hatch leak hummmmm

[joel903]

Holy batman thread revival!

 

[te72]

Hey it's useful info, I'd be willing to bet there are more of us with leaking hatches than those whose hatches are watertight. Question though, while it seems like silicone will fix most of the issues, how likely is the car to leak from the actual hatch seal itself (the big rubber piece that runs along the rim of where the hatch actually rests when closed)? What about taillight gaskets, worth the price?

Seems like silicone will fix the spoiler leaks without being too visible, from what I'm reading, correct?

I'd like to stop the leaks in my hatch, but it's kinda hard to justify spending nearly $300 on every little gasket for the hatch area...

 

[stoopid]

It seems like everyone is having the same problem! Mine as well only does it when i open the hatch, if i run water over the hatch it does nothing until i open the hatch so I gotta try something cause all the seals are good its gotta be something behind that plastic

 

[te72]

I'll be getting some of that automotive Goop this week and trying to seal up all the areas mentioned in this thread, testing them this weekend hopefully, if I get the time. I have a few ideas on where the water's getting in on mine, I'll post up any findings if anything interesting comes up.

 

[7Matt-GE]

im leaking like a mofo too when it rains out i find water all over my fucking trunk. so i need to figure out where these leaks are comin from...ive theorized the wiper motor area and the hatch seal itself...

 

[pablo94sc]

I'm dealing with this as well and today I discovered two more leaks I can't diagnose. The first is the water under the lower trim piece that pours out when you open the hatch. The only moisture evidence is in that corner of that cover where the water drains out when you open the hatch, so I feel safe ruling out the wiper assy and I have no spoiler. Also, the hatch weatherstripping is good, so I'm assuming it's coming in from around the glass. I keep seeing mention of trim... is this some interior trim I'm missing around the glass, or are you all referring to the external trim? Any tricks to removing that trim? I don't want to hunt down trim for a 21 year old car because I broke it doing something stupid.

The other location is in the pocket in the fender where the power antenna is located. I had about 2" in there today after a mild rain. The antenna assembly was bone dry and the drain tube is clear of obstruction, so I'm pretty sure the antenna seal is good. I also didn't feel or see any signs of water flow to indicate point of entry. Is there a clip point somewhere under the rear quarter glass trim (bottom corner) that could be leaking into that pocket, or somewhere behind the fuel door that I'm missing?

Thanks!

 

[nuggets]

I just replaced a ton of stuff on my rear hatch in order to eliminate the leaking: spoiler gaskets, rear wiper gasket, all four trim pieces around the window. When I removed the trim I also added more weatherstripping adhesive for good measure although I couldn't see an entry point. For me, the rear wiper and spoiler gaskets didn't fix much of anything. One area that was contributing to my leaking was the lower window trim. The trim is held on by 4 bolts with small foam washers around them. When i removed my old trim the washers were compressed to the point of being practically useless. I theorized that was my water entry point since it looks like a great place for water to pool. Water runs down the window, seeps in the gap between the glass and lower trim, and runs down the holes where the bolts pass through the metal and into the plastic interior trim cover. It looks like you could carefully remove that trim piece and replace the foam gaskets with new ones, rubber ones, or maybe even silicone although that may make future trim removal a bit more difficult. I'd say that if you have tried everything else, then examine that lower trim piece.

Pablo94sc, you may have a leak from the right rear spoiler trim (the one that attaches to the body above the fuel door). IIRC, it's held on by three connectors and I'd imagine if the rubber gasket is old water may be seeping in between there.

 

[Jay C]

Pablo did you check the tail light gasket or tail light assembly for that matter? I only ask because mine is leaking and i get water in the same spot so it might be worth a try.

 

[pablo94sc]

No spoiler, nuggets, but I'll take that hatch trim off and see if that's the cause of my leak.

Jay, my rear tail light gasket was leaking and letting water in. I noticed it dripping into the car from the reverse light area but didn't see any leak into the antenna well. Think I might have missed it?

 

[NashMan]

holly this shit is old but

i figured out mine a long tiem ago, it was a delamanated window form when i had a boom system

 

[GrimJack]

Water in the antenna area can also be the hatch seal, crazy as it sounds. I had this problem. Simply pulling the hatch seal up a couple millimeters around the bottom corner fixed it.

As for water pouring out of the lower hatch trim when you open the hatch, from what I understand that's often the window seal itself, and is a PITA to fix.

 

[Dylan JZ]

As for water pouring out of the lower hatch trim when you open the hatch, from what I understand that's often the window seal itself, and is a PITA to fix.

Grim, I basically gave up on fixing it.. I think a new hatch is a much more viable alternative. for the time being, I removed a lot of the rust and used a malleable putty/epoxy to fill the holes. it's anyone's guess as to how long it's going to hold up.

 

[pablo94sc]

I used silicon under the rear window sill trim and under the quarter window trim mount, antenna mounting point, and around the tail lamp lens. Also used some vinyl weatherstripping and redid the tail lamp gaskets. Hopefully that'll fix all the leaks. If not... well I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

[batttz]

I had the same problem so did a hatch delete job and siliconed the bottom screen trim, worked a treat for me