Hi all,

I was about to remove my windshield cowl grill to clean out the debris that always gets in there. The problem is that the aft edge of the grill has never sat on the glass so that larch needles and little ash leaves from trees around my driveway get in there (I know because I've had to clean it out before.)

Has anyone any experience with adding some sort of weather strip so that it seals?
Perhaps I have a defective grill that should be in contact with the glass?

 

Mine is the same so either the way they are supposed to be. or they are both defective.
Like you I just clean it out couple of times a year or whenever I have the air compressor out.

 

It should sit against the glass. If it doesn't, then there could be a few things that have happened over the life of the vehicle...

• The rubber molding at the back of the grill has dried out & no longer is flexible so it doesn't move out to meet the glass.
• The rubber molding is missing at the back of the grill or has broken off shorter than original.
• The grill is not sitting down as far as intended.
• The glass has been replaced and there is not an appropriate amount of urethane sealant at the bottom as was originally installed from the factory.
• Probably a few more reasons can't think of...

It has been a long time since I have had one of these off, but is there a way to slot the retaining holes to possibly push it back further and maybe use nut-certs or the threaded clips in the mounting locations so you can tighten it down in location instead of the push-pins I seem to remember it being held in with?

I can say that I know the one on my old 2000 Bravada sat flush against the windshield and I did have to clean pine needles out of the cowl gutter a few times when I had it.

 

Thanks for the useful thoughts. The windshield has been replaced at least once so that could be the origin of the problem.

But no matter the reason, I now know that there should be no gap.

I haven't taken the grill off for a while but I think the fore-aft positioning is limited by the holes fore the wiper blade shafts.

 

Looks like it should sit against the glass.

Here is a pic of mine, mine has pieces removed too but here is a really good view.

 

So I added some weather stripping today and it is almost all sealed up. there is a short length under the driver's side wiper that you could maybe get a credit car through. But while sitting the wiper will keep almost all of the needles away so I'm going to leave it.

To reattach the grill I searched around the auto-parts and hardware stores to try to find the push rivets I had found that were installed that were easy to get out. They had a Torx head that meant that the head of the driver would not slip as easily as it would with a Phillips. I had to buy them as part of an assortment. The size of the driver is a T20. You can see the size of the weather stripping I used and the Dorman part number for the push rivet retainers in the pictures. The ones I used were the longer ones with the slightly smaller diameters.

I am optimistic that this fix will keep those nasty little larch needles and ash leaves out of my HVAC system. When I cleaned it out I probably got about two large handfuls of the needles and leaves. And that was since two years ago when I last cleaned it out.

If I were to redo it, I think I'd go for the 3/8" thick weather strip but I think this will be a vast improvement over before.

 

Yours looks like mine.

 

To add another one, my blazer looks the same, and this is my parents jimmy... I like how its sealed there tho... I'm thinking of doing the same, but maybe with a rubber like the use on the zr2 flares... will post in my thread if i do.