Changed 12v battery, found water in battery compartment

Just changed out my 12v battery in my 2008 Prius, where to my surprise I found water in the battery compartment. There have been heavy rains this past weekend but it should not have entered the car. I've read many threads with others experiencing this problem but didn't really read a solution.

Anybody know of a solution? Can I drill drain holes in the battery/spare tire compartments to drain water? If I didn't discover this water today, it would sit in the car and really start to get moldy and stink. This could be a big problem!!

 

I don't even know if it's a body seam that's causing the water entering. I have to look again in better lighting tomorrow. Some have mentioned gaskets, some silicone type seal, so many different things. But with so many threads to talk about this problem, it's strange there isn't a common problem.

There has been people that say the seam is cracked....which I think is dangerous. This could cause a short in the battery while the car is being driven with water collecting inside. Serious safety issue if the car gets shorted and just stops while you're driving 100mph on the highway.....

 

I will have to look for these cracks, seems crazy to have such a defect. I would think this should be a safety recall of some kind, water and electric components don't mix well....especially with a brake controller in the back too.

 

I'm not really sure it's really that rare. it's not common for people to look all the way back there to look for water. Just the ones that have changed their batteries after a car wash or rain (my case, rain). Any other time, the water would have evaporated and disappeared. One thread did mention a good check for this is if there is rust in the spare tire. There shouldn't be any rust there unless the spare tire has been used in wet conditions.

I remember on the 2005 I worked on, the hatched looked like it had water damage by the spare tire. I couldn't understand why until I read these threads. In my case, that's already 2 out of 3. I will look at my 2006 tomorrow to see if there is an evidence of water there. If there is signs of water damage, that will be 3 for 3.

 

Just checked my 06, dry as a whistle. This 06 is the roughest of the 3 Gen2 cars here. The nicest cleanest 08 is the one that leaks the most water.....very strange.

 

Check under the gutters on the roof of the car. There is a crack that forms on the steel body that water leaks through. It is at the end where the gutter meets the hatch. found it today with a little help from members here and I have to seal cracks to resolve this problem

SM-N900P ?

 

Uart, I looked at some other thread just posted the other day, mentioned the same gutter area. You pointed me in the right direction, I'm pretty sure that's the entry point of the water. Thanks