Removing RH Taillamp

Ok, I've got everything out of the way except the RH interior panel. How is that one removed?

 

I want to pull the taillamp to track down a water leak.

 

After a little poking and prodding, I removed the panel. Now, it's time to remove the taillamp and look for the leak.

 

Found three leaks and sealed them up. We'll see how it goes the next time it rains.

 

The car was in a fender bender back in December, but I always got a little bit of frost on the inside of the windshield in the winter. After the repairs, I was getting a lot more frost, so I decided to find where it was coming from. When I removed the 12V battery cover, I saw a build up of ice/water, which gave me a place to start looking.

After removing all the RH and traction battery covers and the RH tail lamp, I dried up any condensation and started poking around with a flashlight. I found the seal for the charging port water drain elbow lying at the bottom, so I disconnected the back bumper cover and reinstalled the seal on the elbow. I poured a cup of water over the top of the fitting and didn't see any water come in, so that was eliminated.

Next, I started pouring water down the back while I was watching the inside and I saw drops coming from under a seam. There's a black plastic piece that a pin on the bottom of the tail lamp fits into on the rear panel. I popped it out and there wasn't any type of seal on it, so I took some strip-caulk and wrapped a bit around the plastic piece and pushed it back into the hole. When I poured water down this time, the drops from under the seam were gone, but I saw a tiny little bit of water in one more spot.

There's a white plastic fitting that the rear bumper cover retaining screw screws into. When I popped out, I saw that one little spot of the sheet metal under it was slightly bulged out. I tapped it flat and stuck the fitting back in, with a little bit of strip-caulk underneath it. When I tested it with water, it appeared that there was no more water intrusion. The next rain will see if I've gotten all the leaks.

My conclusion is that the elbow and tail lamp leaks were due to assembly from the body shop, but the bumper fitting was the original leaker, since the frost started before the fender bender.