Hey Guys! I have a 1977 B200 van. I notice when parked and it rains the water trickles down in the the engine/ battery area. I have looked online and photos of other engine hoods and it does not look like there was ever a seal. So I dont think there is any seals missing. This is a very stock van..so I am not sure why it would be designed to leak water into the engine compartment? Anyone else have this same problem...or solution? cheers!

Welcome to the site .... this a Dodge question not a generic so I moved it to the Dodge section...

Again welcome

Hello and welcome. The water "leaks" are normal. The water that goes in the cowl has to go somewhere, and the factory made drain points on the firewall and behind the front fenders. Keep them cleaned out and take care of any rust, but otherwise don't stress about it.

Normal for water to get in them areas. To help protect the inner areas, take the cowl out and undercoat everything on the firewall and inner fenders you can reach and open the air vent doors on the inside of van and reach in there with undercoating. While you have the cowl out, replace the wiper arm bushings, they are usually brittle and dry-rotted.

Thanks for the replies guys. Ya I just thought it was odd that water would flow directly onto the battery area? That seems odd. I thought it would flow down somewhere or be directed by the sheet metal. I made a small plastic cover..like boat guys use to cover the batter terminals..maybe I wont worry about the rest..I guess it has survived this long like it is..

Be sure to clean the weep holes at the bottom of the fenders, looks like a hole about 1/4 inch.
Leaves etc will drain down the wiper grille to the fenders and trap water then the fender will rust through.
Mine rusted through just at the panel below battery tray. I had to cut and weld big patch on inner fender and ledge under battery tray.
When I replaced the ledge below the battery tray I put a slight angle and a drain hole in the corner.

My battery tray rusted out and I had to replace it.
There should be a drain tube from center low point in battery tray, mine now runs down past frame next to the steering column to drain the battery tray. I run a wire down the tube once a year to prevent plugging and water sitting in battery tray.