Good Afternoon Forum,
Since new (12 years ago) there has been a slight water leak on the passenger side of my Defender 90. It drips slowly from the bottom of the valence under the glove compartment and thence onto the floor. It only does this in very heavy rain. The vehicle does not have to be moving as the water still gets in if the vehicle is parked. It's not a huge amount of water - but irritatingly noticeable. I think it is finding its way in from the engine compartment side via a seal (?) between the heater fan and the engine bulkhead. (My impression after a cursory look.) I think it drips down from the bonnet gutter, down the back of the bulkhead and then in past a seal that doesn't quite do the business. It looks like it will be a bit of a pain to get at.
Has anyone else suffered a similar leak? If "yes" was it a quick fix?
(In an idle moment I thought something as simple as fitting a second internal gutter above the fan unit might work - but life rarely is that kind.)

Thanks in advance for any replies or tips.

Well done in not having a driver side leak.
Water hose, torch and helper is the way I go about looking for a leak.
I just make sure it can drain out.

I've just overcome the same problem. To the point it annoyed me so much that I resprayed the whole thing and chucked my wallet at it in anger.

I found with my leak it was from the perished foam gaskets in the ventilation flaps. To the point that the leak had caused it to rust in one corner and all the water from the ledge was pouring through it. After a lot of prep work and a respray it seems to have solved my problem.

Other ways water ingress can occur is from the foam gasket between the bulkhead and windscreen, at the top of the windscreen where it meets the roof or where the water runs off the ledge on to the windscreen hinges.

I would get it looked at, there should leak from both sides.

I've never owned a Defender that didn't leak when parked. No such problems on me F2...

Lej said:

it annoyed me so much that I resprayed the whole thing and chucked my wallet at it in anger.<snip>.

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