Last fall a few weeks before I put my car away for the winter, we had a huge rain storm and the back of my car (rear carpet behind the seats) was totally soaked with water, but none toward the front. I poked around a little and saw that the rubber seal around my sunroof had a small crack at the back side, and figured that's how it must have leaked in. Well i'm glad I didn't order that expensive seal, because I was just out detailing my car and when I opened the passenger side glove box, I find everything in there is wet and my owners manual and all the original books are pretty much destroyed So where is my leak coming from and how do I fix it? Starting this weekend my car will be sitting outside for summer and obviously I can't have it flood everytime it rains so I need some quick help, thanks!!

Pat
86 944

 

If your having a leak in your glovebox area, you may have rust damage under your battery. It sounds like you have two leaks, I may have read wrong? If your having leaking in the rear hatch area it could be the seal or even if your hatch frame has seperated some, water can pour in from there.

 

+1, mostly likely battery tray for the glove box. This can be nasty as the battery tray literally rusts away over time. Clean it up and spray on some type of rust prevent stray, patch holes with epoxy, coat with truck bed liner. Others have welded in a tray from another car or got creative with fiberglass.

As for the other leak, have some one hold a hose above the car and look for leaks around the sunroof, hatch, door seals, door window seals.

I once saw a bad window seal on the door. The water would slip in through the seal and travel down behind the door panel and accumulate on the floor.

 

Water leakage in the back of the car -> The hatch frame is separating from the glass right around the hinge area where it attaches to the roof, like Colin said. This allows rainwater to seep through and soak the rear deck, carpet, storage cubbies, etc.

What you can do is apply clear silicone sealant or RTV to fill the crack between the glass and the frame on the inside. Allow it to dry well inside the crack and you should have no more leaks. I used Saran wrap to hold the silicone in place while it dried.

Another area that is notorious for water leakage into the rear storage cubbies are the rtv seals around the tail lights. If rainwater is pooling in the rear cubbies, make sure there aren't any gaps in the sealant between the tail lights and the body. Good luck!

 

In the back, it's not actually in the rear hatch area itself but right behind the front seats on the floor (in front of the rear seats). My sunroof seal has a small crack in it on the back side, would that be enough to let water come in during a hard rain?

 

water goes down, it doesnt go up. now look at an area above the glove - that be the battery tray.

do a search there is plenty out there.

 

take the sunroof out, and run a somewhat-stiff wire through the drain holes to make sure they are not clogged up with dirt.
If they do seem clogged up with dirt, knock all the dirt out, run some water through the holes to get them cleared up. This should solve your problem with water soaking the rear foot area. My car did the same thing a few years ago.