ZZE Corolla boot leak!

[stevo1210]

Hi Everyone,

I'm quite stunned today at what I found in the boot of my car whilst I was installing my reverse sensor system. The boot in my 2003 Corolla hatch has numerous leaks from where the tail lights are located. It's a one owner car which I've bought from new so I know nothing dodgy has happened in the rear end with low quality repairs etc.

When I removed all the boot carpet I found rust in the rear right and rear left corners of my boot which led me to do some investigating. I got my brother to stand outside with a hose and soak the back of the car and well... definitely found where the leaks are coming from.

Around the tail lights, there's like two holes of 10mm diameter which doesn't go anywhere or have anything connected to it, water comes through both these holes on each side. I'm wondering if theres supposed to be a 10mm blind (closed) rubber grommet or anything like that which Toyota has forgotten to install 10 years ago? Some water also came through the plastic clips that hold the bumper to the car from the interior? (maybe it's a design flaw?)

Otherwise... I'm going to pick up my own closed grommets at Clark rubber tomorrow for $1 each and get some silicon to seal up around it.

HAS anyone had a similar issue with the ZZE hatches leaking water into the boot through the same places?

Anyway, some pictures for reference.

I'll also find some rust converter for that rust in the boot I suppose.

Thanks.

Edited July 14, 2012 by stevo1210

[Kenshin X]

yeah i have the same thing in my sportivo. im actually relieved to find that i'm not the only one who has it... but now after vigorous water tests i have found my source of the leak. tail gate bolts, the panel beater didnt seal it properly so its leaking. but those points that are leaking, mine leak thru there as well. as for the grommet thing. yes there is meant to be one there. but even so, it STILL leaks from there.

i was told my a repair integrity check garage that i shouldn't use a gerni or high pressure hose on the car. and if i do, dont spray into the gaps otherwise it will leak. i havent had any problems since...

edit: we also tested out on dyslexik's car and the same thing happened. his car has never been rear ended. same leaking points and entry of water. although luckily we both havent had rust in our cars yet. my car hasnt been rear ended as well but the clips have been reused.

one solution would be to use a bit of windscreen sealant around the points of entry to stop the water leaking inside.

[stevo1210]

yeah i have the same thing in my sportivo. im actually relieved to find that i'm not the only one who has it... but now after vigorous water tests i have found my source of the leak. tail gate bolts, the panel beater didnt seal it properly so its leaking. but those points that are leaking, mine leak thru there as well. as for the grommet thing. yes there is meant to be one there. but even so, it STILL leaks from there.

i was told my a repair integrity check garage that i shouldn't use a gerni or high pressure hose on the car. and if i do, dont spray into the gaps otherwise it will leak. i havent had any problems since...

edit: we also tested out on dyslexik's car and the same thing happened. his car has never been rear ended. same leaking points and entry of water. although luckily we both havent had rust in our cars yet. my car hasnt been rear ended as well but the clips have been reused.

one solution would be to use a bit of windscreen sealant around the points of entry to stop the water leaking inside.

Well that explains alot then. I take such good care of my car that I actually spray into gaps and even the under carriage to keep them free of salt! Didn't know I'd end up like this... was pretty disheartened to see the carnage in there especially for my always garaged & 91,000KM & 10 year old ZZE!

As for the grommets, I'm going to try Toyota first before I drag myself to Clark rubber... probably have to bring the car with me too and point out what I want because I can't find the grommets in the electronic online catalogue!

Also relieved to see that I'm not the only one with the leaks, just need to find some silicone and rust converter... wait, I already have some :)

Edited July 14, 2012 by stevo1210

[Kenshin X]

damn man i would be disheartened too. the moment i felt a drip drip inside the carpet i thought its not right. so i investigated. took me bloody ages to find the point of entries. but when i did i made sure that it will never leak again. yeah dont spray into the gaps just get a damp cloth and wipe it down. spray it every now and then but make sure when u do its a dry day so it dries up quicker.

[stevo1210]

I went to the Toyota dealer today and I was indeed missing grommets on those holes.

Anyway, in these two pictures...

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...0/IMG_1981.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...0/IMG_1976.jpg

You can see that there is rusting in there... for some reason theres rust on the bog in there too? (the bog that holds the seams together). I thought bog wasn't a metal so why have I got brown stuff on there or is it like run off from the rusted metal above? How should I treat the rust? Will rust converter type products eat into the seam bog?

[CHA54]

best to soak the whole area in fish oil.

The rust on the seal sealer is from runoff, there will be a ton more under it between the panel gaps.

Rust converter will damage the current coating on the rest of the steel, when you use rust converter it's best to wire-wheel the surface rust off first, then apply the rust converter. Any steel that turns from bright silver to black, you grind out and re-apply the converter... repeat until it stays bright silver then you know you've removed all the offending rust.

[stevo1210]

best to soak the whole area in fish oil.

The rust on the seal sealer is from runoff, there will be a ton more under it between the panel gaps.

Rust converter will damage the current coating on the rest of the steel, when you use rust converter it's best to wire-wheel the surface rust off first, then apply the rust converter. Any steel that turns from bright silver to black, you grind out and re-apply the converter... repeat until it stays bright silver then you know you've removed all the offending rust.

Well... this sounds kinda stupid of me... but that brown stuff we see in the photos above isn't actually rust. I actually scraped some of it off with my fingernail at first and it was sticky and gooey, it tasted bland (no taste) when I gave it a slight lick to see what it was (yeah I know I should taste things like this :-/ ) anyway, I used some isopropyl alcohol in a can (called electronics degreaser) which I use when I do my electronics soldering to clean off solder resin when I solder motherboard and PCB parts etc. and it worked a charm, got rid of most of that brown goo and those areas look very clean and new. I then got a wet towel and went over all the areas I "degreased" to ensure that I wouldn't have any residues of isopropyl left even though it's a very weak cleaner that evaporates on contact.

So it looks like I don't have any rust! YAY! :)

Now it just boggles my mind to what that stuff was. Did some smartass purposely put something there as a prank or what?

Edited July 18, 2012 by stevo1210