Jeep TJ with Water on the Passenger Side

I recently got into my Jeep TJ (Wranger) after a rainstorm and found that I had about 3 inches of water on the floor on the passenger's side of the car!

I Googled and found that this is a common problem, but couldn't find anyone with a detailed description of the fix. There are a lot of generic suggestions that explain where the problem comes from, but that's about it. Simply put, the problem happens because water doesn't drain from under the hood properly. Actually, the water doesn't drain from under the cowl. The cowl is the cover that houses the wiper motor between the windshield and the hood.

I think the lack of online information for the fix is due to the fact that anyone faced with this problem who goes looking to fix it on their own, probably knows enough about DIY Jeep repair to figure this out for themselves. Not me though!

I know nothing about fixing cars - at all. But, I figured something like a water leak wouldn't be a mechanical problem. I'm otherwise pretty handy and decided it was about time to take something apart on my Jeep other than the hardtop.

This fix is dead easy. I had no idea what I was doing and it took me about an hour to figure out what to do, how to fix it and put it all back together (without losing any screws nonetheless)!

Here we go... Here's how to fix a water leak on the passenger side of a Jeep Wrangler. I did this on a 2001 model.

Step 1 - Remove the windshield wipers

Lift the wipers up and then the pin below them will pull down and you can pull the wiper off.

Step 2 - Unscrew the Cowl

There are 5 screws to remove on the top

Then, lift the hood. Lift it right up - rest it against the windshield.

There are two more screws on the cowl to remove... you'll find them near the hood hinges hidden behind the rubber seal.

Step 3 - Remove the cowl.

So, now you can actually remove the cowl. It lifts up with relative ease. Don't force it - you may have missed a screw if it won't lift right up.

In the photo below you can see, I still have a puddle of water in there. Below the grill that is on the cowl you'll find a drain. The problem is that that drain gets plugged with gunk. Then, the water level rises above the intake for the air system (you can see the back plastic part on the left). In my case, I could actually see a water line where the water had risen to from the recent rain.

Step 4 - Remove the drain

The photo below shows the black plastic part that you have to remove.

If you reach in, grab it and pull it, it should release. You might have to push it down from above first. However, before this part will release entirely, there is one nut to remove...

The photo below is pointing to the one nut you have to remove to release the drain. Removing this nut is the most difficult part of this whole process because it's hard to access. Once you have this nut removed, stick your hand back down there and wiggle the drain off the bolt.

You can then go around to the other side of the car, grab the drain and pull it out.

Step 5 - Clean the drain

The drain will probably be stuffed with crap. Empty it, clean it and then put everything back together. Putting this back together just involves reversing these steps. Below is the collection of gunk that was stuffed in my drain.