83 300D sedan. I just finished "sealing the windshield gasket with some permatex and felt pretty good about it since the car seemed to be staying dry......NOT.
Very bad leak coming from a rust hole next to the hood hinge, passenger side is big hole, driver side getting started. I've cleared the appropriate drains. Any idea how I can patch these holes? Can the hinge spring be manipulated in such a way as to actually come out? Can I put the hood straight up, support a corner say on a bunch of towels or cardboard, remove the hinge and flop it out of the way? I really don't want to tackle removal of the entire dash to get at these areas from inside. If there's no reasonable solution for this fix it's to become an ebay vehicle. The engines are great but the rest of the car is turning into much more of a headache than I planned for.
Thanks for any guidance.
PS. While clearing the drains on the drivers side, I found a small piece of hose, about 3 inches long, diameter like a windshield washer hose. It was sort of sitting in the drian hole located right near the base of the hood hinge. Does this do something or am I just looking at a random piece crap under the hood.

Yes, move the hood to the vertical position by pulling the tab down on the hinge. When it's in the vertical position, the spring can be manuvered out. You can use fiberglass bondo to fill the holes in the hinge area. Follow the drain there to the fender well and clean that out also.

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