Water leak into the boot

feenster · #1 (**permalink**) 11-30-2008, 11:21 AM

Hi all,
My girlfriend has a 2002 UK spec Honda Jazz. It's done quite a few miles (116,000), but is still going strong.

However, it is constantly leaking water into the boot. I've tried quite a few times to fix it, re-seating the boot seal, sealing any obvious gaps with silicon sealer etc, but to no avail. Today, I had another look at it and found where the water is getting in. The following picture is taken with me sitting in the bottom looking towards the back of the car - it's on the passenger side of the car:

It seems to be coming from that panel gap. Has anyone else experienced this? Do I need to take the rear bumper off to fix it?

Cheers,
Matt

Jazz GD3 · #2 (**permalink**) 12-01-2008, 12:51 AM

I havent experienced this in my 07 Fit/Jazz, but I did experience it in my Mazda eunos/miata. I did what you did, sealing spots that i thought water would go through up and such.

Just continue doing what your doing by trying to seal up spots. I'm pretty sure it'll stop leaking.

You should take off the bumper, and its fairly easy. You remove the clips on the bottom of the bumper, and screws on the side of the bumper to fender/wheel arch, and pop it out.

Pulling out the bumper, youll see the rebar and a clearer picture of where its leaking.

Hope you find out the culprit, and I'll be looking into this myself. Good to know fits last long.

feenster · #3 (**permalink**) 12-01-2008, 08:21 AM

Hi,
Thanks very much for the advice. I'll take the bumper off at the weekend if I get chance - didn't realise it was that easy!

Yeah, the Jazz is still going strong. The engine still runs absolutely sweet - only the Interior is suffering, seatbelts aren't recoiling as they should, and the little buttons to stop the buckle falling down have gone. Apart from that, and the water leak, it feels like it will go on forever!

Matt

feenster · #4 (**permalink**) 01-05-2009, 07:00 PM

Well, an update. I took the bumper off, and tried to find any obvious leak areas. There was nothing to speak of, only a few little dribbles of water coming through where the allen key bolts that hold the bumper on had been removed.

So today I took a trip to the local dealers. They confirmed that some Jazz's did have this issue, and Honda extended the warranty to 6 years. However, ours is 10 months outside that. I will be re-visiting Honda at the weekend to discuss this further.

Cheers,
Matt

Shaggs2Dope · #5 (**permalink**) 01-05-2009, 07:08 PM

silicone and duct tape are gonna be your best friend

feenster · #6 (**permalink**) 01-05-2009, 07:15 PM

I have used about 1/2 a tube of silicon sealer already. I'd rather Honda sorted it out though now, fed up of crawling around the boot!

Shaggs2Dope · #7 (**permalink**) 01-05-2009, 07:41 PM

Take a few more pics and I will try to figure whats up, but usually it comes from the UPPER seal, and then it follows the path of least resistance. I'm doin some silicone projects today as well, but on lighting stuff, double sealing housings

john trials · #8 (**permalink**) 01-06-2009, 09:51 AM

I cannot view your photo, so I cannot see exactly where your leak is.

I've had 2 Honda Civics that have leaked from body seams (not around the weather stripping). Water would appear near the spare tire, and also ended up rusting the wheel wells (look at almost any older Civic, and you'll see rust around the wheel wells). I originally thought the water was getting splashed up by the wheels and leaking somewhere in the wheel well area. After totally stripping out the interior of my Civic, I found the leak was coming from the roof and hatch body seams and flowing to the lowest areas...the wheel well/fender area, and the spare tire area.

When I got my Fit, the first thing I did was seal the body seams under the roof rails (black rubber strips) and the body seams located around the rear roof area (can be found when the hatch is opened).

Here is an older post: http://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-y...bber-seal.html

sparcy · #9 (**permalink**) 01-31-2009, 03:23 AM

Hi,

I'm looking at fixing a boot and rear passenger leak.
The Dealer reckons it's a cracked seal under the roof gutter rubber seals.
The seal is about 10-20cms from the rear of the car and might appear to have some cracks in it.

If it is it's a known manufacturers fault, which sometimes gets done under warranty (push if you can). They don't like doing it, as I think they have to repair it from the inside (all the interior has to come out) which is a 3hr job.

They sold me the replacement sealant which is more flexible and told me to scrape out the original seal with a screwdriver (carefully) and use the new sealant on it.

I'd do it today, but it's probably too cold out there. It's a real pain, there's lots of sloshing, which we though was fuel in the petrol tank.

Tony

feenster · #10 (**permalink**) 02-22-2009, 11:55 AM

Hi,
Sorry for the delay in replying. I didn't get any email notifications for the last two posts, so only checked back here by chance.

sparcy - did you ever replace the sealant under the roof rails? Does the interior need to come out?

john trials - how did you seal your body seams, from the inside or out?

Thanks for the replies - really would like to get this thing sorted!

Cheers,
Matt

sparcy · #11 (**permalink**) 02-22-2009, 03:09 PM

I haven't got to it yet, no warm days until yesterday.

The boot is really sloshing.

Tony

feenster · #12 (**permalink**) 03-15-2009, 06:22 AM

Our Jazz has just had a service. I asked my mechanic to have a look at the leaking roof rails, and sure enough, there was a rust spot on the passengers side, a few inches from the back. He's sealed it all up, so fingers crossed that is the problem sorted :-)

sparcy · #13 (**permalink**) 03-15-2009, 03:53 PM

I was too chicken to do the full replacement of the seals, so I've just done a test:
I put duct tape down the seals to check that this was the place the water was coming in.
It was - the boot is dry.
I'll summon up the courage and replace the sealant, but that duct tape could last a long time! It's also hidden under the gutters so you can't see it.
Very few problems cant be solved with duct tape (and #8 wire).

DMWilson · #14 (**permalink**) 04-26-2009, 11:55 AM

Hi. I also had the usual problem of water in the boot of the Jazz. The water was running out of the seam as shown in the photo earlier on in this thread. I don't think it is coming in from behind teh bumper. I removed the rear hatch frame rubber seal. Some of the body panel joins that are under the seal showed signs of rust. Based on that I used silicone sealer in the gaps in the panels and then filled the groove in the rubber seal and refitted it. I tried the hose a day later and it has had rain on two days. The boot is still dry. I think the water was drawn round the lip under the seal by capillary action and then follows gravity. I used household exterior window frame sealant.
Best wishes.

DMWilson · #15 (**permalink**) 05-02-2009, 02:53 PM

Sorry - Update from last post. Spoke too soon, there is still water in the boot. It looks like it might be under the rubber strip in the roof, but I am still checking.
Regards

MstrRigger · #16 (**permalink**) 05-07-2009, 10:03 AM

I kept finding water in mine as well. One day after alot of rain, I was pulling out of a parking spot and noticed water dripping from the anchor point in the headliner in the back of the car. Turns out that water was coming in from the antennae on the roof and pooling in the plastic cover for the anchor point. A little bit of silicon under the antennae fixed the leak. Look there, it may help.