Escort van plenum leaking?

[fjw]

had a heavy downpour last night and discovered water on the driver's floor near the clutch pedal ... vehicle is a 79 Escort van, is this a common occurence? The windscreen looks fine, no signs of water or obvious leaks. Could it be the plenum chamber, and again, a common place for water leaks?
thanks, fjw

[whooligan]

Heater bowl get gunked up with leaves and stuff and leaks behind the heater. Worse case scenario the heater well has rusted underneath and leaking straight through into the cockpit.
Remove the heater and check for rust.....If its there, the only way to fix it is to remove the heater bowl....lots of spot welds....then repair the rust. Dog of a job, but shouldn't take more than a weekend or two if your keen.

[fjw]

thanks for that - i've already disconnected the heater thinking that was the problem (and still do, perhaps not to the extent it was though - water level dropping in radiator), so will check out the heater bowl when the heater comes out for a pressure test and solder ..
cheers!

[P100 Ute]

dunno about an escort (possibly) but on a corty the fuse box (in engine bay) sits over the accel pedal and when it rains some water can get thru there and drip in and onto your feet.
if sumones takne it out a few times and not put selastic underneath the problem begins.

might be in the same spot on a esky im not sure.

Tim.

[fjw]

thanks Tim, the fusebox on the esky is indeed under the bonnet but on the passenger side ... I'm going to check all firewall grommets and take off the plenum grille this weekend ... and as I have to take out the heater and get it tested, i'll check as per whooligan's advice...
cheers fjw