So, my old hatch from back when I acquired my car started to rust, and so I bought a new hatch seal and new tailight gaskets to keep water from rusting my spare tire-well out further too. Sadly, this did not fix the issue, and it continued. I realized that another area that water gets in through was where the rear side marker lights come into the body, so I fixed that too. Now that the tire well was more or less good, I was still getting water collecting in the plastic undertrim located on the bottom side of the hatch. I researched everywhere and found that the wiper motor, wing, and exterior molding at bottom of the hatch window were often the culprits, and I sealed those too.
Eventually, my hatch rusted completely out because none of those fixed the issue. So I bought a hatch from a '91 Turbo that had been wrecked, and I had the spoiler holes welded shut, did the fix to the lower molding, and I added the same Moonface R wiper plug that had been on my old hatch. For a while, the issue was solved, and this particular one seems to have had the hatch glass resealed, or maybe Toyota just did a better job? I have no idea. However, the leak started again, only this time it was both sides instead of just the passenger side.
Pretty much ready to just garage the car until the end of time, I researched again and finally a thread popped up from a forum in the U.K., and someone had posted an update on what they found the issue to be, and you know what? That glorious majestic fucking unicorn of an individual had done it. I had my brother pour a bucket of water all over that damn thing, and there was nothing until he kept at it, but then I saw drips, very slight mind you, yet they were coming from a place that did not seem obvious. So, I pulled the lower exterior molding off after just sealing it yesterday, and I broke/cut off the white clips that go under the hatch glass (not the black ones attached to the molding), and I found huge square holes where they mount, with no sealant or anything left, and slight slime/goo remnant under them from the water. At this point, I could care less for what their intended purpose was (to keep proper clearances while the hatch sealant dried when the hatch was being made? who knows.. someone might though.), and I just let the silicone flow as if there was no end, all with a smile.
You see, these clips are nearly impossible to see from the underneath side, and even more so trying to get at them, hence why I moved to just break them off. It simply never occurred to me that those could be the issue, especially since the dirt and grime that forms around them looks like black rtv (until you really scrape it away). Even if you sealed over them, the edge that protrudes under the glass is damn near, if not, impossible to seal without removing them.
You could say tl;dr, but I hope this saves at least one person the agony of doing all they can to seal their hatch, especially when it could be the difference between the car rusting out and not.
- Dylan
Eventually, my hatch rusted completely out because none of those fixed the issue. So I bought a hatch from a '91 Turbo that had been wrecked, and I had the spoiler holes welded shut, did the fix to the lower molding, and I added the same Moonface R wiper plug that had been on my old hatch. For a while, the issue was solved, and this particular one seems to have had the hatch glass resealed, or maybe Toyota just did a better job? I have no idea. However, the leak started again, only this time it was both sides instead of just the passenger side.
Pretty much ready to just garage the car until the end of time, I researched again and finally a thread popped up from a forum in the U.K., and someone had posted an update on what they found the issue to be, and you know what? That glorious majestic fucking unicorn of an individual had done it. I had my brother pour a bucket of water all over that damn thing, and there was nothing until he kept at it, but then I saw drips, very slight mind you, yet they were coming from a place that did not seem obvious. So, I pulled the lower exterior molding off after just sealing it yesterday, and I broke/cut off the white clips that go under the hatch glass (not the black ones attached to the molding), and I found huge square holes where they mount, with no sealant or anything left, and slight slime/goo remnant under them from the water. At this point, I could care less for what their intended purpose was (to keep proper clearances while the hatch sealant dried when the hatch was being made? who knows.. someone might though.), and I just let the silicone flow as if there was no end, all with a smile.
You see, these clips are nearly impossible to see from the underneath side, and even more so trying to get at them, hence why I moved to just break them off. It simply never occurred to me that those could be the issue, especially since the dirt and grime that forms around them looks like black rtv (until you really scrape it away). Even if you sealed over them, the edge that protrudes under the glass is damn near, if not, impossible to seal without removing them.
You could say tl;dr, but I hope this saves at least one person the agony of doing all they can to seal their hatch, especially when it could be the difference between the car rusting out and not.
- Dylan
