SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Update April 2nd 2015
I removed the inner trim panels from the hatch and looked for traces of leakage from the past two years and found none. I looked and felt inside the hatch interior, I did not remove the spoiler or the spoiler mounting late, I figuered why mess with it and possibly cause a leak.
My first post in this section. A newbie.
Unloading the trunk from the journey to pick up the car from Florida I noticed a few drips in the trunk under the latch and under the trunk mat on the sound insulation. A little prevention being better than a major cure I decided to investigate the cause.
I found the seals around the spoiler mounting panel to be leaking in the top left and right corners. The photos show the leaking areas. You can see where the OEM seal ran along the top side of the pocket and then transitions around the corner to the bottom face of the pocket, the seal did a good job on the side of the pocket but failed in the transition and the flat area. The seal on the top side of the pocket is to prevent the area where water can stand by letting gravity take the water to the sides. I think the leaks occur in the transition areas.
I replaced the caulking shown in the following photos with 1/8" x 3/8" closed cell adhesive backed tape that is used as a draft stopper in the home. I split this down the middle to make it 3/16" wide. I laid this in the same manner as the photos below.
There are various makes of the seal and some have larger bubbles in the rubber (Neoprene) you want the type with the very small hard to see bubbles in it as these are not so prone to get water in them. I tried one with large bubbles and although they said it was closed cell it filled with water anyway. This new one worked well when tested with water.
You can see that to get the slope from the top center of the seal to each side that the seal transitions from the top edge to the bottom of the panel. the slope leads the water to the sides of the panel. There is an indentation on the panel bottom and sides that the seal sits on.
This is Grip Grips hatch. Far worse than mine. You can see where the seal is and how water has got past it, this water will end up in the trunk or inside the hatch and cause rust. The two seals were laid out in different patterns as you can see.
Here is a photo where the seal has failed (not my car), it shows the leaks and the different pattern in which the seal was originally installed. This allows for a nice dip in the center at the top for water to sit and debris and dust to collect, that could easily lead to rust and the seal to fail early.
This picture shows the bead of sealant applied to stop the leak (not my car), It may do that but the part will be extremely hard to remove if it leaks again or needs repair. Notice the dip in he top where dirt and debris will collect and hold moisture against the panel. The gap around where the seal sits is not consistently the same size.
This area is hard to seal as the seal area is not flat, the OEM seal is called a rope seal and obviously does not work too good as it moves and leaves the sticky film attached to it where it was placed while the seal itself extrudes itself slowly to an area with lesser clamping forces. I also want to have a seal that does not allow the deep pockets that form reservoirs of standing water.
Here is some rope type caulking that I used to gage the thickness of the gap.
I will also tackle the pockets where the spoiler sits, the O-Rings did not leak but the steel that is part of the spoiler supports sits in damp pockets and made rust stains on the paint of the panel at the bottom of the pockets. I intend to prevent water sitting in these pockets. Possibly I'll use a permanently flexible putty type of compound around the spoiler supports and the pockets, this will not be seen due to the step in the spoiler supports. The O-rings are 5/16" inside diameter x 7/16" outside diameter x 1/16" (#011).
Last edited by onehundred80; 04-02-2015 at 02:30 PM.