Chasing down a water leak in the wagon

[thatgarrett]

Hello,

 

I have done some searching around and not found this particular problem yet. I have a mild water leak in the rear of my wagon. It would appear that after heavy rain I will get about 1/3 cup of water puddling at the rear driver's side corner of the hatch area on the rubber mat. I notice that the water appears to come from the crack between the hard plastic and carpet material where the tail light on the body goes. Would this be a leaking tail light gasket if the water is coming from that high up? It does not appear to be getting to the metal of the car body on the floor under the tail light or under the spare tire? One candidate I have for that leak might be an aftermarket AM antenna (why the previous owner didn't use the stock one is beyond me) that they wired up on the roof by running a thin wire under the rubber gasket that seals the hatch (so between the rubber and the body). If it were this though, wouldn't it be pooling on both sides then?

 

Also, how fast should I try and address this leak? I already cleaned all the drain tubes and reattached them, taking care of a major leak in the front of the car so I don't think that this would be that....

[RumbleRumble]

There is a couple of posted on the outback forums. Most people take down the entire headliner and seal the moonroof. That's the only way I know there might be another fix, Haven't owned my wagon in a long time.

[sirstinky]

Does your car have a sunroof (the dual one on the GT wagon or Outbacks)? If so then that is one place. I did the same thing with mine as I've had a perpetual leak in the back since I've had my wagon. I just deal with it 8) Pull off the headliner and have someone run a garden hose over the roof while you look for leaks inside. It might take a while. If it's leaking or of the spot the antenna went through, then it's possible that is the source as water runs downhill. The main issue is having water sitting around on metal as it will eventually rust. It also corrodes the contacts in the tail lights and makes your bulbs burn out.

[thatgarrett]

I do have the dual sunroof, after a torrential downpour last week with my car parked facing downhill I noticed some moisture in the front driver headliner. I guess the flow might simply be restricted in one or more of the drainage tubes, not nearly as bad as before I cleaned them out a few months ago but slightly annoying nonetheless. I will try the simple green followed by hot water method and clean the rear vents at the bottom of the drains to see if that cleans them up. Hopefully I won't have to pull trim and manually clean them again...

[jdb1540]

I just dealt with a similar issue but my leak was in the front driver's seat well. Ended up being the mounts for the roof rails. Rust developed around a couple of the bolts and started to leak water, you need to remove the headliner and seal the bolts, they should be rusty if this is where the leak is coming from. Good luck.....

[sirstinky]

What's the Simple Green method?

 

Thanks

[thatgarrett]

What's the Simple Green method?

 

Thanks

 

I read about it over on the Outback forum, apparently you can make a solution of simple green, pour it down the drain hoses from the top and follow with some hot water to flush it out. I haven't gotten around to trying it, but I have figured out that a carwash is not sufficient to do so! I thought that I had cleared all of the hoses but based off the dripping pattern when it rains, I almost want to say that it is the rear passenger hose (though the water accumulates in the back drivers side, but that may just be the incline causing that....). I might try to check the exterior drain flaps on the back pipes before anything else though. Its not much water and it just goes on the rear mat. I have one of those marine desiccant buckets that absorb water when you winter boats to keep mold/rust from becoming a problem if it is pooling elsewhere. I am rather impressed with the durability of the headliner in Subarus, got plenty wet and even washed it and no sign of wrinkling or coming detached

[YeuEmMaiMai]

do you have water stains on your headliner? if not, leak may not be from sun roof. There should be 4 drains (one in each corner) make sure they are all obstruction free

[sirstinky]

I've had the leak ever since I've owned the car, so 7 years and no damage to the headliner at all! No stains and no sags. It's just been staining the carpet in the rear cargo area. My leak is consistently coming out of the hole in the headliner where the middle seat belt comes out. There have also been leaks from the maplight deal, but it's mostly from that hole in the back and only when it rains a lot. When I back up the car, out comes the river! I had the headliner off a couple years ago aby blew out the drain tubes with air. I also checked it for leaks and couldn't find any. It's a mystery.

[thatgarrett]

I've had the leak ever since I've owned the car, so 7 years and no damage to the headliner at all! No stains and no sags. It's just been staining the carpet in the rear cargo area. My leak is consistently coming out of the hole in the headliner where the middle seat belt comes out. There have also been leaks from the maplight deal, but it's mostly from that hole in the back and only when it rains a lot. When I back up the car, out comes the river! I had the headliner off a couple years ago aby blew out the drain tubes with air. I also checked it for leaks and couldn't find any. It's a mystery.

 

I am glad that you do not have damage, as that is encouraging! It has rained pretty heavily here recently, but no signs of water entering the wagon since the last time I got a car wash. I am not sure if that cleaned the drain tubes out or what, but no matter my orientation I haven't got water in since then! Just for safety I'm keeping the desiccant in there until the end of the rain season just to be sure (I have seen several other wagons around that i have noticed that have multiple desiccant buckets secured in the cargo area, so I guess I am not the only one with that idea)

[sirstinky]

Yah, Subarus are toigh cars. No you're not the only one. Sunroofs leak over time. Drains clog or seals wear out/fail. Just keep an eye on it. A car wash isn't the sane as a downpour or constant rain. Thanks!

[LegoGTGSRider]

I have not had this problem with my own Gen 3 but I have seen a lot of cars with the same problem in my shop. Most often the culprit (in cars with a sunroof or moonroof) is the drainage tubes that run down one of the structural support pillars along one or both sides of the car (also called the A-pillar {the things that run down either side of the windshield from the roof to the front quarters / hood area} B-pillar {run down the middle on either side of the car from the roof between the front and rear door all the way down to the kick panels} and the C-pillars {which run along either side of the rear window from the roof to the rear quarters / trunk lid} or the same support pillars in the rear hatch area)

In all cars I have ever seen this problem there are drain tubes running down these support pillars that become clogged over time either from debris (dirt, leaves, pine needles, etc...) or more often from mold or mildew growing in the drain tubes. The easiest solution I have found is to simply use compressed air and an air gun with a rubber tip which you just point into the tube and with a few short bursts of air the clog is usually cleared up, if compressed air doesn't do the trick another option is using a very long pipe cleaner. I used a special kit designed for cleaning the barrel of a rifle. You can buy one of these kits at just about any sporting goods store or walmart. It is super easy to do with the rifle cleaning kit but if you don't want to buy one you can always go to a hobby shop or a similar store (Jo-Anne's Fabrics, Michael's, etc...) and see if they sell very long pipe cleaners. I don't know if they sell something like it but it's worth a look.

-best of luck

-CMS

[thatgarrett]

Thanks for the advice. I ended up solving this a while ago when the post was originally made, but for future reference, here is what worked for me:

 

I blew compressed air in but it didn’t clear all of it, the leak was back a little but later and not much changed. I ended up getting a wire coat hanger, untwisted it, and snaked it down the front A pillar piper and twisted it around and got a ton of sand, mud, and dirt to come out. No leaks after that or problems, well, until an inattentive driver T-boned me. Now I’m over on the Impreza side of things, with no sunroof to leak