SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Sigh, I just found water in my trunk the other day and was coming to ask/search. Thanks for the thread. I have to say, these cars are very poorly designed. No wonder the merger failed and these cars have a resale value in the mid teens. Could you imagine paying $55k and needing to replace the IC pump at 15k miles? Or the supercharger pulley at 30k? Or this damn seal? Or building a car that just turns off when the CPS overheats at 30k? If I ever met any engineers involved with this thing...I'd just punch him.
Mechanically, my 1983 300SD is fine (it's 30 years old so it has its electrical and vacuum issues, but that's expected). That's the quality I expected when I bought this thing. Good job MB, you've lost a soon to be 6 figure earner as a potential customer.
Mechanically, my 1983 300SD is fine (it's 30 years old so it has its electrical and vacuum issues, but that's expected). That's the quality I expected when I bought this thing. Good job MB, you've lost a soon to be 6 figure earner as a potential customer.
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Sigh, I just found water in my trunk the other day and was coming to ask/search. Thanks for the thread. I have to say, these cars are very poorly designed. No wonder the merger failed and these cars have a resale value in the mid teens. Could you imagine paying $55k and needing to replace the IC pump at 15k miles? Or the supercharger pulley at 30k? Or this damn seal? Or building a car that just turns off when the CPS overheats at 30k? If I ever met any engineers involved with this thing...I'd just punch him.
Mechanically, my 1983 300SD is fine (it's 30 years old so it has its electrical and vacuum issues, but that's expected). That's the quality I expected when I bought this thing. Good job MB, you've lost a soon to be 6 figure earner as a potential customer.
Mechanically, my 1983 300SD is fine (it's 30 years old so it has its electrical and vacuum issues, but that's expected). That's the quality I expected when I bought this thing. Good job MB, you've lost a soon to be 6 figure earner as a potential customer.
Tip, control the emotions or instead of a six figure income you'll be sharing a cell with a big guy with tattoos in places only you will see. LOL
Last edited by onehundred80; 04-07-2013 at 08:27 PM.
SSB SRT6 405hp/401Tq
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
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Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Emailed Mercedes lol, nothing like tilting at windmills early in the morning.
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Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
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).
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 figured why mess with it and possibly cause a leak.
Last edited by onehundred80; 06-15-2015 at 04:31 PM.
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Are all of the leak repairs done (in this thread) on SRT coupes or does the same problem exist on the roadsters? I didn't hear of any roadsters mentioned in the thread. The reason I ask is, I'm in the process of buying an SRT-6 Roadster, and on my first inspection of the trunk area there was some dampness in the carpeting. Just wondering! thanks.
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Are all of the leak repairs done (in this thread) on SRT coupes or does the same problem exist on the roadsters? I didn't hear of any roadsters mentioned in the thread. The reason I ask is, I'm in the process of buying an SRT-6 Roadster, and on my first inspection of the trunk area there was some dampness in the carpeting. Just wondering! thanks.
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
I'm not sure why but 180's pictures in post #17 aren't showing up so I'm not sure if he used the same thing or not,
Anyway, This is what I used to seal up the wing on my SRT-6,
It's an EPDM weather strip I picked up at Home Depot. It easily splits in th middle so with one side of it I just followed the groove on the back of the mounting plate.
Put it back together and hit hard at the car wash.
No leaks
Frost King E/O 5/16 in. x 1/4 in. x 17 ft. Black EPDM Cellular Rubber Weatherstrip Tape-V25BK - The Home Depot
I also used two coats of clear Rust-Oleum LeakSeal on the bottom of the wing's mounting pedestals to prevent them form rusting after I sanded the rust of. It also worked great on the bottom of the passenger doors.
Anyway, This is what I used to seal up the wing on my SRT-6,
It's an EPDM weather strip I picked up at Home Depot. It easily splits in th middle so with one side of it I just followed the groove on the back of the mounting plate.
Put it back together and hit hard at the car wash.
No leaks
Frost King E/O 5/16 in. x 1/4 in. x 17 ft. Black EPDM Cellular Rubber Weatherstrip Tape-V25BK - The Home Depot
I also used two coats of clear Rust-Oleum LeakSeal on the bottom of the wing's mounting pedestals to prevent them form rusting after I sanded the rust of. It also worked great on the bottom of the passenger doors.
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Should the SRT6 COUPE's spoiler mount plate be flush with the rear window (hatchback window)? I did some modifications to my spoiler plate with new o-rings and a new weather strip to help fix a trunk leak, and I noticed the plate wasn't "flush" with the hatchback's window, but rather slightly higher.
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Should the SRT6 COUPE's spoiler mount plate be flush with the rear window (hatchback window)? I did some modifications to my spoiler plate with new o-rings and a new weather strip to help fix a trunk leak, and I noticed the plate wasn't "flush" with the hatchback's window, but rather slightly higher.
I'm not sure why but 180's pictures in post #17 aren't showing up so I'm not sure if he used the same thing or not,
Anyway, This is what I used to seal up the wing on my SRT-6,
It's an EPDM weather strip I picked up at Home Depot. It easily splits in th middle so with one side of it I just followed the groove on the back of the mounting plate.
Put it back together and hit hard at the car wash.
No leaks
Frost King E/O 5/16 in. x 1/4 in. x 17 ft. Black EPDM Cellular Rubber Weatherstrip Tape-V25BK - The Home Depot
I also used two coats of clear Rust-Oleum LeakSeal on the bottom of the wing's mounting pedestals to prevent them form rusting after I sanded the rust of. It also worked great on the bottom of the passenger doors.
Anyway, This is what I used to seal up the wing on my SRT-6,
It's an EPDM weather strip I picked up at Home Depot. It easily splits in th middle so with one side of it I just followed the groove on the back of the mounting plate.
Put it back together and hit hard at the car wash.
No leaks
Frost King E/O 5/16 in. x 1/4 in. x 17 ft. Black EPDM Cellular Rubber Weatherstrip Tape-V25BK - The Home Depot
I also used two coats of clear Rust-Oleum LeakSeal on the bottom of the wing's mounting pedestals to prevent them form rusting after I sanded the rust of. It also worked great on the bottom of the passenger doors.
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Plus one on the above statement, flush with the body not the window glass.
Re: SRT-6 Liftgate Leak On Spoiler Mounting Plate
Original post updated.
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 figured why mess with it and possibly cause a leak.
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 figured why mess with it and possibly cause a leak.