I took a high powered flashlight to inspect my cowl - it looks very clean.

My question is - how good is a visual inspection? I assume if the rust is bad you willsee evidenceof itthrough the hood cowl vent.

Also, how much of the cowl is visable when I'm look through thevents?

 

normally not much, remove the seats(or u can do it with the seat in place just will be a lot more comfy) shine a light from the vents and look for holes behind the dash one the firewall etc

 

well if your inspecting a car to buy u can do what i did. just ask the ppl for a bucket of water, throw it over the vents. wait a bit and you'll have your answer if they are rusted out.....if thats what your looking for

 

The only way to tell for sure is to take a bucket of water, pour it over the cowl, and look for water inside on the floor, firewall, etc. The cowl can look good when looking through the vent but be like swiss cheese around the cowl hats.

 

What is the worst case if there is cowl rust? Doesit affect the structual integrity of the car?

If there is rust and you are very careful not to let anymore water into it (no driving in rain, dry washing, etc) does it matter if you have cowl rust or not?

 

well u could say it doesnt help the integrety of the car but the worst things are:

1) driving in the rain you get water on the carpet and it start screwing up your carpet and making it gross then you have to replace it
2) you can do what i do and i sacrifice my foot and have the water drip on my foot but then your sock gets wet and cold.....mustang before myself, now thats a die hard lover of his car....god and im actually thinking about selling it
3)water will drip down on wires and (it hasnt happened to me yet) you can get short circuts and fires etc....not good stuff

 

You can buy those cheap plastic covers for the cowl to prevent any more water from getting in, but the BEST way to go is to fix the problem!

 

Not directly, but if you find that water is leaking through the cowl, you should be worried about arusted out floor pan and firewall. You won't always be able to tell how bad that floor pan is without tearing out all the carpet and cleaning it up some. You may lift up one corner of the carpeting,andthe floor panwill look fine. But when you start cleaning the floor pan prior to installing new carpet, you find it is in poor condition and needs to be replaced, and that does effect the structural integrity of the car.

 

My cowling has no rust but is there anything i can paint or pour into my cowling to stop it from rusting in the futur?

 

Just buy a cowl cover so that water cannot get inside. the rust usually occurs when leaves get in there and trap the water which then starts breaking down and clogging the water exit weep holes towrds the rear of the underside of the front fenders. Instead of using water, try compressed air during the test so you down drench the interior. Compressed air will be flowing inside and can be heard and felt when testing.