Hood Hinge Deflectors

[Matt Man]

I am having a issue with my 81 k10, the kick panels still leak. I replaced the gasket(s) in the kick panels, and the drivers side still leaks. The passenger side leaks, but it is very slow. I have done research on where these cabs like to leak, I came upon a thread on another forum about the hood hinge deflectors.
I can't find any pictures of these, I know LMC sells them, but will they help my problem?

[andrewmp6]

Are you sure its not from the windshield or somewhere higher up?

[Matt Man]

Its not from the windshield, its brand new as well as the gasket. On the drivers side water comes through from the lowest bolt of the kick panel. Its frustrating that its on the drivers side with the E-brake assembly. Anybody have pictures of their hood hinge deflectors?

[Wgesnerjr]

By design the cowl area will route water to each side and down to the drain holes. After I first got my truck home, I flushed the area with a garden hose pushed down from the wiper transmission area. It started to fill up the lower area until I got under and started to clear the drain hole. Once it got going, a ton of stuff flushed out.

My buddy had a 76 non a/c truck that had a vent in the drivers kick panel. Once the vent is removed, we cleaned his out by hand. Mine is an 85 a/c truck, so the drivers side kick panel area is all steel, no vent hole, so I used the garden hose trick.

My point is that the leak may not be a leak, but back up in the natural drain path. You could try cleaning the drain holes behind the lower fender sections to be sure there is not a clog.

[tucsonjwt]

I bought the hood hinge deflectors from LMC and they are extremely cheaply made - about 1/2 the thickness of the OEM deflectors. After installation, they had no effect on the leaking inside my truck.

I know that my windshield is not leaking. I suspect that the cowl area below the cowl grille has issues, but I am not yet ready to take the wiper arms, cowl screen, cowl grille, etc. apart and look for trouble.

I would appreciate someone posting a picture of the actual drain holes in the fender area - I have never actually seen them.

[Wgesnerjr]

Well, lucky enough that the fender is off my truck right now. The drain holes are behind the lower rear part of front fenders. If you remove the bottom fender bolts and half of the fenderwell bolts, you may be able to pull the fender away enough to see up there. Mine were completely clogged with debris. Please ignore the fuel pump. It was there to test fire the LS engine.

[Matt Man]

when I put the new motor in the front clip was off, so those areas are clean of debris. I guess I just need to pull the driver side vent assembly AGAIN and just silicone the crap out of it and cross my fingers.

[Oldriginal86]

I'm going to replace the inner fenders this weekend. My question is can I reach that area to clean debris without loosening or removing the fender? I too have water dripping on my left foot when it rains.

[Matt Man]

If you take the splash shields off that attach to the back of the inner fender, you can reach the area pretty easily.

[motornut]

blue 87 with AC
red 79 non AC