I found the leak points.

After I bought my car I found that the left and right front floors got wet when the car was rained on. I replace all the old rotten door gaskets with a set of new gaskets made specifically for a Falcon Hardtop. When I washed the car I was disappointed to find that the car still leaked. The next time I washed the car I put duct tape over all the window seams. The car still leaked. I got a magnetic cowl cover. The car still leaked. Where was the water coming from?

Today, I tried watching from underneath while my wife poured a cup of water onto the drip rail. While pouring water at one location, it looked like water was leaking down and coming out through the edge of the ceiling on the forward inboard side of the roof rail window seal. The water then ran down the inside of the windshield post trim and dripped out to run along the inside front edge of the door gasket to the floor. I tightly stuffed two rolled up pieces of Saran wrap into the right and left drip rails about two inches back from the windshield and above the leak point (see photo) and then washed the car.

Attachment 3674

Success! The amount of water leaking into the car from both the right and left sided looked like it was reduced by 95%. Why is it leaking there on both sides of the car? I have no idea. Maybe there are two rail pieces that form a joint at that curve point and they were originally sealed with body putty that has long since dried out (my theory). I will squirt some black silicone caulk into the roof rail at those two spots that should seal the leaks.

Hmmm, I should give that a look. I've got some water coming in on the drivers side. It sometimes pools up by where the windshield gasket meets the dash. It will run down and drip all the way down to the floor mats.

I've got a cowl cover, new window gasket, but the sealer in the drip rail is all dried and starting to break up. Time to get out the hose for a test.

My 62 has different door rail design that is not integrated with the windshield rail/seal which appears to be the case with your 63 Futura. But I have a puddle on the passenger floor after the rains, and appears to have rust stains on my headliner. I have not yet started my investigation hoping to get some guidance first from this forum. Door and trunk seals have been recently replaced, so I am assuming that degraded seals in both windshield and rear window are culprit. Any guidance is much appreciated.

Attachment 4517

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ehooter

My 62 has different door rail design that is not integrated with the windshield rail/seal which appears to be the case with your 63 Futura. But I have a puddle on the passenger floor after the rains, and appears to have rust stains on my headliner. I have not yet started my investigation hoping to get some guidance first from this forum. Door and trunk seals have been recently replaced, so I am assuming that degraded seals in both windshield and rear window are culprit. Any guidance is much appreciated.

Attachment 4517

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I found out some information on this problem just this past weekend while at a car show. I described my leaking windshield problem to Chuck Beason, a former President of the Suncoast Falcons. He is a fountain of information and an all around great guy. Chuck explained that the top corner windshield trim piece is supposed to have sealant ("dumdum") behind it that bridges the gap between the windshield gasket and drip rail. This picture from e-bay shows the corner trim piece of a 1963-1965 Falcon Hardtop.

Attachment 4522

(I see what you mean about your sedan having a different drip rail configuration, so unfortunately this may not be of any help to you. Chuck also said that the original windshield gaskets were not one piece and had joints in the corners. As the gasket rubber got old the joints would get wider and be a path for leaks. Take a close look at your windshield gasket and see if it has any cracks or gaps.)

Chuck said water will leak down the side post from the corner trim location if that corner piece is not re-sealed after replacing a windshield. A previous owner had removed the windshield in my car to replace the headliner and installed a new windshield gasket, but it leaks at precisely the location that Chuck described. Chuck said that the corner trim piece has two screws on its trailing edge and that it has wrap-around lips on its edges. This picture shows the screw holes and wrap-around edges:

Attachment 4523

Chuck said that you cannot pry the piece off or you will bend the edges. He said that you have to wiggle it and “finagle” it off. That was good news because it means that the leaks are not coming from the windshield gasket and I can correct the problem relatively easily and without having to remove the windshield.

I followed Chuck Beason's advice on how to fix the leaks and removed the upper left corner trim of the windshield. It was kind of a pain to remove. I removed two screws on the back side and the levered up from the trailing side (back side) and then wiggled and pushed it forward and up.
Attachment 4593

It was kind of globby looking behind there. There were at least three holes in the caulking that were immediately visible. See in the center of the photo. The shiny black caulk in the upper right of the photo is what I added maybe six months back where I squirted it in from above the trim in a well meaning but misguided and failed attempt to stop the leak.
Attachment 4594

This angle shows a couple of holes that are the biggest. This is probably the area where the leaks have been coming from:
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Here is a close up of the big hole:
Attachment 4598

From this angle you can see two big holes:
Attachment 4599

I will clean it off, seal the holes with fresh caulk, and re-attach the corner trim piece. I hope that the trim is not too much of a devil to put back in place. Then I will repeat the process on the other side.

How old is the windshield seal? You might consider pulling the glass and cleaning all the sealant off all the way around. There may be more to this than you can see right now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pbrown

How old is the windshield seal? You might consider pulling the glass and cleaning all the sealant off all the way around. There may be more to this than you can see right now.

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Hello, Pat.

The previous owner had replaced the headliner, and that requires the removal of the windshield and back window. I am pretty sure that both the windshield and back window gaskets were replaced at that time. I can press my thumb nail into the rubber of the windshield gasket, which indicates that it is not old and hard, There are no visible cracks in either the windshield or back window gasket.

I pumped silicone caulk into the big hole on the left side until it came out on the other side:
Attachment 4602

I took off the right side trim and saw two holes at the corner of the windshield gasket, top and bottom.
Attachment 4603

I pumped silicone caulk into the lower hole on the right side until it came out the hole on top.
Attachment 4604

Then I re-installed the trim on the left. I pushed it onto the bottom, them pushed it onto the top windshield trim, and then onto the drip rail and secured it with the two screws:
Attachment 4605

Then I re-attached the right trim:
Attachment 4606

Yea! I will wash the car tomorrow and see if this corrected the leaks.

I am doing my happy dance: :banana:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ew1usnr

Yea! I will wash the car tomorrow and see if this corrected the leaks.

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I did my happy dance too soon. Water still leaked around the doors when I washed the car.

I took the top corner windshield trim pieces off again today and ran a bead of silicone caulk horizontal all the way across the top of the left and right windshield posts. The idea is that if I can stop water from running down the posts behind the outside trim then it will not run into the car from behind the door gaskets.

More caulk on left side:
Attachment 4663

Trim re-attached. I will push on the trim pieces some tomorrow to get the raised ridge in the middle to line up better. I didn't notice that it was off until I looked at this picture.
Attachment 4666

More caulk on right side:
Attachment 4664

Trim back on:
Attachment 4665

It rained all day here today. I did the left side in the garage but needed to back it out into the driveway to do the right side. I waited until 4:00 for the rain to stop and then backed into the driveway. It was not raining, but the trees were dripping on me. I was able to finish it quickly due to my now becoming rather practiced at this procedure.

I will spread out some newspapers on the floor the next time I wash the car (maybe tomorrow if it isn't raining) and see if the extra caulk has taken care of (or maybe reduced) the leak problem.

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