A short story of how a leak was found. Water leaks like this cause damage.
While doing rust repair work under the ps rear seat, noticed evidence water has been collecting there from somewhere.
The fold down seat panel carpet was damp in that corner. Car towels that happened to be there- damp. Recent developments..
The large ps 1/4 trim panel is temp removed, so nothing is hidden.
While driving in light rain, noticed in rear view mirror the suspected water drip from the roof area.
Thought i seen a drip last week. Now drip was enough to see consistently. Yup we got a roof leak.
Rained overnite, my chance to place a bucket to catch and measure any water. Wow more than a quart.
That put a roof leak repair on top of priority fix list.
The hatch rubber seal was changed out in May. Suspected pinched hatch seal or something was ruled out.
Opened the hatch and chiseled out the corner area seam sealer to inspect the metal under it.
Quickly found out where the drips were coming from. Rust outs.
Rust outs hidden under the seam sealer where the hatch metal, rear 1/4, and roof meet.
Water was running inside car, hidden down the inside of the 1/4 panel trim. When the trim was on, no drips were seen.
A faint water trail on the back of the panel looks to run inside the trim down toward the rear ps speaker area.
Seam sealer did not seem to seal anymore. Failed. Prob years ago.
The only time the leak was discovered is when the 1/4 trim was removed last week for repairs.
Obviously took years for the water damage to progress this far.
Aged cracked seam sealer, with pin holed rusted metal under it, allowed water into car. Welded seams are ok no gaps.
The driver side hatch/roof area seam sealer area looks ok. At a later date will be removed for metal inspection and resealed.
Before repairs, outside:
Inside:
Yesterday got the repair done. Is now a very solid area.
3/16" rivets, black hammered type paint on base and new metal. Air rivet gun installed rivets tight and easily.
3/16" x 1/2" size rivet was too long. Used 1/8". 1/4 or 3/8 long would have been be ideal. Did not have.
Will redo if the 1/8" rivets pull out. Seem ok. Rivets were installed from inside car in case they have to be replaced.
With repair metal in place, stuffed holes from the outside with butyl, then finished gutter area with black roof cement.
Not exactly perfect factory work nor a lipstick repair, and will be hidden when trim panel is reinstalled.
A 3/16" drilled hole for a rivet showed layers of old and new metal. Filed all hole burrs and patch sharp edges:
Metal patchs. Inner one is 24g to fill gap under outer plate patch. Metal was cut to shape with snips.
Base metal and repair patches are sprayed non gloss black.
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