Decided to put in new stereo and when i was routing the new speaker wires i had to pull up some carpet, low and behold i notice that the rubber padding underneath was soaking wet and has been for who knows how long. So today went in and pulled the required panels to find the leak(s) and see what the damage was, overall its really not bad considereing it may have been like this for a long time, i know it has leaked since i have owned it (2 years). I have 2 questions that need some answering.
1) on the passanger side behind the wheel well are 2 vents with rubber flappers in em and found that one has not been sealed well and is the culprit for most of the water ingress on the rusty side why are they there? Can I make a sheet metal patch and just cover them up?
2) the other leak is coming from a seam just under the alpine window ( i circled it in yellow in one of the pics. i see the water stains on the metal above but its not anymore I know this because when i pulled the panel there was a very steady drip on water coming in one drop at a time when the snow was melting off the roof in my garage. if you need a better pic tell me. im pretty confused and about to but a few tubes of caulk in here and just fill every crack and crevice untill its a giant rolling ball of silicone. Anyone got any ideas.

 

this is for a 1997 Discovery

 

why not clean it up and coat it with rustolium restorer and see how solid it is after a day or two drying.

 

Those vents are there to allow air to escape when you slam the door and when your HVAC system is blowing outside air into the cabin. You need them as long as you have functioning door seals and no rust holes.

 

Thanks for that info on the vent, never really thought of negative pressure in the cab. I think I'm going to seal the bottom on and keep the top one installed. Now to just figure out where that roof leak is and I have some ideas how. And to drowssap that's the plan gonna grind it down to bare metal, rust treatment then rubber seal the whole cargo area lay down new carpet insulation and then it's on to the next project.