I took the cowl panel off my 740 sedan to try to trace the source of a rain leak into the interior. The leaf screen had fallen off the center grille, and I put it back in place. The plastic shield that goes over the intake for the interior ventilation blower had also gotten loose and mis-positioned, so I remedied that.

When I put the cowl back in place, the center and center/right portion of the rubber strip on the rear of the cowl has a gap of about 1/8" between it and the windshield. I can press down lightly on the center/rear of the cowl panel and make the rubber contact the windshield, but it pops right back up if I take the weight off it. The underside of the cowl doesn't seem to be hitting anything, and I don't think I bent the cowl while I had it off.

With the three bolts that hold the cowl in place loosened, it's possible to move the cowl back and forth and side to side slightly, but it doesn't really seem to affect the trailing edge of the cowl.

Is there some trick to refitting the cowl? Would a new rubber strip come with more of a downward curl, and solve the problem? Or should I just put some RTV in the gap and not worry about it?

Chuck caught it: you missed either or both of the side clips or the plastic catches at the bottom of the windscreen. It usually takes me about four tries to get this in place, with me pushing on the edge of the cowl and wife pushing down on its middle to engage the windshield clips.

Drew,

There are slots on each rear corner of the cowl that mate with pins on the body. You engage the slots and push the cowl back. Also there are some
plastic clips below the windshield that mate with the trailing edge of the cowl. I'm sorry I don't have pictures and can't be more clear. I did this last year and it was a real pain getting everything lined up. That was with the '88 745. The '95 945 was easy.

Good luck.

chuck
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1988 745t 155k mi, 1995 945 115k mi

I forgot about those plastic clips. Had another go at it, and now it's OK. Thanks for the help.