My recommendation to you is to first identify the source of the leak - in your case it may or may not be from the third brake light. There are some other simpler fixes - for example the drain holes on the bottom of the tailgate may be clogged, your weatherstrip might be compromised or not on right, etc. You can do the water test - i.e. ideally remove the trim on the back door, leave a hose on the roof draining to the back of the truck, and sit inside and watch for water collection....
Rear Cargo Area Water Leak - How I fixed it.
- Thread starter SupraTuRD
- Start date
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Nice write up post and photos! This needs to be put into FAQ Mr. Mod. 
- Thread starter
- #23
Thanks! I don't think the foam gasket material is all that bad... I think the problem may lie in the flatness of the sheet metal where the 3rd brake light actually seals against the rear hatch. When I was scraping the gasket adhesive off of the hatch, I noticed that the metal was flexing quite a bit and was extremely thin and easily warpable. If the sealing surface was never perfectly flat, or at least as flat as the 3rd brake light assy, it's sealing ability would be compromised.
Thanks Oregon... if you know you have a leak, I'd at least pop off the internal plastic pieces to help isolate the source of the leak.
If you know that the source of the leak is from the 3rd light, I would definitely take the time to do it right... notice the amount of debris that was present around my 3rd light assembly. The adhesive simply cannot adhere well to a dirty surface.
SupraTuRD
I definitely want to do it right. From your pictures though, it just didn't look like all of the interior tear down was necessary. It appeared that the 3rd brake light was able to be removed and the area cleaned all from the outside. That is all I was getting at.
have a good one...and nice job again!
I definitely want to do it right. From your pictures though, it just didn't look like all of the interior tear down was necessary. It appeared that the 3rd brake light was able to be removed and the area cleaned all from the outside. That is all I was getting at.
have a good one...and nice job again!
Cargo leak, not 3rd brake light
Hi all,
I have a rear cargo leak as well but I don't believe it is the 3rd brake light. The water seems to be coming in between the tail gate and the rear cargo area. I have replaced the 3rd brake light, and have tested it with a hose and with all the trim removed around the brake light and rear window - and everything around the 3rd brake light was dry, but I still had a LOT of water running in the channel between the tailgate and the cargo area????? Also, all the wather stripping seems good and I didn't see evidence that water was getting through the weather stripping.
Any ideas? I keep reading about drain holes, but I can't seem to find any? It is possible its coming in on the small vent on the rear near the side rear windows? Can someone give me more direction on where the drain holes are.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Lee
2000 UZJ100
Hi all,
I have a rear cargo leak as well but I don't believe it is the 3rd brake light. The water seems to be coming in between the tail gate and the rear cargo area. I have replaced the 3rd brake light, and have tested it with a hose and with all the trim removed around the brake light and rear window - and everything around the 3rd brake light was dry, but I still had a LOT of water running in the channel between the tailgate and the cargo area????? Also, all the wather stripping seems good and I didn't see evidence that water was getting through the weather stripping.
Any ideas? I keep reading about drain holes, but I can't seem to find any? It is possible its coming in on the small vent on the rear near the side rear windows? Can someone give me more direction on where the drain holes are.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Lee
2000 UZJ100
First, seal or re-seal the 3rd brake light housing. I also didn't believe that was causing all the water to soak the carpet in the cargo area, but it was. Even if you replaced it, the seal could be bad or not seated right. When running down the road in rain, the rear window deflector on my '04 must force a lot of water from the roof right on that light housing at fairly high pressure. Once sealed, no leak.
While I was installing pfran's rear LED lights for reverse illumination, I noticed the rear hatch interior carpet panel was soaked from the bottom up a couple inches on both bottom corners and some in the middle, has anyone else experienced this? No moisture on the rear floor carpets just that hatch interior panel. I did notice some moisture on the inside of the weather stripping but it looked in good condition.
When everyone changed fixed their third light did they notice any moisture on the rear hatch panel or just the rear floor carpet?
When everyone changed fixed their third light did they notice any moisture on the rear hatch panel or just the rear floor carpet?
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I ended up doing this repair yesterday. It definitely helps to let the goo gone soak into the foam gasket for and hour on both the remaining junk left on the tailgate and the brake light. Just make sure you don't leave it too long on the brake or let the goo gone sit on any of the non grey plastic. I may end up having to replace mine altogether now that some of the exposed red plastic has frosted over because the goo gone ate the top layer off.
There is a fine line to letting the goo gone sit. I left mine on too long which was 3-4 hours. I think an hour or so would work and that gasket will come off without any scraping.
Only problem I had was the wind deflector mounts would not come off. At least one bolt on each side would just spin and never retract out of the hole. Anyone else have that problem or have any idea for getting them out?
There is a fine line to letting the goo gone sit. I left mine on too long which was 3-4 hours. I think an hour or so would work and that gasket will come off without any scraping.
Only problem I had was the wind deflector mounts would not come off. At least one bolt on each side would just spin and never retract out of the hole. Anyone else have that problem or have any idea for getting them out?
So shame on me for not following the first step of ensuring that the water leak is the 3rd brake light housing. I found out AFTER I did all the work that it was the weather stripping that was causing my leak. Fortunately it was just how the weather strip was sitting and how it was sealed to the back of the LX. I didn't end up having to buy a new weather strip for the back of the LX thankfully.
0028,
I bought a used hatch for mine and took off the wing on the old hatch for another mudder. The Wing mounts are tac welded nuts that are not particularly well attached. IIRC On one I had to actaully pry the nut through the body to get the mount loose. On both I had to tap out the mount holes around the wing attachement bolts in order to get the wing off. It was a major PITA.
I bought a used hatch for mine and took off the wing on the old hatch for another mudder. The Wing mounts are tac welded nuts that are not particularly well attached. IIRC On one I had to actaully pry the nut through the body to get the mount loose. On both I had to tap out the mount holes around the wing attachement bolts in order to get the wing off. It was a major PITA.
I replaced mine a year ago. I've never noticed any leaking and never did any sealants. Also, I found it to be a PITA to get off the sealant from the PO. Ironically the problem for him/her wasn't the seal it was the entire 3rd brake light housing that was cracked clean in half.
I'll start paying attention to leaks just in case.
I'll start paying attention to leaks just in case.
- Thread starter
- #36
RobRed said:Thank you Supra - I have the OTC set which is probably identical. How about you do all the work on this while I watch?
How about I reseal your 3rd light leak in exchange for material cut to size for my RR Rear Cargo setup? Deal? =]
Happy New Year all,thanks for all the info Supra and others.I am dealing with a rear cargo area leak now.After a heavy rainfall total last year(65 in.or so up here in Brookdale/Boulder Creek area in the Santa Cruz Mountains)the leak was not that bad.It only got soaked a few times,today just washing the truck it got wet.And we have not even got much rain at all this season.So it seems like this would be a good time to get it fixed!
I am going to pull some inside trim pieces 1st. and do the water test.I will post up what I find out.
Are the hatches pretty much the same on an 04 as compaired to earlier models? BTW my old 93' 80 had a rear leaky cargo area also,It used to get soaked.But it was pretty much a trail truck so I never really worried about fixing it.
Thanks,John
I am going to pull some inside trim pieces 1st. and do the water test.I will post up what I find out.
Are the hatches pretty much the same on an 04 as compaired to earlier models? BTW my old 93' 80 had a rear leaky cargo area also,It used to get soaked.But it was pretty much a trail truck so I never really worried about fixing it.
Thanks,John
- Thread starter
- #38
Hey John, did you have a chance to pull the panels yet? Once the panels are off, have someone hold a garden hose and flood the upper hatch as you observe from the cargo area. Let us know what you find. =]
Ok I'm ready to finally deal with this rear cargo area leak.Just went through a car wash this evening and it started dripping pretty bad back there.I just didn't get around to it last year cause it was a really dry winter.
Subscribed. I'll post up my findings soon!
Subscribed. I'll post up my findings soon!