Water leak…. Pretty sure I know where it’s coming from.

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

joelmic

Senior Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2019
Posts
547
Reaction score
482
Location
stl mo
Ram Year
2017 Ram 1500 Express Quad Cab 3.6L 4x4 20x9 Wheels
Engine
3.6
Where is that thread that shows how to put new ones in and waterproof them??? I wanna do mine this spring too.

i thought I had the thread "watched" but I guess not.
 
OP
OP
corneileous

corneileous

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Posts
6,851
Reaction score
3,915
Location
Podunkyville, OK
Ram Year
2018 Ram 1500 Limited 4X4
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Well fellas, found my leak. Soaked the crap out of the truck and sure enough, the passenger side vent leaks worse than the driver side one does.

I know it’s kinda hard to tell but look real close at the top three little tabs on the top of the vent in the last two pics…. This is the driver side vent and in the bottom pic, I can pull the top of the vent towards the cab almost a 1/4 of an inch. No wonder the motherhumpers leak.
 

Attachments

  • DC77078F-9528-4B36-BDD2-343DDEE5C42D.jpeg
    DC77078F-9528-4B36-BDD2-343DDEE5C42D.jpeg
    150.3 KB · Views: 29
  • 416B9466-4504-4506-988A-536F2F1F1101.jpeg
    416B9466-4504-4506-988A-536F2F1F1101.jpeg
    174.7 KB · Views: 28
  • 145B5882-42AC-42EB-A5D5-1F58AE5517A9.jpeg
    145B5882-42AC-42EB-A5D5-1F58AE5517A9.jpeg
    120.5 KB · Views: 30
  • 0494C28C-7D62-45F1-84A1-683FBE72E0AC.jpeg
    0494C28C-7D62-45F1-84A1-683FBE72E0AC.jpeg
    185.6 KB · Views: 29

bigdodge

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Posts
523
Reaction score
310
The way I did mine was too force them through from the inside and then pull them in. Some guys were able to drop them in between the bed and cab then reach through the hole from the inside and pull them in.
 
OP
OP
corneileous

corneileous

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Posts
6,851
Reaction score
3,915
Location
Podunkyville, OK
Ram Year
2018 Ram 1500 Limited 4X4
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Well folks, cross your fingers. I got ‘er all fixed and put back together. I ended up using the trick @GTyankee used in his post where he stuck the paint stirring stick between the cab sheet metal and the little upper tabs on the vents to pull them tighter to the cab and then siliconed all the way around the vents so hopefully that seals them. And I did get my rear seat mod done too so hopefully in the unfortunate event my fix job didn’t work, I won’t have to pull the seats out again….lol.
 
OP
OP
corneileous

corneileous

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Posts
6,851
Reaction score
3,915
Location
Podunkyville, OK
Ram Year
2018 Ram 1500 Limited 4X4
Engine
Hemi 5.7

corneileous

I can not claim to have done the paint stick trick
It was just the best image that i could find, that someone else had posted
Awww, it’s cool my dude. I’m just glad you posted it because before I noticed how much slop was in my vents, I didn’t even notice that they had wedged a paint stick up there like that and if I hadn’t of seen it, I probly woulda racked my brain for about an hour trying to find some way to suck them vents in closer and tighter to the cab.
 

Juice17

Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2022
Posts
52
Reaction score
17
Location
Nj
Ram Year
2019
Engine
3.6
My 2019 leaked from the brake light. However your right the headliner was soaked and stained. It's been 3 months since fixed still smells in truck. But no wetness anywhere
 
OP
OP
corneileous

corneileous

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Posts
6,851
Reaction score
3,915
Location
Podunkyville, OK
Ram Year
2018 Ram 1500 Limited 4X4
Engine
Hemi 5.7
My 2019 leaked from the brake light. However your right the headliner was soaked and stained. It's been 3 months since fixed still smells in truck. But no wetness anywhere
You’ll probably just need to get you a steam cleaner and steam clean your carpet because even though I’m not sure if I ever at one point had a water leak that was due to my aftermarket third brake light or not but I do know that at least with my leaky passenger side cab air vent, it got the carpet wet right there on the floor next to the back of the cab and it also soaked that storage pocket that’s right underneath the passenger seat where the factory subwoofer would go so you might check that also to see if that’s soaking wet and if it is, you’ll need the shampoo that really well and then put you some fans in there to air dry that the best you could and then what I did was I took a bottle of Febreze and didn’t really soak the carpet but I sprayed it down really well just to combat the smell.
 

stevenstrong

Junior Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2021
Posts
1
Reaction score
1
Location
Charlotte, NC
Ram Year
2019
Engine
Hemi 5.7
I had a crack develop in the rear cab window seal. It was replaced under the warranty. I heard it was common on the 2019 Rams.
 

jr27236

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2019
Posts
421
Reaction score
318
Location
New York
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7 Hemi
Well folks, cross your fingers. I got ‘er all fixed and put back together. I ended up using the trick @GTyankee used in his post where he stuck the paint stirring stick between the cab sheet metal and the little upper tabs on the vents to pull them tighter to the cab and then siliconed all the way around the vents so hopefully that seals them. And I did get my rear seat mod done too so hopefully in the unfortunate event my fix job didn’t work, I won’t have to pull the seats out again….lol.
So you used your original vents and don't buy new ones? They are literally $10 each I believe when I replaced mine.
 
OP
OP
corneileous

corneileous

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Posts
6,851
Reaction score
3,915
Location
Podunkyville, OK
Ram Year
2018 Ram 1500 Limited 4X4
Engine
Hemi 5.7
So you used your original vents and don't buy new ones? They are literally $10 each I believe when I replaced mine.
Why? I guess I coulda just looked up the part numbers to see whether or not my truck came factory with the updated vents being that my truck is a 2018 model but unless there’s something drastically different between the ones I got(if they are perhaps the older model) and the newer ones, I probly coulda went ahead and replaced them but for what, another 3, 4 years if I’m lucky, of leak-free performance untill the new ones start leaking again?

I guess I shoulda taken more pictures of mine when it took them out but are your new ones still the same basic design with that flimsy angled piece of rubber? Where they tighter when you put them in as opposed to the old ones?
 

Bandit1859

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2021
Posts
170
Reaction score
89
Location
Tennessee
Ram Year
2020
Engine
5.7
Well until I can get the rear seat out I won’t know for sure but being that the headliner is dry and after I watched a video about leaky cab vents, I’m thinking that might be my issue.

I highly doubt it’s my third brake light because I’ve already bought the good rubberized weatherstripping from Lowes and resealed it and as far as the sliding rear window I’ve heard about, I guess that’s a possibility also but I do know that water has been running down the inside of the back of the cab because sure enough, the storage pocket directly under the right rear of the seat is once again soaked and after further investigation, I noticed the carpet next to the back of the cab in the center is soaked. That’s when I saw a drip on the back wall. It did rain pretty good today and just this last weekend, I pulled my Stealthbox out and shampooed that right side pocket and even put a fan back there for almost an hour to dry everything.

Has anybody had this problem with leaky vents? I watched a YouTube video where a guy just took some silicone and ran a bead all the way around the outside perimeter of each vent from the inside of the cab but I’m not sure if that totally cured his leak.
I had my widow replaced it was leaking. Known issue in 2019 models
 

CamperMike

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2019
Posts
418
Reaction score
460
Location
Peoria, IL
Ram Year
2018
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Why? I guess I coulda just looked up the part numbers to see whether or not my truck came factory with the updated vents being that my truck is a 2018 model but unless there’s something drastically different between the ones I got(if they are perhaps the older model) and the newer ones, I probly coulda went ahead and replaced them but for what, another 3, 4 years if I’m lucky, of leak-free performance untill the new ones start leaking again?

I guess I shoulda taken more pictures of mine when it took them out but are your new ones still the same basic design with that flimsy angled piece of rubber? Where they tighter when you put them in as opposed to the old ones?
My 2018 had the old vents. And the issue with mine leaking was because the rubber flaps were sticking open. Pulling it in tight would make no difference. New one had a different rubber flaps design.
 
OP
OP
corneileous

corneileous

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Posts
6,851
Reaction score
3,915
Location
Podunkyville, OK
Ram Year
2018 Ram 1500 Limited 4X4
Engine
Hemi 5.7
My 2018 had the old vents. And the issue with mine leaking was because the rubber flaps were sticking open. Pulling it in tight would make no difference. New one had a different rubber flaps design.
So being that you have a 2018 like I do, what did your old vents look like and what do your new vents look like being that you said they have a different flapper design? Was the gasket on the other side still the same as the old one? Does either your old ones or your new ones look like the ones below? I guess if they did use the older style cab vent on my truck, I could probably try the newer style but that’s just it, my issue was from water coming in between the top of the air vent and the top of the hole that the vents snap into.
 

Attachments

  • 11E21D7F-9CC3-4986-BFE3-4531A5643566.jpeg
    11E21D7F-9CC3-4986-BFE3-4531A5643566.jpeg
    185.6 KB · Views: 9

CamperMike

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2019
Posts
418
Reaction score
460
Location
Peoria, IL
Ram Year
2018
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Iirc old design had 9 individual flaps and the new had 3 (1 per row vs 3). The material for the flaps was different as well. Mine you could see light thru some of the flaps.
 
OP
OP
corneileous

corneileous

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Posts
6,851
Reaction score
3,915
Location
Podunkyville, OK
Ram Year
2018 Ram 1500 Limited 4X4
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Iirc old design had 9 individual flaps and the new had 3 (1 per row vs 3). The material for the flaps was different as well. Mine you could see light thru some of the flaps.
OK so, how do you know the one with the nine individual air flaps is the old-style and the one that just has one flap per row is the new style? I guess I’ll have to do some looking around online on some of the Mopar parts sites but do you remember if the outer gasket material that seals up against the cab was any different from the ones you had?
 

PoMansRam

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2018
Posts
2,089
Reaction score
2,549
Location
East Aurora NY
Ram Year
2019
Engine
Hemi
Don't the newer style cabin vents have a different design around the perimeter to keep water channeled to the outside as well? I thought someone had a thread on that here some time ago.

It does seem like the 9 flap ones loose flaps one by one over time. Regardless, these things get worked pretty hard. Every time you shut a door, they fling open and slap shut. Open and close a door and watch them. At the end of the day, all vehicles have these, its just that on cars, suvs, etc, they're mounted such that water intrusion isn't an issue or isn't even noticed.
 
OP
OP
corneileous

corneileous

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Posts
6,851
Reaction score
3,915
Location
Podunkyville, OK
Ram Year
2018 Ram 1500 Limited 4X4
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Well fellas from what I can gather, 68157351AC is one of quite a few part numbers for the old-school air vent which is definitely like the ones that my truck has that @CamperMike pointed out that just has nine individual flappers and part number 68323649AB is for the new one that supposedly looks like this.
 

Attachments

  • 22BF0C51-45A2-4173-B21C-88DF263A001E.jpeg
    22BF0C51-45A2-4173-B21C-88DF263A001E.jpeg
    44.7 KB · Views: 11
  • B327E986-7D4A-4E84-B7F7-05D234F022C0.jpeg
    B327E986-7D4A-4E84-B7F7-05D234F022C0.jpeg
    187.8 KB · Views: 11
OP
OP
corneileous

corneileous

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Posts
6,851
Reaction score
3,915
Location
Podunkyville, OK
Ram Year
2018 Ram 1500 Limited 4X4
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Well guys, after looking around at a bunch more pictures of these no newer and updated exhauster vents, I decided to go ahead and order me a couple of them just in case; or well, being that I did my rear seat mod where I can pull my rear seats forward, I should be able to remove that insulation panel thats stuck to the back of the cab and still be able to access the air vents without pulling the seats so I guess we’ll just have to see but as I was saying, after I looked at other pictures, it looks like even the clips are different that hold them pressed in place to the back of the cab and I don’t know, I’ll probably have to wait till they show up to verify this for sure but it looks like even though the outside gasket material is still roughly the same, in the pictures it looks like it might be a little bit taller of a piece than what my my vents have so hopefully they’ll work better.
 
Top