FJ-60 - water in fenders, drain holes

[jeffroid]

'84 FJ-60 - Lately I have noticed a lingering gas smell in the cabin after filling up. My gas cap seemed like it wasn't sealing well, but you still hear the "whoosh" when removing it. I peeled back the right side interior panel in the cargo area and discovered my rear fender was filled with this vile fluid that contained fuel, but was mostly water. I looked on the left side and it was the same story, but just water. I figured I would drill a couple of drain holes in the bottom of the fender, then discovered that there were a couple of drain holes with rubber plugs in each fender already. So I removed the plugs and left the panels peeled back for things to dry out.

Where is the water coming from? I am thinking that the small amount of fuel in the right side was just spillover from topping of the tank held in suspenson by the water. Is there any additional cause for concern, or anything wrong with leaving the rubber plugs out of the drain holes?

Are there any other little surprise areas that hold water like that?

THANKS ! ! !

 

[lowtideride]

my guess would be that your window seals are leaking in the back and it is running down into panels.. my window seals were leaking in my fj60 and running into the panels and eventually rusted them out ( the owner before me dint care ) the panels were rusted out so bad i cut them off.. it looks good now. around the bottom of the window where it seals was rusted too, i grinded it out and repainted it. i then took water proof clear silcon and went over the seals with it...so if your not rusting out anywhere try going over the window seals with some silcon. and see if that works..
good luck...
-al

keep the 60 lookin good...

 

[jeffroid]

Thanks al. I don't have any rust that I can find, and it looks like my rear window seals are good and tight. Now that I know what's going on, I think I'll put the plugs back in and keep an eye on things and see if the water re-appears. I live in the Seattle area, so I know I will get plenty of chances for my rear windows to collect more rain if that's what's happening.

 

[lowtideride]

yulp mine looked tight too, but they still leaked just keep an on em

-al

 

[kling-on]

after its drain with the side off close your self in and have your wife/girlfriend spray the side of the truck and see were its coming from

 

[jeffroid]

Excellent idea ! ! ! Thanks very much. I will give it a try this after work today if I can.

 

[Jman]

Any chance it's the vents in the rear pillar? Maybe cracked or ruined seals? Another thing worth hitting with the hose--gently.

Also, if you have wheel well holes, you can collect some water spray from the tires.

Also, check for holes in rain gutter, of course.

 

[Landpimp]

there are also drain holes in the rocker panels under the doors, not just the 1/4 panels

 

[Vortec62]

I was working on my FJ62 today and found water in my rear fender too. I originally thought that it came in through the tail light as the window washer fluid bag didn't seem to be leaking. My tail lights are beat to crap and the gaskets are wasted. I'll have to check the window gasket and the other fender.

 

[jeffroid]

I think I found the source ! ! ! Thanks for all the suggestions.

I sat in the back and looked closely with a flashlight while my GF sprayed around with a hose (must have looked strange because it was raining at the time). The only leaks I could find were from the "LandCruiser" emblems on each side, and from the rear pllar vent on the right side. The emblems are each missing one of the "studs", leaving an open hole behind the emblem, and the vent cover on the right side is short one of the screws because I lost the little plastic insert that the screw goes into.

Hard for me to believe that all that water came from those sources, but we were very thorough with our hose test. That water must have been sitting back there for a long time. I have heard sloshing, but I figured it was just the gas tank. The last time I was in there was when I was installing stereo speakers a couple of years ago, and the water wasn't there then.

Luckily, I see no signs of rust anywhere. I'll figure out how to patch the holes that don't have studs filling them and keep an eye on things.

Thanks again ! ! !

 

[Landshark]

Seems like a common theme lately of water in the rear quarters. I too was perplexed by the amount of water held in the rear quarter panels. After appling the same water test also discovered that the water was dripping in from the emblem. Hard to believe that much water from such as small hole. How I discovered my probem was seeing water drip from the rear quarter through the very small hole in the bottom seam. I live in Prince Rupert, 700 kms north of Seatle and it rains 100 inch a year here. I never thought to look at the seals around the rear windows as they look pretty good. Will watch that if I still get water building up. As for the emblem drip I just put some black sealer on and it seems to have done the trick.

Bob C
1987 HJ60