Water Ingress

[Bluesbird]

Hello I'm a new member and would be grateful for any advice concerning a water ingress problem I am currently experiencing with my 05 plate Celica. I have had the car for about three years now and sometime last year I noticed that the rear seats were soaking wet. Two garages, tests and constant monitoring has failed to find out where the water is coming from. I have taken the rear seat out to try and ascertain where the water is coming from to no avail. The mystery is that in a downpour no water gets in and when it's a drizzle it does. It appears to be coming in on both sides of the car as both seat wells can have water in them at anyone time, and at times just one or the other. One of the biggests mysteries is that I can get in the car after it has been raining and there is no evidence of any water ingress and yet after the car drive the seat wells will be full of rainwater. Any clues any one?

Thanking you.

Bluesbird.

[Scarlett Arrow]

Two things to check would be the gasket around the rear lights, and the Spoiler mounting holes if you have one fitted. The only other area known to allow ingress is the Sunroof..again if you have one fitted.

HTH and keep us informed :)

[Bluesbird]

Two things to check would be the gasket around the rear lights, and the Spoiler mounting holes if you have one fitted. The only other area known to allow ingress is the Sunroof..again if you have one fitted.

HTH and keep us informed :)

Thanks. I don't get any water in the boot area at all. As stated it just occurs on the rear seats. We had a bit of rain last night and for the first time ever I noticed a trickle of water on one of the quarter lights. My local Toyota garage advised me that the quarter lights would be the last place any water would be getting in as they are sealed units. I think I will get one of the local windscreen companies to have a look at them.

Regards

Bluesbird.

[Rob140VVTi]

Hello I'm a new member and would be grateful for any advice concerning a water ingress problem I am currently experiencing with my 05 plate Celica. I have had the car for about three years now and sometime last year I noticed that the rear seats were soaking wet. Two garages, tests and constant monitoring has failed to find out where the water is coming from. I have taken the rear seat out to try and ascertain where the water is coming from to no avail. The mystery is that in a downpour no water gets in and when it's a drizzle it does. It appears to be coming in on both sides of the car as both seat wells can have water in them at anyone time, and at times just one or the other. One of the biggests mysteries is that I can get in the car after it has been raining and there is no evidence of any water ingress and yet after the car drive the seat wells will be full of rainwater. Any clues any one?

Thanking you.

Bluesbird.

Don't take it to a windscreen shop, you'll just be wasting your time and money as the leak is not coming through the quarter windows. What you need to do is to remove the two weatherseals/strips on either side of the roof, clean up all the debris and old sealer from the spot weld seam and reapply new silicone sealer into the channel before fitting back the weather strip. Make sure you also clean and apply sealer to the weld seam in the top corners underneath the boot/hatch.

If you do a search for water leaks/water under rear seat you should come across my reply to another member with exactly the same problem, unfortunatley he never replied back but I can more or less guarantee that this is where the water is entering the vehicle. Having stripped the inner plastic panels out I had someone spray water over the area whilst I was inside, at first it does appear that the quarter window is leaking but with further investigation and helpfull info from another site the weld seams on the roof and top corner of the hatch opening are the culprit. Result: dry rear seats, and not a drop of water either underneath them or under the spare wheel.

[Bluesbird]

Hello I'm a new member and would be grateful for any advice concerning a water ingress problem I am currently experiencing with my 05 plate Celica. I have had the car for about three years now and sometime last year I noticed that the rear seats were soaking wet. Two garages, tests and constant monitoring has failed to find out where the water is coming from. I have taken the rear seat out to try and ascertain where the water is coming from to no avail. The mystery is that in a downpour no water gets in and when it's a drizzle it does. It appears to be coming in on both sides of the car as both seat wells can have water in them at anyone time, and at times just one or the other. One of the biggests mysteries is that I can get in the car after it has been raining and there is no evidence of any water ingress and yet after the car drive the seat wells will be full of rainwater. Any clues any one?

Thanking you.

Bluesbird.

Don't take it to a windscreen shop, you'll just be wasting your time and money as the leak is not coming through the quarter windows. What you need to do is to remove the two weatherseals/strips on either side of the roof, clean up all the debris and old sealer from the spot weld seam and reapply new silicone sealer into the channel before fitting back the weather strip. Make sure you also clean and apply sealer to the weld seam in the top corners underneath the boot/hatch.

If you do a search for water leaks/water under rear seat you should come across my reply to another member with exactly the same problem, unfortunatley he never replied back but I can more or less guarantee that this is where the water is entering the vehicle. Having stripped the inner plastic panels out I had someone spray water over the area whilst I was inside, at first it does appear that the quarter window is leaking but with further investigation and helpfull info from another site the weld seams on the roof and top corner of the hatch opening are the culprit. Result: dry rear seats, and not a drop of water either underneath them or under the spare wheel.

Rob,

Thanks very much, your advice is much appreciated.

I had wondered whether the water was coming in from the seams but dismissed it on the advice from one of the garages, however your backed up information makes it seem so obvious. I will reseal the roof strips as suggested. If that fails I'm resigned to having a mobile paddling pool! I will get back to you when I have done and tell you of the results.

Again, thanks.

Bluesbird.

[Rob140VVTi]

Hello I'm a new member and would be grateful for any advice concerning a water ingress problem I am currently experiencing with my 05 plate Celica. I have had the car for about three years now and sometime last year I noticed that the rear seats were soaking wet. Two garages, tests and constant monitoring has failed to find out where the water is coming from. I have taken the rear seat out to try and ascertain where the water is coming from to no avail. The mystery is that in a downpour no water gets in and when it's a drizzle it does. It appears to be coming in on both sides of the car as both seat wells can have water in them at anyone time, and at times just one or the other. One of the biggests mysteries is that I can get in the car after it has been raining and there is no evidence of any water ingress and yet after the car drive the seat wells will be full of rainwater. Any clues any one?

Thanking you.

Bluesbird.

Don't take it to a windscreen shop, you'll just be wasting your time and money as the leak is not coming through the quarter windows. What you need to do is to remove the two weatherseals/strips on either side of the roof, clean up all the debris and old sealer from the spot weld seam and reapply new silicone sealer into the channel before fitting back the weather strip. Make sure you also clean and apply sealer to the weld seam in the top corners underneath the boot/hatch.

If you do a search for water leaks/water under rear seat you should come across my reply to another member with exactly the same problem, unfortunatley he never replied back but I can more or less guarantee that this is where the water is entering the vehicle. Having stripped the inner plastic panels out I had someone spray water over the area whilst I was inside, at first it does appear that the quarter window is leaking but with further investigation and helpfull info from another site the weld seams on the roof and top corner of the hatch opening are the culprit. Result: dry rear seats, and not a drop of water either underneath them or under the spare wheel.

Rob,

Thanks very much, your advice is much appreciated.

I had wondered whether the water was coming in from the seams but dismissed it on the advice from one of the garages, however your backed up information makes it seem so obvious. I will reseal the roof strips as suggested. If that fails I'm resigned to having a mobile paddling pool! I will get back to you when I have done and tell you of the results.

Again, thanks.

Bluesbird.

Bluesbird

OK no problem, from what I can gather this seems to be another common fault, especialy as the car gets older. At first I was just as puzzeled, the car could standout in the worst weather, I'd look under the rear seat and it would be bone dry but any sort of a drive in the rain and like you say a mini swimming pool. Mine though was also tracking its way into the boot area finishing up in the spare wheel well so at first thought I'd got a double leak, checking all the usual places I was beginning to think I'd never find the leaks until I read a post from a guy in the states who'd resealed the roof weather strips. That was nearly twelve months ago and touch wood I've had no problems since.

Good luck with the reseal, and yes let me know how you get on.

Rob