Wet Trunk/Hatch Under Carpet

I was lifting up the carpet in the trunk area (doing the shock bolt access hole thing) and it was soaking wet. The padding was dripping and puddles were forming. Does anybody know common leak sources for the trunk area? I see a lot of complaints of leaks in the footwell, but rarely the trunk. The trunk area is filled with holes, like the spare tire mount has screws that go straight through the floor, but I can't see that much water getting inside from there. There hasn't been too much rain here this summer too. I'm totally stumped.

Cracks around the rear window or hatch will drip down into that area as will a bad gasket on the rear hatch itself.

Yucca-Man said:

Cracks around the rear window or hatch will drip down into that area as will a bad gasket on the rear hatch itself.

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Interesting. I didn't think of sources above the carpet because I never see water dripping from the window or wet trim pieces around the hatch. I am so confused.

I feel like smearing a light coat of marine grease all over the floor before dropping the carpet back down. I'm too lazy to Herculiner the back, but don't want anymore rust. Even though the carpet padding was completely wet for god knows how long, the floor didn't have too much rust damage. I just want to keep it that way.

Mine is leaking through the window rubber and/or the top seal. It seems to collect by the latch the drip down onto the catch. My Latch locking mechanism is pretty rusty. The water seems to collect under the bottom plastic floor edge and is starting to turn to cancer under there. Something to deal with soon.

you might also look at the hatch latch on the floor itself...MAYBE...its coming in from underneath.

You could unbolt it and silicone it to stop moisture / H2O from coming in there as well.

I would go with the gasket first...make sure the upper channel on the roof is clean of debris. It has a nasty habit of collecting there, and it is usually the LAST place most people clean out.

I checked my window seals and they look great. I cleaned out the rain gutter area. Whoa, there were a lot of pine needles there. The trunk catch looks pretty good too. I'll unbolt it just to look, but it seems pretty rust free. Is it easy to unbolt?



The passenger side seems to have a lot more water/mold/rust spots. I sanded them and painted over with some rust paint. I noticed that there is a lot of sand and the worst rust in the little cubbie hole area. It seems like the wheel well seams have this foam sealer stuff on it. Is it common for that foam sealer to leak. It's really difficult to track down cracks in that foam. What are all those rubber plugs in the floor for? There's one in the bottom of the cubbie hole too.



All in all though, I'm surprised at how little rust is back there. I know the carpet padding was wet when I ran wires for my cd changer about 2 years ago. Maybe the rubber carpet shield and all that water suffocated the rust. Doesn't rust need oxygen to occur?

I am having this same problem. The carpet in the rear cargo area and in the floorboards had been wet for so long that it just constantly stank in my XJ. A few days ago I pulled back the carpet and removed the side pannels, cleaned the area above the hatch (full of pine needles), set the hose on the roof climbed in the back with a flashlight and waited. I noticed some water coming in the pass rear upper corner from between a pinch seam. At the end of the raingutter there is a small crack that I believe the water is traveling through (not confirmed), trickling down the corner of the vehicle, and then working its way into the cargo area where the side pannel indention is. You might take a look here, let me know what you find. If the weatherstripping is still good and water is getting in between the rubber and the door then you can adjust the door in a bit to tighten that gap as the weatherstripping ages...

Mine is leaking at the lower window gasket. It then gets in between the fiberglass hatch and then drips directly to the floor so from inside you never see the water unless your really looking for it.

Holy cow! There's a swimming pool in my cubbie hole. I had my carpet and plastic trim off and it rained this past weekend, so I couldn't work on anything. I go work on stuff today and there's literally about 3 inches of water in the cubbie hole. I'm looking for leaks, but can't find any.... ugh.

I'll take pics later, but does anybody have the same problem?

Thayer said:

Holy cow! There's a swimming pool in my cubbie hole. I had my carpet and plastic trim off and it rained this past weekend, so I couldn't work on anything. I go work on stuff today and there's literally about 3 inches of water in the cubbie hole. I'm looking for leaks, but can't find any.... ugh.

I'll take pics later, but does anybody have the same problem?

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yea mine filled up, its the window seal. any idea how long the water could have been in there? im pretty sure mine was in there a long time before i finally pulled the rear carpet and panels and saw it in there, so it might be a small leak that just filled up over time.

87CherokeeChief said:

yea mine filled up, its the window seal. any idea how long the water could have been in there? im pretty sure mine was in there a long time before i finally pulled the rear carpet and panels and saw it in there, so it might be a small leak that just filled up over time.

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It was empty Thursday, then it rained Friday and Saturday. That was enough to fill it up. Man was I shocked.

When you say lower window gasket, do you mean the passenger side window or the rear hatch window?

I'm with Lapisxj on this one... Took me about a week to get everything sealed up. I was surprised how much water can come in from such a small leak around the pinch seam at the back end of the passengers side rain gutter. I ended up doing some work with POR 15 to stop the rust in the passengers side drain plug area inside. Luckily my cargo area was not rusted at all. I'm glad I caught it when I did. I also had a very small leak around the rubber grommet that the washer fluid supply hose goes through in the top of the hatch. Just another place to look. I finally think I have everything back there sealed up (fingers crossed)! Good luck,

So I'm still looking for the leak, but having no hose in the apt driveway makes it almost impossible. I soaked up the pool of water in the cubbyhole and painted all the rust. You can tell the level of water by how far up I had to paint.

I looked for leaks near the side window, but couldn't find any. When I first looked into the bottom of the cubbyhole, there was about 1/2" of really fine sand. It seems like where the water runs, there's a trace of sand left behind. I looked into the pillar by the hatch on the passenger side, but it's super clean in there.

I also looked under the passenger side rear window, stuck my head into the cubbyhole and looked up to see that pinch seam, but it's also spotless there. No dust, dirt, or water marks there.

The only thing I could think of is that water is going behind the passenger side light assembly, and getting into the cubbyhole through the rubber plug that the bottom of the light housing snaps into. There's a layer of fine sand all over the back of the light housing, so I know water is going there. I pulled the plug and sealed all around it. I also sealed every pinch seam around the area.


I'm sitting here looking at the pics I took and notice some sand stains near the rear hatch floor. Maybe there is a leak on my rear window. Guess I need to pull the plastic there and see.

I had the same problem with my 1992 cherokee. Open up the rear hatch and look at the top corner of the body, inside of the door jamb, where the roof wraps down the pillar at the rear of the window. There is a sealer at this point, it is white in color. The sealer had cracked and the water was running down the inside of the pillar, through the inside of the body panels and through the body seams getting on to the carpet backing. I cleaned out the sealer and resealed this spot. I have not had any further leaking problems.

Can anybody post some pics of the hatch/pillar/seam area that you're describing. I'm lost in everybody's description? I think I know what you're talking about, the area right above the passenger side hatch lift strut mount that's on the body (not the hatch)???, but pics with an arrow would help a lot.

It rained all last night and this morning. I think it's going to rain all tomorrow too. I can't finish my lift by doing the sye, but at least I can try to find the leak.


I woke up this morning and found this in my cubbyhole...


I stuck my head into the cubbyhole and looked towards the hatch found a few drips of water on the hatch seam, where there is some white foam sealant. I think this is what you guys were saying, but there are a million seams back there and I waqs totally confused.



The outside of this seam is underneath the hatch seal padding. I pulled some off and it's a giant pinch seam that goes all the way around the hatch.


If it ever stops raining, I'm going to pull all the seal on the passenger side of the hatch, clean off the surface (it's glued on with some back gunk), and reassemble with clear rtv or weatherstripping glue. Does anybody know which glue is better? I'd try sealing the seam from the inside too, but I don't know if there are any access holes. The pillar seams to be totally enclosed.

3M makes a tube of weatherstrip adheasive which works pretty good. Real black and gooey but won't harden to an unworkable glob like rtv. I think you can get it at most auto parts places...

Keep the updates coming, I will check my pinch seam when I get home...

Ha! I'm trying to out my lift on too and this god damn rain won't stop! I feel your pain, I have a leak on the left side of the rear hatch I jsut discovered as well. When the rain stops, I'll check it out. The best way to find is to get a friend (a small one works better) to sit inside the cargo area and spray down the hatch with a hose. Try spraying the windows too. Good luck and pray for dry weather, this shit is pissing me off.

Sorry, forgot to rotate some of those pics. They should look like this...

jth877 said:

Ha! I'm trying to out my lift on too and this god damn rain won't stop! I feel your pain, I have a leak on the left side of the rear hatch I jsut discovered as well. When the rain stops, I'll check it out. The best way to find is to get a friend (a small one works better) to sit inside the cargo area and spray down the hatch with a hose. Try spraying the windows too. Good luck and pray for dry weather, this shit is pissing me off.

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Where in NY are you? I'm near Albany. This rain is pissing me off too....ugh... I have no hose in my apt parking lot, so I have to wait for nature's hose...hehe...at least the rain isn't totally wasted. I might just go to those quarter car wash places when my sye is done to look for more leaks.

So I finally got a chance to pull the hatch weatherstripping. I found a big pinch seam gap that isn't filled with weather stripping glue up by the passenger top area.



Around the passenger tail light area, I found some more huge pinch seam holes, but there were filled with glue gunk. I still see some holes in the gunk, so I have no idea which hole was the big culprit.



I reattached the weatherstrip with some new glue and sealed around the tail light (at least what I could reach) from the inside through the cubbyhole.

I'll see if it leaks this weekend, since rain is forcasted.