Leak in Rear Tailgate (1 Viewer)

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ABM

Joined
Jun 22, 2005
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9
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Living in the Northeast. Today is the perfect storm - hurricanes wilma and alpha and a noreaster as well. I am getting water dripping inside the back of my 100 where the liftgate meets the hatch. My rubber gasket looks good all around. The water is dripping and soaking the carpeting on the back of the liftgate. :crybaby: Any thoughts? I appreciate everyone's help here. :cheers:
 
That seems odd. Not sure what it would be.
 
Open up the hatch, mine gets all kind of crud at the top, leaves and pine needles.
 
Could it be that your rear quarter windows are not closed all the way?
I've only had my LX for a couple months or so and when I did my first wash on it, they were not closed all the way and leaked a little water inside the cargo area.
 
Good thought, but no. The windows are closed. This is water that seems to be channeling down from the top of the hatch and for some reason landing on the inside lip of the liftgate and running down inside the cargo area.
 
Check the gasket around the water squirter above the rear window. My attachment dried up and cracked. Didn't notice it until the washing unit had fallen inside of the tailgate.
 
I'm willing to bet your 3rd brake light is leaking, it runs into the top of the hatch and then down and transfers to the inside of the bottom tailgate carpeting and soaks the panel. I used to work in Oregon and have fixed more than one of these. It's about a 1/2 :banana: job. Carefully remove the trim on the inside that goes around the hatch glass and remove the 2 nuts that hold the brake light on and remove. Clean all old adhesive from hatch. At this point you can either replace the light as it comes with new adhesive or (as I did) track down some butyl rubber (aka dum dum) from a NAPA or the like and seal it with this. Good Luck.

ben :D
 
Lexusben - I am getting water through the crack of the closed hatch and tailgate. I think on either side. When I lift the hatch I see water on the top edge of the tailgate. If I understand your post, if it is my 3rd brake light, I would see water dripping down the inside of the hatch glass. I don't. Thanks for the suggestion though. The mystery continues.
 
ABM, I don't know the details of a 100 tailgate too well but if it's similar to that of an 80, you may have a bent tailgate (this happens after big guys have too many tailgate parties :D ) resulting in an imperfect fit of the weather stripping. This allows exhaust to flow back in the car and I suppose, with horizontal rainfall, water to leak through (especially with strong wind). There is a do-it-yourself fix for 80s - don't know about 100 tailgates.

good luck,

David
 
ABM said:
Lexusben - I am getting water through the crack of the closed hatch and tailgate. I think on either side. When I lift the hatch I see water on the top edge of the tailgate. If I understand your post, if it is my 3rd brake light, I would see water dripping down the inside of the hatch glass. I don't. Thanks for the suggestion though. The mystery continues.

Sorry should have explained better. The way the top hatch is designed the water is channeled to the sides. I have seen a bunch of these leak and never seen water on the inside of the back glass it always channels it to the sides and then down. If you want to confirm, pull the upper inside trim and the lower tailgate inside trim panel, climb inside with a flashlight. Have someone outside squirt it with a hose, watch the sides and the bottom. I'm almost sure you'll find the light is the source of the leak. Trust me the first one of these I found I had your same reaction. :D
 
I agree with LexusBen on the third brake light being the problem.

My carpet would get wet after rain and I could not figure out where it was coming in.
I finally pulled out the carpet, side panels and finally the plastic trim around the top of the tailgate. When I hosed down the truck I saw the water coming in through where the third brake light is and run around the sides and down to my carpet.

Hope this helps.
Andrew
 
I have a 98 with the same leak problem.It would only leak with heavy rain.I trace the wetness to the area of the right rear seat belt because the carpet in front of the second row seat also get wet.Took all the trim panel down and found the seat belt itself was also wet.

The only thing i could come up with was the middle roof rack attachment point.So i took that side of the rack off clean all three attactment area and use silcone from toyota on the bolts and washers to seal everything up.

My test was in the last couples it's being raining here and i have no leaks.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I too believe the problem stems from the rear third brake light. Lexusben's explanation sounds right. I haven't had a chance to check it out thoroughly yet. I have to figure out how to remove the l the upper inside trim around the hatch off to confirm. I suppose I have to sit in the cargo area with the hatch closed to do this. It is very awkward to work on the hatch. I tried to check the top hinges of the hatch with it open and had to climb on top of the vehicle to check it out.
 
Water leaks :censor: suck no matter how you slice them. When I worked in Oregon about every 4th or 5th car had one. Sometimes a real pain to try and diagnose.
They are much more fun when the water starts getting into the electrical connectors and shorting pins.

anyway good luck. :grinpimp:
 
A couple of years ago, I had a similiar leak. I regasketed the third brake light once, and that seemed to help. Then, the leak reappeared. After pulling the interior panels off, and using a waterhose for simulated rain, I finally ended up resealing the black rubber weatherstrip to the door jamb all the way around (hatch & tailgate) with black RTV silicone. Mine was loose, and easily pulled away from the metal. No leaks since (knock on wood).
 
cruiserheadrat said:
Open up the hatch, mine gets all kind of crud at the top, leaves and pine needles.


I agree with this. I have noticed that if even a pine needle or a leaf is resting on the upper weather strip at the top of the hatch, rain water wicks down and drips on the carpet below. I would clean out that area, let the wetness dry, and see if it happens again with a heavy rain. Try to get away w/ the cheapest fix first.

Any accident history at the rear of the truck?

Good luck,
Mark
 

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