Hood cowl engine compartment water seal questions

The foam between the two plastic cowl pieces is intended to seal the gap between the two pieces. That gap is typically where water may seep onto the valve cover. The foam is present on all 2G.

In your case, with a relatively new Prius, I would not worry about trying to add more sealant over the foam unless you know you have a problem with water dripping onto the valve cover.

Regarding the foam gap on the driver's side of the hood, I wouldn't worry about it as I do not think the amount of water that might enter is enough to cause trouble.

 

I dug into my own cowl this afternoon, and this is what I found:
http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/priwater/89wetcowl.jpg
Totally plugged up, not draining until I poked through the ook
with a screwdriver. Once the water ran out I continued disassembly
and wiped all the goo out of there with a wet rag. It was a
swamp. Sort of like wiping your nice person when you're having one of
THOSE days. With a sprinkling of stray acorns from my li'l
rodent friends who like to party in the Prius. Nonetheless,
this can easily be a yearly ceremony a little after "green car"
season arrives, i.e. there's a thick coating of pollen all over
everything. It accumulates and builds its own blockage in the
drain holes.
.
I've noticed that the drain holes in the outer firewall piece are
quite a bit larger in later model-year cars. Someone learned.
.
With all that out of the way, it was time to pull the ignitors
and inspect the plug wells again, and it was good thing I did.
#1 definitely had evidence of rust down at the bottom, and #2
less so; the others were clean. Never seen that before, but then
again it's possible that my own spring engine-cleaning ritual put
it there rather than any cowl leakage. A bit of careful plug
removal and cleaning later, all spanky on all four and back
together with a fresh dose of anti-seize on the threads. This
was after a little shy of 40,000 miles since the plug change,
and I hadn't looked at them since.
.
I don't think the rubber seals around the ignitor modules are
quite what they could be in terms of sealing, especially if any
water lands in the valve cover and then *sits* there. So part
of the engine-washing deal will have to be covering the top
with plastic or something first and then go at it. Looks like
taking a run on the road after washing doesn't vaporize all
the water out of there.
.
_H*

 

Yes. Note the the one bolt holding each igniter is positioned on the back end of the valve cover, at a low point. The bolt doesn't provide much help for the seal.

A possible DIY mod for owners who are having trouble with water entering the spark plug wells might be to put a thin ring of black urethane sealant on the bottom of each seal where it contacts the valve cover.

 

I have water coming down onto my valve cover. Coil number 1 (closest to washer fluid tank) had the classic rust residue signs that always seem to affect cyl 1 more than cyl 4. So I'm going to try to seal up the cowl a bit to eliminate water from dripping onto the valve cover.

Any suggestions on what I need to do to prevent water from continuing to drip onto my valve cover (and then into the spark plug holes, esp cyl 1)? Thanks!

 

Yes buy a new gasket. It comes in 2 pieces. There was a tsb on it a hundred years ago..

Tray may be clogged.
Get a garden hose and with controlled water flow fill up tray at the bottom of the windshield. You should see water pouring out strongly behind both front wheels thats the tray water vent area. If no powerful water there the bottom of the tray vents are clogged with leaves and debris.

I would just remove that tray and check given the age of your car especially if it lives outside. It will be nasty in there.

Who knows where you live could be in the desert and no leaves.

And btw your 12 volt battery in the trunk is probably sitting in water too. G2's have bad hatch area leaks.

 

Thank you, You're always full of good Gen 2 knowledge. I will do that test, I think you're right that the drains probably are clogged.

There were some random links about the rear hatch water leak, do you possibly have a link to a quality link in Prius chat where there's some good discussion and remedy of the issue by chance?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

There’s so many posts about the very well known cracks in the roof seams.

use the. Search forums link up top and search

hatch leak

btw removing the windshield is pretty easy just take the wipers off and a few bolts comes right off. There’s a couple of gaskets to replace go online too

Olathe Toyota Look up in the parts section all the gaskets you will need to when you dissemble that area. That’s what I did.