Every time it rains or I wash my car, I find water puddled on top of the air cleaner, so water is getting in somehow.

I have an 84 Trans Am with the bulge hood. Is this normal or common? Is there some weatherstripping in the bulge that is not sealing correctly?

 

I believe thers just a plastic piece that goes in the bulge. My 91 didn't have that piece and I always had water. My 87 had the plastic piece and it stayed dry for the most part.

 

My '84 T/A also does the same thing. According to the parts diagram there is a gasket that seals the aluminum insert to the main hood shell. There is also a rain gutter on the bottom of the ram air setup that is suppose to direct any water that gets in through the inlet to drain off to the side of the engine.

There is a rubber washer that does between the air cleaner top and the hold down wing-nut to prevent any water going down into the carb and engine. I suspect this was a known issue and Pontiac never got around to completely fixing the problem. I've heard that earlier cars didn't have the rain gutter system and some people have had their engines fill up with water.

 

Yikes!, my car doesnt have the rubber washer. In fact, it doesnt even have the correct wing-nut. The wing-nut on there is flat instead of being like a V (so it never makes contact under) . The only place it touches is the part of the air cleaner lid that is angled up from the center and it already made an indentation there (and scratched off the paint I spray painted the whole air cleaner with )