrzvette

Surfer69
Are you sure its raining? My friends in California keep telling me it never rains there.

Surfer69

Well, top is down from April until November so cant complain too much! Today is finally sunny and 65 deg.

Sorry, still haven't had time to check tubes yet.

Surfer69

One of the rubber hoses inside the car had some junk in it and must have been the problem. Both feel and appear in good condition and my vent doors actually do work correctly.

What I dont understand is these drains go out the back next to the fwd end of the gas tank not really into the wheel wells where the tire sits? There is only 1 inch between drain exit and gas tank, almost impossible to get to. Does that sound right?