Leaky McWetness

[newcastle]

Sooooooo. Big rain storm here last week. I left rear passenger door ajar in the heaviest rain and got sodden back seats and carpet and some wet carpet in the front seat also. getting it dried out was a pain but not too bad/. Also found 3 inshes of water in the spare wheel well in the trunk and water 3 inches deep in the back corners of the carjust in front of the rear lights both sides. No problem thinks I - its a one off - took all teh trunk cover and carpet out and cleaned it and dried it. job done!

Except it rained again today - another 2 inches in teh trunk. no door open so rear and front dry but it appears it mght be leaking in through both rear light areas as seals seem intact all round. It has apparently been doing it for some time judging by teh stat of teh rusty wrench and it's bag under the wheel. Common issue? Are rear lights a typical place for seals to give out? more importantly how do i deal with it?? any idead welcome.

[FE3-323]

4door? or p5?

[newcastle]

4door? or p5?

Sorry 2002 P5.

[jay92gt]

Just drill some holes in the trunk so the water can run out. Problem solved.


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[cartracer12]

The leak will be at the rear unibody seam, above where the rear bumper beam bolts to the unibody. The unibody is welded together and the seam is sealed but over time the bumper bar pulls down on the thin sheet metal and the seam starts to leak. If you really want to solve the problem buy a can of spray able undercoating and remove the hatch/trunk panels at the back and douse the seams with some under coat, if you really wanted you could also remove the rear bumper and do the same from the outside.

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[FE3-323]

^ i've witnessed major seam sealer issues with these chassis..... my own p5 had some horrendous issues behind the dash. i say take cartracer's advice

[jay92gt]

My 01 ES leaks badly. At this point I just deal with it its so rusty I don't want to take anything apart.


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[FE3-323]

i had to pull my whole interior apart & weld in new metal about 85% of the floorpan- i feel your pain

[newcastle]

I have alreday taken the plastic panels off in the trunk and will get the sealing donw when teh rain stops here. This is very helpful thank you very much.

[newcastle]

Well dammitall to hell. Pulled pastic panels off, used autobody sealant on all seams (there were a couepl that had clearly separated a little as advised). Put everythgin back together and last nigthit chcuked down and presto - water in the trunk again. There is less, and it SEEMS to be coming from the tail gate and driping down from inside the plastic interior of the trunk lid. I suspect that it might be the rear window weatherstripping / seals that have failed, but short of actually sitting in the trunk next time it rains I am not 100% sure.

is it :
a) HIGHLY unlikely - look elsewhere you idiot!!
b) Highly likely - get the rear window re sealed now.
c) meh....

[FE3-323]

you think its the window itself? rather than say the rubber trunk seal?
can you post a picture where you see it leaking in?

[newcastle]

There are drops of water in the well for the spare tire, also there was water on the trunk floor and in the rear compartment on the pasenger side. My next move is to station my 10 year old in the trunk and hose the thing down for several minutes so he can see exactly where it is coming in and mark it with a sharpie. One thing I WILL get out of this is a quieter car in addition to a drier one as I have a ton of sound deadener left over from another vehicle interior build, so I will put it down on the panels here (when I've solved the leak).

Just in case, what is the trick to removing the plastic trim inside the hatchback? I can't see ANY clips or other obvious places to start.

[newcastle]

Ok then. Checked and the water is coming in from the seam that I already sealed in the center of the rear AND from the bumper bolts on the passenger side. Removed the bumper cover and the the actual bumper itself clearly is bent from when my wife got rear ended. I can clean and seal around those bolts so that doesn't worry me. However the water is coming out of the seams and the way it appears to be getting IN THERE (ie between the metal sheets) is either from teh two bumper cover bolts on eth exterior (easy to seal) OR from the joint between two metal sheets which is actually under the tailgate weatherstrip. They clearly separated when the rear got dinged and there is significant rust between them. I think a cleaning and new well sealed weatherstrip would probably do the trick. Question becomes : WHERE can i get a high quality replacement weatherstrip for the body of the car that goes around the tailgate. i check realmazdaparts.com and they had the strip for the gate itself and not apparently for the body of teh car.

[FE3-323]

i might suggest trying to find a good condition used seal. not sure how easy it might be to find a new one...

[newcastle]

Pick n pull is my friend. Found and fitted one yesterday afternoon. Is pissing down again so we'll see how we get on ove rthe next day or so.