puddle on lower tailgate

[nelmangle]

..hi

06 ocean race.
water puddling on-top of the lower tailgate left of center, seems to also be present on the inside trim of the upper tailgate too.

any suggestion on where water maybe ingress-ing ?

tia
Nels

[binty]

Thats weird, same problem here. (2006 MY)
Started earlier this year.
So far I have tried cleaning the boot lid drain holes, but that made no difference at all and was in the wrong place.
I have removed the lower plastic inner trim, and found that the water was accumulating in the bottom of the plastic.
This is on the cabin side of the metal door which is double skinned, not between the skins.
it seems like the water is running down inside the plastic trim from the top somewhere.
I have cleaned all the seals but it made no difference.
It appears after rain when the car is locked and stationary.
When it is really bad, and I lift the tailgate lid, drips can be seen between the rear window side and top plastic trims. So i suspect it is running back up inside the plastic.

Any suggestions ??

[binty]

Ok it took 18 months but I have found the source of the small puddle on the lower tailgate and fixed it. Recent very heavy thunderstorms confirmed all is good.

The source of the water ingress was between the inner and outer tailgate panels on the top edge near the hinge. I blocked up the small gap with some waxoyle, (as I had some to hand), it took a couple of applications but is now sorted.
More details below if you are interested.

The symptom was a small pool water on the top edge of the lower tailgate at the left hand side after heavy rain.

The investigation was lengthy and took several months of stripping down, testing, thinking I had found it and starting again.

First step was to remove the tailgate interior trim, see pictures, first remove the light and the outer handle from the tailgate, just unclip them, then remove the two Torx screws that hold the panel. Then grab the panel and give it a good sharp tug to release the spring clips and lift it away. The upper panel just pulls off, finally the side panels also pull off. but these pull towards the centre of the car. see photo for all the panels and clips.

I could then soak the car with a hosepipe and found water collecting in the channel between the bottom of the windscreen and the tailgate, but did not know if it was flowing from the rear wiper towards the edge, or vice versa. Stuffing a piece of blutac in the channel so it could not fill all the way along revealed it was coming from the edge of the tailgate overflowing inside the trim panel. and making its way out under the lowest part of the trim where the puddle was.

I made test strips from dark absorbent paper and inserted them in various places to work out where the flow was. As a result I could eliminate and leaks from the rear screen and confirmed this by soaking the rear screen surround with a hosepipe whilst being careful to keep the area above the screen dry.

Soaking the area above the screen around the spoiler and central brake light caused the leak and as the trim was removed I could check that the brake light was not leaking.

The tailgate is made of two large plastic mouldings that are bonded together, with the glass bonded on top.
The joins are quite complex as the outer moulding is mostly what you can see, but the inner moulding wraps around the side of the rear screen.

I could see that after a good soaking and then leaving the tailgate open, drips of water kept appearing on the top edge where the two panels meet near the hinge. Every time I dried it, it reappeared, it was coming from inside, running back along the track where it came in.

When nice and dry I gave the panel joint a good spray with waxoyle and let it soak in for a few days, sprayed again and let it dry before cleaning off the excess, the leak has now gone.

I suspect what has happened is over time time a small gap has appeared in the bonding between the two panels resulting in water ingress.
When you pull the tailgate down you pull the two panels together at the bottom edge, and therefore must try to pull them apart at the top edge beyond the hinge where the leak was.

I do not know what the best product to use would be for this repair, but the wax has proved satisfactory for the last 4 months so it will do for now.

Good luck.

[Harley Dave]

Well done for coming back with the fix.

Cheers

Dave

[binty]

I forgot to add the photo of the fix, here it is. also the photo of the dribble coming out between the two panels before it was fixed.

[AidXC90]

Binty, you're an XC90 leak detective par excellence!

I've even mentioned your name tonight in a post to another poor owner of a sieve... er, sorry XC90.

My car doesn't leak from the tailgate area.. yet, but if it does I'll know where to look first.

Many thanks to you!

Regards

Aidan Collingwood