Hatchback water leak

All right, when I purchased my 2006 Gen2 a couple of months ago, it had a fair amount of water in the rear - spare tire well, 12V battery area, and such. Since I had the interior body trim panels out to work on the HV battery, I just left them out until I could figure where the water leak was. Eventually I saw that there were leaks on both sides of the body- high up on the hatch back (tailgate) opening frame. Careful examination of the exterior (under the lip of the hatch) revealed what was going on.

On each side (left and right) there were two separate spots where the factory seam sealer had failed and cracked, allowing water to penetrate. One spot was at the top of the hatch opening- there is a semi-triangular reinforcing piece- the outer seam was leaking

. Further up and forward from there where the side drip gutter runs into the hatch area. The seam at the corner of the roof panel is where the second sealer failure was. See the attached pictures- I outlined the sealer cracks in orange.


For now my repair was to clean the affected areas and dry with compressed air, then apply RTV silicone to cover the cracks.(Later i will likely scratch the paint with a wire brush for more bite and apply new seam sealer) For the lower spots I supported the hatch with a prop rod and removed the lift ram mount on one side at a time to improve access. For the upper spots I gently pried up the back end of the plastic filler strip in the drip gutter.

After a couple rain storms the inside is staying dry so I can put my interior back in. Hope this helps someone.

 

Understood, somehow when I searched for water leaks earlier I didn't find much. Might have accidentally selected a subforum or something.