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Make sure the body seems are not leaking on the rear body panel very common after rear collision . My data base says you can buy the tail lamp seal from Lexus around 17.00. Keystone sells a aftermarket tail lamp for around 205.00 .
I finally received the new tail light gasket and installed it last night. To be on the safe side, I applied some RTV silicon between the gasket and the body panel. I assembled everything, gave it a couple of hours for the silicon to "set" and tested it. It did not solve my problem (dang!!). The water is not coming in from around the tail light opening.
When I test with water, I have been pouring it down the channel that is between the hatch gasket and the body or quarter panel, about 2/3 of the way down from the top of the car. Most of the water runs behind the black plastic trim piece that is mounted in this channel adjacent to the tail light. There are little plastic fingers on the tail light that actually fit into this piece of trim. Does anyone know if it is normal for water to run down behind this piece? Would I be wise to apply some more RTV silicon at the top of this piece to seal the gap between the top edge of the trim and the hatch channel?
I will keep pressing on until I figure this thing out.
Make sure the body seems are not leaking on the rear body panel very common after rear collision . My data base says you can buy the tail lamp seal from Lexus around 17.00. Keystone sells a aftermarket tail lamp for around 205.00 .
I have visually inspected all of the body seams that I have access to. When I removed the tail light assembly, all of the body work & seams behind it appeared to be factory fresh. I can see the water running down the body panel from the inside, but it is between the 2 layers of sheet metal that make up the corner portion of the rear quarter. The leak is not a "seep" but a "flow" (if that makes sense), so I think that it is going to be a pretty good size opening.
The rear damage appears to be to the left corner of the bumper (and possibly what is behind it). The running light that is mounted in the bumper is not sitting in the opening correctly. If I continue to be stumped, I may have to take the car to a body shop that can remove the bumper for me so that I can see what is going on behind it.
Although I have not done it before on this forum, I will try and take some photos and post them so that what I am trying to describe will be easier to visualize.
The owners manual probably has instructions on how to remove the marker light for replacing the bulb. That might give you a portal to look what's going on behind the cover.
I believe there is a rubber grommet in the trunk that the bumper marker light wire passes through, you might be able to see that form the inside since you have the cargo floor removed. I would expect there are also vents behind the bumper cover to allow hvac air to leave the car, they are usually on the sides of the car behind the bumper cover.
NVAKeith,
You are correct. The marker light and the associated wiring grommet are more towards the corner. My leak seems to be in the rear, just below the intersection of the hatch channel and the bumper (where the hatch weatherstripping goes from vertical to horizontal).
I ran some more tests last night with the black trim piece removed. By progressively moving down the hatch channel with my water bottle, It seems that the water is flowing in from a seam that is behind the bumper cover. I basically got to the point where I was pouring water at the junction of the bumper cover and rear body panel and was still seeing the leak. I was able to shine a flashlight down into that opening and I thought that I could see a rusty edge of a body panel, like that may be where the water is coming in.
At this point, I need to remove the bumper cover to investigate further.
Does anyone know if this is a task I should tackle myself or should I take it to a body shop and have them remove the cover? I looked briefly, but couldn't tell for sure what holds it on. To be fair, it was getting dark and I was using a flashlight.
Well, after persistence in eliminating one thing after another, it turns out that Barry2522 was correct. I found that there was a body seam behind the bumper cover that was separated and allowing water to leak into the rear cargo area. Once I determined that it was not the tail light seal or any of the other fastener holes and openings in that area and was able to remove the bumper cover, the source was very obvious (as you can see from the photo below). I took a funnel with a long spout and was able to direct a steady flow of water on this split and saw that most of the water ended up inside the car. I used some black RTV silicon sealer/adhesive and was able to stop the leak.
Thanks to everyone for their help in resolving this issue that has been going on for almost 2 years now.
Body seam separation at left rear quarter with bumper cover removed
I am glad you found it . That was some sloppy body repair on the rear panel . I had a feeling when you said it was in accident that would be your problem area . the body man that fixed that should be slapped upside the head .
NateJG,
I don't know if the windshield has been replaced. We have only had the car for 2 years and it has not been replaced since we've owned it.
There is a misalignment between the bumper guard and the left rear quarter panel that is only slightly noticeable and was that way when we bought it. The AutoCheck (like CarFax) report that I did before buying the vehicle stated that there was a minor accident back in 2005 involving the left rear.
My plan at this point is to pour a lot of water in the moon roof channels (one side at a time) to try and determine if the rear drain tubes are leaking. (They are not stopped up because water comes out behind the rear wheels on each side when I pour water into the channel on that respective side.) I really doubt this is the culprit because that would mean (during the heavy rain night-before-last) that enough water would have had to leak by the moon roof seal (which looks good, by the way) to produce over a gallon of water inside of the car.
Depending on the outcome of that test, my next approach is to seal off the moon roof entirely with poly and duct tape and then start to pour water onto various areas of the roof to see if I can isolate where it is coming in. The carpet is definitely wet at the base of each "C" pillar so I suspect it is near the back somewhere, possibly where the roof rack attaches to the roof.
Like I have stated before, I really think that I could shorten this process by removing the headliner, but I'm afraid that I either can't get it down without damaging it, or won't be able to secure it back in place when I'm finished. I think that all I need to do is pull down the rear 1/3 of it to be able to see what is going on.
Do you or anyone else know of a post that describes how to remove the headliner and re-install?
"...There is a misalignment between the bumper guard and the left rear quarter panel that is only slightly noticeable and was that way when we bought it. The AutoCheck (like CarFax) report that I did before buying the vehicle stated that there was a minor accident back in 2005 involving the left rear..."
Whodathunkit would cause so much trouble from such a seemingly innocuous little void.
I have Lexus RX330 2005. I bought it in Feb 2017, and used it till now (over year and a half) and had no problem with any water leak.
The car is parked outside on the street. I live in Sydney, Australia.
We had a continouos rain in the last three weeks and I did notice a damp smell inside the car. Initially could not find anything and the thing was not that serious and I was busy working.
But decided to investigate further and found two mats passenger side front and back are damp under - attached photos.
I can't find anything else wet inside the car (mats on the driver side are dry). I have a rear triangle plastic window cover missing - attached photos.
Do you think this is solely due to those holes on the last photo being open? Would covering them with a plastic tape solve the issue (after the weather gets warmer and car dries up) - what do you think?
Thank you,
Binks The darker part of carpet closer to Lexus letters is also wet a bit. There are 3 or 4 mounting holes uncovered.
The usual suspect on dampness in the cabin is the drain line from the sunroof is 1) clogged or 2) unhooked from the drain spout from the floor. Suggest you do a search for sunroof drain...
Or else your drain line from your evaporator (A/C) could be clogged, however you did talk about heavy rain, points to the sunroof drain.
The floor eventually dried up. I also sealed the holes in that missing plastic cover for rear triangular window.
There was a huge rain, just one night, and the floors are wet again.
My question is the following. Does water pour into the sunroof drain, even the sunroof is closed?
The sunroof is not 100% watertight, hence you will notice that a trough exist around the perimeter. The water is diverted to a drain and is connected through the cabin and exits through a hose below. If the hose is blocked for some reason, water will find the least resistance out, which is probably the connection location (inside the cabin) and hence this would be your water ending up below your mats. 2 sources of water in the cabin – AC condensate and Sunroof drain line.
06-17-15, 07:13 AM
Rx330 2005
