[lopperdan]

So 2 weeks ago I looked in the spare tire area and found 3+ inches of water in it.
Got it all out and didn't see any where it could be coming from. It rained again and again I had like half gallon to a gallon of water.

Dried it out went underneath and smeared rtv silicone on over the grommets and any where it looked like it could be. Rained again and another half gallon of water. Done this a few times.

Back underneath Friday night with the sealant and rained Saturday and more water.

I have no idea where its coming from. If I look at the driver side rear cargo area trim panel. Its wet at the bottom edge where the plastic meets the metal. I tried prying the panel off but seems like a bigger job ill have to wait for a day off to do.

Any ideas where it could be coming from?

Only thing I can think of is the wheel well area has some leak and coming up behind the trim panel in the back. I don't see holes underneath the car and all the seams seem good inside
I also have the SSD roof rails and only other thing I can think of is some kind of leak in the roof that's tricking down but I would think id see water in the headliner or elsewhere if it were the case.

I figure if I can get the cargo area trim off ill just take everything out of the car and take the garden house and gush water around and see if I can find where its coming in.

 

[lopperdan]

If anyones interested I found the problem.

On the drivers side if you take the turnsignal/brake light assembly off you see a opening going down into bumper cover.
There is a big rectangular shaped plastic plug thing that was letting water inside and it was leaking through the seam in the back corner.

cleaned and dried it and smeared silicone sealant over it.

Rained all day today and am going to go check it soon. Fingers crossed

 

[GeoSoul]

Thanks for the TIP lopperdan.

Was that plastic plug degraded somehow? I'm curious why it failed, or is it just a bad design?

Hope that solved the problem. That's a crap load of water coming in. Really glad it didn't get into the back seat upholstery.

How about the carpet over the boot space? It doesn't take much for mold to start growing.

 

[Johnny365]

Double post.

 

[lopperdan]

Checked it tonight after heavy rain all day and no water got in. So I found the problem.

The plug was loose, it had about 1/8 inch of play in it. It is a hard plastic plug probly 2-3" wide and 4"+ long. No seal or gasket on it. Right in the metal body of the rear of the car. Its an extremely bad design flaw.

Seems that the water that drains down the back of the car that goes through the bumper cover to drain pours right over it and since it wasn't tight or sealed it went into the car frame and out a joint into the wheel well. I checked the passenger side and didn't see one on that side.

I don't know how long the water was in the back. I changed to my summer wheels in June and put the full size spare for them in the back at the time and hadn't looked since. I lifted the weathertech mats and the carpet under them was wet so it must have been sloshing around and getting under the seat to the floor. Took the mat out and seems to have dried.

 

[The Sradiator]

It's your spare tire jacuzzi...

 

[jdmartin]

Checked it tonight after heavy rain all day and no water got in. So I found the problem.

The plug was loose, it had about 1/8 inch of play in it. It is a hard plastic plug probly 2-3" wide and 4"+ long. No seal or gasket on it. Right in the metal body of the rear of the car. Its an extremely bad design flaw.

Seems that the water that drains down the back of the car that goes through the bumper cover to drain pours right over it and since it wasn't tight or sealed it went into the car frame and out a joint into the wheel well. I checked the passenger side and didn't see one on that side.

I don't know how long the water was in the back. I changed to my summer wheels in June and put the full size spare for them in the back at the time and hadn't looked since. I lifted the weathertech mats and the carpet under them was wet so it must have been sloshing around and getting under the seat to the floor. Took the mat out and seems to have dried.

Thanks for coming back and reporting the solution you found - you'd be surprised at how many numb-nuts around here can't be bothered. It makes the forums fairly useless for any kind of archival value. The back of my car is dry, but if it ever springs a leak I'll be looking there first.

 

[maisonlouishebert]

Checked it tonight after heavy rain all day and no water got in. So I found the problem.

The plug was loose, it had about 1/8 inch of play in it. It is a hard plastic plug probly 2-3" wide and 4"+ long. No seal or gasket on it. Right in the metal body of the rear of the car. Its an extremely bad design flaw.

Seems that the water that drains down the back of the car that goes through the bumper cover to drain pours right over it and since it wasn't tight or sealed it went into the car frame and out a joint into the wheel well. I checked the passenger side and didn't see one on that side.

I don't know how long the water was in the back. I changed to my summer wheels in June and put the full size spare for them in the back at the time and hadn't looked since. I lifted the weathertech mats and the carpet under them was wet so it must have been sloshing around and getting under the seat to the floor. Took the mat out and seems to have dried.

Thank you so much! We noticed water in the spare tire area and thanks to this forum we already know where to look. Many thanks!