Check your front shock towers for water

[meyerweb]

16falcon Good info! Looks like GM found a 5-cent partial fix (one side) and changed a mold.

Now, is sealing up those windshield drain holes is the prudent thing to do on any car that still has them?

Would seem to have GM's unofficial seal of approval.

[pksjc]

I picked up my 2021 Wednesday. Today I went to drain the water out of the shock towers and install the covers. To my surprise the passenger side was dry as a bone, not one cavity had even a drop. The drivers side on the other hand had one cavity about half full and some water in the 2 adjacent cavities. After further inspection, indeed, the 4 “drain” holes over the top of the passenger side shock tower are no longer holes. They are just square boxes molded into the plastic. See picture below.

I thought installing the covers would be pretty simple, but it was actually very difficult to maneuver the covers into place. I did watch AOR’s installation video on YouTube but he has a non MSRC car in the video and simply says it’s the same for MSRC. I could not get the cover on the passenger side on the way he described. I finally got it on but it doesn’t really fit tight to the top of the tower. I think my AC line is a bit closer to the shock tower than his car. They are finally installed, but it was much more difficult than I imagined.

One final thought, if you have the access panels off to deal with water in the shock towers, and you have E60 Front Lift, I suggest you check for leaking brake fluid from the reservoir cap. Mine was leaking after approximately 8 activations of the lift system. More information in this thread: https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...ont-lift-issue

16falcon Do you see where the water is entering the driver side shock tower?

[16falcon]

16falcon Do you see where the water is entering the driver side shock tower?

I should have tried to eyeball it but didn’t think about it since I had the covers.

It looks to me like that trim piece at the bottom of the windshield now can drain at the very outside edge on the passenger side. It meets another rubber trim piece there where there is a small gap where water can drain through. On the driver’s side it looks like it drains where the driver’s side windshield wiper arm comes through the trim piece. That’s probably where the water on in the driver’s side shock tower is coming from. There is also a low spot in the trim piece at the very middle of the car but I think it would drain from the other 2 places before it would be high enough to drain any water from that spot. There are no drain holes drilled in the shock towers.

[Boomer]

16falcon Good info! Looks like GM found a 5-cent partial fix (one side) and changed a mold.

Now, is sealing up those windshield drain holes is the prudent thing to do on any car that still has them?

Since there seems to be a BG "fix" now for the 2021s, does anybody think Chevy has/will provide dealers with guidance for a fix for the 2020s when they go in for routine maintenance?

[Frenzy36]

Since there seems to be a BG "fix" now for the 2021s, does anybody think Chevy has/will provide dealers with guidance for a fix for the 2020s when they go in for routine maintenance?

They are obviously fully aware. Doesn't seem to represent any issue with mechanicals or electrical. Just aluminum holding water. Dry them out and put some aluminum tape over them and problem solved, cheap fix about $5 bucks and 15 minutes of your time.

[GAG]

I picked up my 2021 Wednesday. Today I went to drain the water out of the shock towers and install the covers. To my surprise the passenger side was dry as a bone, not one cavity had even a drop. The drivers side on the other hand had one cavity about half full and some water in the 2 adjacent cavities. After further inspection, indeed, the 4 “drain” holes over the top of the passenger side shock tower are no longer holes. They are just square boxes molded into the plastic. See picture below.

I thought installing the covers would be pretty simple, but it was actually very difficult to maneuver the covers into place. I did watch AOR’s installation video on YouTube but he has a non MSRC car in the video and simply says it’s the same for MSRC. I could not get the cover on the passenger side on the way he described. I finally got it on but it doesn’t really fit tight to the top of the tower. I think my AC line is a bit closer to the shock tower than his car. They are finally installed, but it was much more difficult than I imagined.

One final thought, if you have the access panels off to deal with water in the shock towers, and you have E60 Front Lift, I suggest you check for leaking brake fluid from the reservoir cap. Mine was leaking after approximately 8 activations of the lift system. More information in this thread: https://www.midenginecorvetteforum.c...ont-lift-issue

Thanks for sharing this. Since GM made a change on this cowl cover by closing off the holes on the passenger side this had to be done to prevent the shock tower from filling with water.

Do we know if this cover can be easily replaced, i.e. snapped off and on with a new one or is this more involved?
Do we know what the part number is for this new cowl piece? I think if enough 2020 C8 owners brought this issue up to their dealer and voiced a concern requesting resolution you would think this would be replaced under warranty.

I thought about just purchasing some black silicone caulking and just sealing the holes but it may not look very nice aesthetically.

[meyerweb]

I thought about just purchasing some black silicone caulking and just sealing the holes but it may not look very nice aesthetically.

If you apply it from the bottom, sealing off the bottom of the holes, it shouldn't be visible. And probably a lot cheaper than replacing the piece.

[GAG]

If you apply it from the bottom, sealing off the bottom of the holes, it shouldn't be visible. And probably a lot cheaper than replacing the piece.

Appreciate your comments and one that I will most likely do.

I still have not taken off the covers to check and still concerned after hearing several people have broken the tabs off I believe the side covers which need to be removed first. While this apparently may solve water getting into the passenger side shock tower apparently some water still gets into the drivers side so. I guess if GM really felt this was an issue that would have addressed something to take care of the drivers side as well but maybe this one is more challenging due to the need for where the water needs to drain.

At the end of the day if GM determines this would become a long term reliability issue you would think they would ultimately address the problem so no water gets into either shock tower.

I am also curious to see once I remove the panels if I have any fluid leaking from the Lift system cylinder reservoir cap that numerous people have reported. Not sure there is an official fix for this one yet.

[16falcon]

I am also curious to see once I remove the panels if I have any fluid leaking from the Lift system cylinder reservoir cap that numerous people have reported. Not sure there is an official fix for this one yet.

I would check that sooner rather than later. I have only had my car 5 days and only used the lift about 8 times and there was enough fluid to be actually dripping down past the edge of the shock tower. Not everyone seems to be having an issue with it, hopefully yours will be fine. As far as I know, no one has determined why some are leaking and others are not. And no, there is no official fix yet. I don’t think GM has acknowledged that there is even a problem yet. The GM solution so far has been to replace the cap. That helps for a few weeks until the pin hole in the diaphragm rips into an “X” shaped slit again and fluid starts leaking out (again). If mine started as a pin hole, it ripped immediately.

For those with the 4 holes in the cowl trim piece that want to seal them up, I would consider applying a piece of this to the underside of the panel after removing the battery cover panel (I have had good luck with this product in other applications):


On further thought, make sure you place a small strip of something like electrical tape face down on the Gorilla tape right where the holes will be. You don’t want dirt and stuff that lands in the holes to be permanently attached to the sticky side of the Gorilla tape which otherwise would be visible in the holes.

[GAG]

I would check that sooner rather than later. I have only had my car 5 days and only used the lift about 8 times and there was enough fluid to be actually dripping down past the edge of the shock tower. Not everyone seems to be having an issue with it, hopefully yours will be fine. As far as I know, no one has determined why some are leaking and others are not. And no, there is no official fix yet. I don’t think GM has acknowledged that there is even a problem yet. The GM solution so far has been to replace the cap. That helps for a few weeks until the pin hole in the diaphragm rips into an “X” shaped slit again and fluid starts leaking out (again). If mine started as a pin hole, it ripped immediately.

For those with the 4 holes in the cowl trim piece that want to seal them up, I would consider applying a piece of this to the underside of the panel after removing the battery cover panel (I have had good luck with this product in other applications):


On further thought, make sure you place a small strip of something like electrical tape face down on the Gorilla tape right where the holes will be. You don’t want dirt and stuff that lands in the holes to be permanently attached to the sticky side of the Gorilla tape which otherwise would be visible in the holes.

So I finally since taking delivery on my car from the museum on December 4th, decided to see if I had water in my shock towers and also to visually inspect my front hydraulic lift area for leaks.

I was very careful with pulling off the side frunk access covers which you must do first before you take off the larger back panel to make sure I would not break any clips like I have heard that some people have done. I believe the main trick on this point is on the side covers you cannot lift them straight up as you must pull them to the side towards the center of the frunk as these clips go horizontally into the front fenders. I have attached a photo showing the slots in the fender.

The back panel came off fairly easy, however I left behind one of the corner fastners in the frame of the car. I used a pry tool to remove and I inserted this back into the slot in the back panel. So make sure the two yellow corner fasteners if left behind in the car body attachment point, are removed and placed back into the cover itself before reattachment, otherwise it will not lock down in place securely.

So I had water in both shock towers (see passenger side photo) that had the most and also on the drivers side, which had some but only in a couple of compartments. As has been previously highlighted, on the passenger side, water will drain directly from the windshield cowl with the 4 square holes right into the tower. Not good, which is why GM changed this for 2021 by eliminating these holes.

I used a turkey baster to suction out all the water and it was a surprising amount and used a hair dryer to get rid of any remaining. I then spayed some WD-40 into the compartments and wiped dry.

So while I may have solved the water getting into the passenger side shock tower, (we will see if sealing did the trick) the drivers side will still get water based on the way the water drains off the plastic cowl cover at the far end which will pour into the compartment but not directly on top of this shock tower. Not sure what GM's plan is to address the drivers side or if they have in fact change the windshield cover to address this issue already.

The hydraulic front lift system had a very small amount of fluid just below the cap on top of the reservoir, but nothing dripping down onto anything else I could see. This is something I will have to keep an eye on to see if this becomes a problem.

I just wanted to share this with my photos with the hope this can help someone else.

[GAG]

I should have tried to eyeball it but didn’t think about it since I had the covers.

It looks to me like that trim piece at the bottom of the windshield now can drain at the very outside edge on the passenger side. It meets another rubber trim piece there where there is a small gap where water can drain through. On the driver’s side it looks like it drains where the driver’s side windshield wiper arm comes through the trim piece. That’s probably where the water on in the driver’s side shock tower is coming from. There is also a low spot in the trim piece at the very middle of the car but I think it would drain from the other 2 places before it would be high enough to drain any water from that spot. There are no drain holes drilled in the shock towers.

Falcon can you take a close up photo of your windshield cowl cover on the ends on both sides (passenger and driver). I am curious if the molding has been altered in this area since they closed off the 4 drain holes.

This may be something for anyone with a 2020 maybe able to request to be replaced to resolve water at least getting into the passenger side shock towers for those people that do not want to try and seal these drain holes on their own.

[Wingnut]

I just installed Angry Off Road’s tower covers and hopefully that’ll do the trick. The left was easy, the right was a ***** with the Z51 mag ride cable and my last item was to clean the blood off the top cover.

[16falcon]

Falcon can you take a close up photo of your windshield cowl cover on the ends on both sides (passenger and driver). I am curious if the molding has been altered in this area since they closed off the 4 drain holes.

This may be something for anyone with a 2020 maybe able to request to be replaced to resolve water at least getting into the passenger side shock towers for those people that do not want to try and seal these drain holes on their own.

Sure, here you go. First picture is passenger side windshield edge, second is drivers side windshield edge, third picture is the middle of the windshield where the passenger side wiper arm starts.

[GAG]

Thanks so much Falcon. I looked at mine and they are identical at the ends both sides, so the only discernible difference on the 2021 visually appears to be they have eliminated the cowl drainage holes even though you can still see them in the molding. I may just fill these impressions with a small amount black silicone so they are almost flush so nothing will get trapped inside them and stuck to the water proof tape as you suggested.

This means that water will still get into the drivers side shock tower which apparently GM does not feel is an issue, unless they have not yet figured out an easy way to solve that area inexpensively.

[16falcon]

This means that water will still get into the drivers side shock tower which apparently GM does not feel is an issue, unless they have not yet figured out an easy way to solve that area inexpensively.

You’re welcome. I don’t think it’s quite as simple to address the driver’s side. My guess is water drains from where the driver’s side windshield wiper arm comes through the cowl piece. I put the covers on so I should be good now. Like I said earlier, without those four drain holes on my 2021 the passenger side was bone dry, not a drop. So as a minimum you can protect that side pretty simply.