My '98 XJ has a water fall coming in between the glovebox,and the kick panel. It was there before the windsheild was replaced about five years ago. It just seems to get worse every spring. It does make a lot of popping noises over there in the cold of winter. I was just wondering if anyone had this problem, before I start tearing into body panels, and fender on that side.

 

Check ur heater core it can leak near there

 

myself and a friend noticed the same thing on ours

turns out that both our seals around the antenna was rotted away, letting water in.
he's replaced his and hasnt had a problem since, i have yet to do mine

 

It should stop raining here tomorrow. I will start looking at it then. It does not leak near the firewall. If you had your leg there, it would soak your shin. I am going to pull off the cowl grill first, look in there. Is that antena gromet in that area of the body. It could be following the wire in. It leaks driving or stopped.

 

Now that you said it DOC, the radio is the one thing that I changed about a week before it started leaking bad. The old Sony that I put in back in '03 finally stopped working. You do have to move that wire around quite a bit to get it in. Thanks

 

We leased a new late 90's Cherokee (maybe 97) that developed a leak under the dash on the passenger side. Turned out to be problem with the firewall. Dealer had to take apart dash and "reseal" the firewall. Not sure on the specifics. It was 10+ years ago and it was a lease so I wasn't as pissed off as I would have been if I bought the car.
Kevin

 

Yeah, apparently the firewall has a few leak issues.

From my understanding both can be caused by a back up of water (blockage) at the wiper cowl (for what ever reason - im thinking bad window seals and it leaks at the top of the dash are and just runs down)
And the other from where wires come in, the rubber gaskets/grommets or w/e start to crack and let stuff come in.

Another good point is check that heater core, if it leaks there is no telling what kind of problems you might have. But if it is leaking alot of times you will notice other problems as well as a strange odor.

 

This is an older thread that I started about a leak on my wifes 01. Unfortunately I have not done anything about it yet so there is no answer for you yet. But still something to look into as a cause.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/wat...ng-cowl-34969/

 

Yea I just noticed the same problem its been raining here a lot in ky I didn't drive my jeep at all yesterday and went to get somthing out of the glove box and everything was soaked and the passenger floor was soaked also yet my head liner is dry what gives can't really seem to track it down I guess ill check the antenna gromment post what u find leaking if u can.....

 

Ha, I always find water in random places around that area. In the glove box. On the floor. In the little shelf like cubby. Its gotta either be the antenna seal, or more likely in my case, the upper windshield seal.

I don't care about mine, though. I've heard some of the fixes can be a pain.

I've considered drilling some extra drain holes in a few spots.

 

I went to the garage this morning, to a dead battery. The kick panel, and the fuse block under it were soaked from my trip to Allentown yesterday. It was really a water fall in that hard rain we had. It turned out to be the windshield. I took the cowl off this morning, and put the garden hose in there. There was no leak there. I sprayed water behind the inner fender, still no leak. Grommets look good. Put a small spray on the windshield, and found the leak on the bottom right. It is about 3" from the corner. Look like the gasket was never installed right from when it was done. The adhesive must have been holding it all this time. I called my cousin who owns a glass shop in the Peoples Republic of Jersey, he said he'll put a new windshield in it for $120, because we are related. Told him to order one for next week. The place that originally put it in said they would have fixed it if I had the receipt. That was 7 years ago. Of course I don't have it.