Rear Liftgate Leaking

[nilopol]

I am having trouble when i go thru a power washer or heavy windy rains, I am finding that my rear door liftgate has a leak that seems to drip from the left rear top into the cargo bay. I have had my dealership look at it, replace the weather stripping, but it still leaks on occassion. Any comments, suggestions, or previous threads to direct me to? Thanks

 

[1loudLX]

did they check the weather stripping on the rear 1/4 vent window also?

 

[MetroWest]

I'm chasing one of these as well. So far I have tried sealing the 3rd brake light seam and rear wing mounting holes with flowable windshield sealer - still leaking. Water appears to be running down the inside of the upper door interior plastic trim and dripping down to soak the bottom left tailgate carpet trim. Next step for me is to replace the tailgate gasket. Keep us posted on what your find.

 

[nilopol]

MetroWest, that is very similar to my problem. Some great ideas to try and investigate, thanks.

 

[MetroWest]

Replaced the tailgate gasket this afternoon - did not help. There was a heavy downpour later and I am still getting water. When I pulled the upper interior trim it appears the water is coming in through the two oval openings for the retainers (each nearest to the center opening). Next step is to try resealing the upper brake light again - I can't see where else the water would be coming in.

Also - when I pulled up the carpet and pulled back the left hand trim panel (where the power outlet is) I found a pool of water in the body cavity below. This is where the rear most frame mount is attached. I drilled a 3/8" hole to provide drainage until I can finally eliminate the leak.

 

[dnp]

My '99 LX leaked and I just discovered my 2003 LX is leaking too! Both from the lift gate. I can find no evidence of water going over the weatherstripping, so I'm concerned it's going under. In my '99, I detected streaks on the inside surface of my rear window, but I have found no evidence of same on my '03.....Seems like this ought to be an easy problem to solve, but so far, it hasn't been.

If anyone finds a solution for this, I surely could use some help as well..........

 

[LandCruisers4Life]

Seems to me like that should be a factory warranty issue......

I haven't seen anyone on here before speaking of this situation.

I know on my FJC that I had, the weather stripping around the read opening was not glued to the body in some places. Maybe you have water going between the weather stripping and the vehicles body??

 

[Yotato]

To solve my leak, I had to ensure my rear window was closed all the way on the left side and for the right, I replaced the mechanism that closes the rear window. I too, chased everything down like you guys until I figured my issue out.

I used painters tape to tape the windows before the rain and that solved the problem for me, so I went my route instead.

 

[MetroWest]

I don't think (although not 100% sure) the water is going under / behind the tailgate gasket - there was a fair amount of that black butyl goo left on the metal ridge when I pulled the old gasket off. Also - the very botton portion of the tailgate gasket does a great job from preventing the water from escaping !

 

[LandCruisers4Life]

Could try putting a little silicon based grease like DOW 111 on all your seals. A very light coat to give a better seal.

 

[r3run33]

i have had this problem and went thru 3 rubber gaskets installed by the dealership seems there has to be some sort of experience putting these things on and a good service guy needs to do it and the gasket it self can not be deffective. hope that helps make sure carpet is all dry before replacing; mine got mold growing b/c it was summer with hot and humid weather its not good

 

[pint]

I used a new really nice touchless car wash for the first time a couple weeks ago. It is very powerful and blows right past the weatherstripping on the rear lift gate. I watched the water pour down the inside of the window in my rear view mirror! I've never had a leak with other car washes or heavy rains, but the force and angle the water was hitting at just pushed right past the rubber. I have cleaned and inspected everything and all look to be in perfect shape? I guess I just won't use that car wash anymore? I usually hand wash anyway, but when it's cold and nasty that can be a bit harsh!

 

[dnp]

Just determined that mine is leaking from the liftgate glass...upper driver's side (weatherstripping isn't flush with the body). I didn't notice before, so others might want to look there as well

 

[DocLX450]

I have the same problem on my Sequoia. It appears that Tundrasolution.com discussed and fixed for this on the sequoia.

 

[jammingator]

My 01 is leaking as well. Water appears to be collecting at the bottom gasket and seeping into the carpet on the left side. The third brake light is a little bowed in the middle and is separated from the metal about 1/8" while it's flush at the ends (probably where it's fastened). I'm going to try to identify the leak using a water hose to flood the lift gate -- suggestion on an old thread from CruiserDan, by the way -- and report back. I need to remove the trim though and after tugging on it a little it didn't pop out right away so I figured I'd ask to see if anyone has removed it before I broke it. Where do I start and does it, in fact, just pop out? Thanks!

 

[FATrabbit]

Update

I wanted to update this thread because I noticed I had a leak a few weeks ago (cargo area carpet soaked) and I had a chance today to investigate, as it is raining here in South Texas.

The picture shows where the leak is coming from. As others in the thread have alluded to, I believe the culprit is the upper brake light gasket.

I removed the upper trim piece around the rear window on the upper lift gate itself and found water dripping between the 2 pieces of sheet metal. With the trim piece on, this water was running down the trim piece around the sides of the rear window and then behind the carpeted piece of trim on the lower lift gate (when I removed this carpeted piece, most of the cardboard back side showed signs of water damage.) The water would come out along the bottom rubber seal of the bottom lift gate and soak the carpet/travel with gravity. I did find a large puddle in the bottom of the body metal when I pulled back the plastic along the side of the cargo area which I am going to have to vacuum out or drill a hole from under the vehicle to let it drain.

I called my local Toyota service center to see what they had to say and they weren't very helpful! I asked the service rep if there was any history on this problem in LCs and he said no, simply advised me to bring the car in. Went to parts next and they didn't show a separate gasket from the brake light but would sell me the entire assembly for around $260. That's enough for me to decide that I am just going to be using some silicone RTV to try and fix it myself! I will probably apply the RTV around the perimeter of the exterior of the light and then in the seam of the sheet metal above the rear window where the leak is coming from.

 

[SupraTuRD]

FAT, did the sealant fix the leak?

I wanted to update this thread because I noticed I had a leak a few weeks ago (cargo area carpet soaked) and I had a chance today to investigate, as it is raining here in South Texas.

The picture shows where the leak is coming from. As others in the thread have alluded to, I believe the culprit is the upper brake light gasket.

I removed the upper trim piece around the rear window on the upper lift gate itself and found water dripping between the 2 pieces of sheet metal. With the trim piece on, this water was running down the trim piece around the sides of the rear window and then behind the carpeted piece of trim on the lower lift gate (when I removed this carpeted piece, most of the cardboard back side showed signs of water damage.) The water would come out along the bottom rubber seal of the bottom lift gate and soak the carpet/travel with gravity. I did find a large puddle in the bottom of the body metal when I pulled back the plastic along the side of the cargo area which I am going to have to vacuum out or drill a hole from under the vehicle to let it drain.

I called my local Toyota service center to see what they had to say and they weren't very helpful! I asked the service rep if there was any history on this problem in LCs and he said no, simply advised me to bring the car in. Went to parts next and they didn't show a separate gasket from the brake light but would sell me the entire assembly for around $260. That's enough for me to decide that I am just going to be using some silicone RTV to try and fix it myself! I will probably apply the RTV around the perimeter of the exterior of the light and then in the seam of the sheet metal above the rear window where the leak is coming from.

 

[agaisin]

FAT, did the sealant fix the leak?

RTV will definitely seal the leak, but it might be difficult to get off if you ever need to replace the light again, etc. For the benefit of this thread, I'll reiterate from another posting that if your problem is with the third brake light, it's b/c the factory gasket is foam (and cra66y) and doesn't age well. B/c it's foam, you can't buy it separately unlike a typical rubber gasket. So you have to buy the same (cra66y) part. You can make your own custom rubber gasket or have someone else do it. That's what my independant shop did - they knew it's a common problem so they sourced a vendor that makes gaskets for them instead of fixing the problem with the same flawed part (the dealership doesn't even consider anything other than OEM part for this problem - generally not a bad thing, but when the OEM part is the problem...).

Fwiw, when it comes to RTV, I personally screwed up royally and learned a lesson about it. I too had a leak in the tailgate, turned out to be a combination of third brake light and water coming in at the top of my weatherstrip where the XM wire came under the weatherstripping. Well, after reading on other forums about people using RTV, I stupidly removed the weatherstripping and pumped gobs of RTV on the edge of the weatherstrip, not realizing how difficult it will be to remove and the fact that weatherstrip isn't supposed to have to keep it on, it's supposed to just sit flush to the trim and have a little of the black weatherstrip goo that comes off easy).

Haven't had any problems since But it's like using a sledgehammer to nail down deckboards. Actually it's probably more like using caulk to seal a leak in your car window - will work but not the right tool for the job, probably will be visibly noticeable, and will be a pita if/when you need to remove it.

Some day soon I plan to remove the weatherstrip, strip off the RTV (hopefully without damaging the paint), and put on a new weatherstrip with minimal black goo. I already have replacement weatherstrip along with some stuff that claims to remove silicone RTV without stripping paint. Hopefully that works.

 

[SupraTuRD]

Thanks for the info!

 

[FATrabbit]

I did not pull the weather stripping from around the third brake light. I initially went to remove the brake light with the thought of applying RTV to the sealing area and re-using the original seal as well. I found that the factory seal seemed to be glued to the body and did not want to damage the foam by further removal (I noticed it stretching when I attempted to pull the light out).

So, I simply applied a bead of silicon to the upper gap between the light and the body and wrapped the bead down the corners. I put as much in the crack as possible and then smoothed it with my finger. Turned out clean and it stopped the leak. I don't really foresee the RTV being a problem in the future.