My car seems to be leaking under the windscreen cowl where they usually do, I’ve got new clips and will silicone them in, do i need to take the whole cowl cover off or will it lift enough to get the old ones out once the screws out, TIA 
Remove the whole thing off to do it properly. It only takes 5 minutes to remove it.
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Better to undue the cowl at the screws obviously, take the wiper arms off and then remove the rubber strip clips along the length under the bonnet. You can then push the cowl aside enough to get at the grommets, no need (for me) to actually part the two halves and disconnect the washer pipes.
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I put that on recently for another member, hope it helps
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Agree with others - take off the cowl.
Make sure you completely clean up where the old inserts were. ( and de=grease so sealant will stick )
Use a good sealant around the new inserts to ensure they are watertight ( don’t rely on the supplied gasket. )
Then re-assemble the car.
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Agreed.
The foam gaskets cook down to mud in only a few years.
But the old plastic grommet itself will last for decades if left undisturbed and still gripping the steel panel.
Sealing these weak spots was among the essential tasks I did immediately after I bought the 25AE and before driving it anywhere.
I use the folded moist edge of some scrap rag as a soft saw to extract all the mud and old gasket, regardless of its condition.
Then I applied suitable degreaser and cleaned the area.
A bit of plastic cable-tie off-cut makes a handy tool for working silicone sealant deep into the void left by the gasket.
I did this in two passes.
First one makes sure the thin covering of silicone deep inside the crevice had time to set.
Second one is belt and braces covering all the approaches to the gasket and anchors it to the surrounding.
It’s not on display so neatness may be nice but it’s not required so long as coverage is complete.
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Rather than silicone, maybe consider bitumen flash band.
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