Advice about leak, water in spare tire well

[zoidberg444]

I had this exact problem in my car - it took 3 attempts to get it. It turned out to be cracks in the paint work and the sealer between the joints.



There were several areas like this - there was a sort of "hook" to hold the black weatherstripping up on the roof and there were several areas like this. I basically slathered everything in the polyurethane sealant that windscreens are bonded in with and it hasn't leaked since.

Basically the entire rear of my car - from the gulley the weather stripping sits in to these gaps between the panelling to the tailgate seal and some of the seams between the metal underneath the bumper have all been covered with sealant. I used so much of it I can't be 100% sure how many leaks there were - but I think the one in my photograph was the main leak.

[RMcG]

Originally Posted by zoidberg444

I had this exact problem in my car - it took 3 attempts to get it. It turned out to be cracks in the paint work and the sealer between the joints.

There were several areas like this - there was a sort of "hook" to hold the black weatherstripping up on the roof and there were several areas like this. I basically slathered everything in the polyurethane sealant that windscreens are bonded in with and it hasn't leaked since.

Basically the entire rear of my car - from the gulley the weather stripping sits in to these gaps between the panelling to the tailgate seal and some of the seams between the metal underneath the bumper have all been covered with sealant. I used so much of it I can't be 100% sure how many leaks there were - but I think the one in my photograph was the main leak.

Thanks for your reply Zoid. In fact I think I was reading some of your old posts on this and I seem to remember that you had gotten so frustrated at one point that you said, "I am of two minds, ready to take a sledge hammer to the car." Having spent some time (but nowhere near as much as you did) trying to figure out where the leak is I can see how a person could get to that point.

Interestingly, I was messing around with the black weather stripping a few months ago. I removed the weather stripping from the car, because it was dirty & coming off (I bought the car new about 12 years ago). (I think there were "hooks" like you are saying.) I cleaned the channel that the weather stripping is in and cleaned the weather stripping. Then I put a bead of clear silicone rubber cement in the channel and put the weather stripping back into the channel so that the weather stripping would be secured in the channel when the silicone rubber cement dried. It looks reasonable, but given what you said about cracks, I think it could be leaking in that area.

QUESTIONS: Was the carpet in front of your back seats getting wet?

Did you end up removing the back seat in order to get the interior of the car dry or to try to figure out where the leak was coming from?

Did you slather the polyurethane sealant on outer surfaces (painted surfaces) of the car? Or on inner surfaces? Or both outer and inner surfaces?

Just to double-check, the circled area in your picture is the left side of the car where the roof panel meets a left side panel just above the hatch window, correct?

Thanks,

R.

[zoidberg444]

Originally Posted by RMcG

Thanks for your reply Zoid. In fact I think I was reading some of your old posts on this and I seem to remember that you had gotten so frustrated at one point that you said, "I am of two minds, ready to take a sledge hammer to the car." Having spent some time (but nowhere near as much as you did) trying to figure out where the leak is I can see how a person could get to that point.

Interestingly, I was messing around with the black weather stripping a few months ago. I removed the weather stripping from the car, because it was dirty & coming off (I bought the car new about 12 years ago). (I think there were "hooks" like you are saying.) I cleaned the channel that the weather stripping is in and cleaned the weather stripping. Then I put a bead of clear silicone rubber cement in the channel and put the weather stripping back into the channel so that the weather stripping would be secured in the channel when the silicone rubber cement dried. It looks reasonable, but given what you said about cracks, I think it could be leaking in that area.

QUESTIONS: Was the carpet in front of your back seats getting wet?

Did you end up removing the back seat in order to get the interior of the car dry or to try to figure out where the leak was coming from?

Did you slather the polyurethane sealant on outer surfaces (painted surfaces) of the car? Or on inner surfaces? Or both outer and inner surfaces?

Just to double-check, the circled area in your picture is the left side of the car where the roof panel meets a left side panel just above the hatch window, correct?

Thanks,

R.

Yeah mate - You're in for a hell of a fight to find out exactly where its coming from. I spent several weeks buggering about in order to try and find the leak. I stripped out much of the rear trim in order to locate it. I even sat in the back of the car with a hose pipe running on the roof several times to try and see where it was coming in but there are so many layers of metal spot welded and bonded together in that area it was impossible to tell. So in the end I just blitzed everything with sealant.

No mate - my leak wasn't that bad. I would get a puddle on the plastic just under where the little access panel to the rear light clusters was. I would normally put some rag or some paper towel to catch the water but on the passenger side it got so bad it was leaking down onto the boot floor and soaking the carpet in there and my stuff. I have heard of people with leaks so bad the entire spare wheel well filled up with water and then it would spill over when braking and soak the back carpet.

I left the back seat in - I just folded it down. I did strip out all the other stuff in the rear. If your carpet has got wet mate. I would suggest pulling it out and making sure its all dry. There are foam panels under some of the carpet to act as insulation or sound deadening and if they get wet you have to dry them out properly otherwise you will get mould and the car will smell. In 2016 when I drove to Norway I found the passenger front foot well all wet and it turned out my windscreen replacement was leaking. I managed to rip the carpet back and dry it all out amazingly.

Yeah - where I put the sealant on is hidden by the tailgate or the weather stripping but when you open the boot you can see it all. Honestly it looks like a mess but at least it stopped the leak.

I attached some pictures to this post of what I did. It really was a mess but thank god I fixed it. You can see in one of them an area of discolouration and cracking in the paint around one of the seams. I have seen another car where it was one of the metal seams underneath the rear bumper.