Water ingress from the rear boot seal

[m4rkw]

7 hours ago, Bluemarlin said:

If the leak is due to a small, hidden crack or hole somewhere,  then another thing  you could try is Captain Tolley's  Creepink Crack Cure. It's a thin milky liquid that works by capilliary action, finding it's way to any hidden cracks and then sealing them. I've used it successfully in the past on windscreen leaks where silicone sealant failed.

https://captaintolley.com/

Good tip, cheers. I'm going to have another go with the silicone in the morning, forecast is dry all day

[m4rkw]

Appears to have been successful, it rained overnight and no sign of ingress. I poured a pint of water over that corner and still no ingress.

I think I'll start re-applying the silicone every year in the summer, tempted to replace the seal as well but at £200 or so it's a bit steep.

[b4u2]

@m4rkw

Sounds like quite an adventure your car 😜

[m4rkw]

Still leaking 😞

Going to order a new boot seal from Toyota but that won't arrive until Monday and then the earliest the garage can look at it will be friday next week. Not sure what to do in the meantime, I might try the Captain Tolley stuff, just a bit nervous about it potentially making a mess that's even harder to clear up later.

[m4rkw]

Called my favourite Lexus specialist, the only way they'll touch it is if they can sort it properly which means stripping all the trim out, putting it under a test rig and repeatedly testing until they've found and fixed all the leaks. Ballpark £1500 in labour.

He reckons there are probably 10+ separate leaks which collectively add up to water ingress and if they try to find and fix just the one that's leaking the most right now I'll be back soon with the same problem. So I guess I'll bite the bullet and sort it properly. It sucks but not much else I can buy for 2 grand.

[Bluemarlin]

Captain Tolley stuff shouldn't make a mess as it's a thin/watery liquid that dries as a thin film, so nothing like silicone, or other sealants.

Proper diagnosis and replacing the seal would be a more permanent fix though. If you go that route then make sure that when they remove the old trim they check for, and treat, any areas of metal that may have corroded before fitting any new trim.

[m4rkw]

43 minutes ago, Bluemarlin said:

Captain Tolley stuff shouldn't make a mess as it's a thin/watery liquid that dries as a thin film, so nothing like silicone, or other sealants.

Proper diagnosis and replacing the seal would be a more permanent fix though. If you go that route then make sure that when they remove the old trim they check for, and treat, any areas of metal that may have corroded before fitting any new trim.

I think that's what they'll do yeah. What would stop the Captain Trolley stuff from sealing up a drain hole?

[plastic orange]

Be careful using Captain Tolley as it can damage paintwork if spilled and not cleaned off.

 

Pete

[b4u2]

@m4rkw

I always find main dealers significantly more expensive than other gothers.

[Bluemarlin]

4 hours ago, m4rkw said:

I think that's what they'll do yeah. What would stop the Captain Trolley stuff from sealing up a drain hole?

That's good, as any leak could just as easily be due to holes caused by corrosion as it could by faulty/damaged seals.

It's not thick enough to seal a big hole. It's just a thin liquid that seeps it's way into cracks and crevices, so will really only seal thin cracks and crevices. It's mainly used to fill the kind of cracks and pinholes that you can't find/ get at to seal with silicone.

To be honest, finding the leaks and replacing the seals is the permanent fix though, as patching them with Capt Tolleys, or silicone sealant, only lasts so long.

As Peter said, if you do try it, then watch for any areas that any excess runs out, and wipe it off before it dries.

[m4rkw]

I bet this is where it's leaking, see from 3m 20s:

Makes perfect sense given where the water is dripping down. I don't have roof bars, anyone know how the pieces of trim that sit where the roof bars go come out? I tried tugging one earlier but it didn't seem to want to move. If i can get those out I can try putting some sealant in and see if that fixes it, can't hurt to try

 

[m4rkw]

Someone at work reckons the inserts are bolted in from underneath the headlining so can’t really deal with that myself.

Im somewhat in two minds, either take it to a known good trusted specialist who I know will be able to sort it out but quite reasonably wants fair compensation for his time, or gamble on taking it to the main dealer and hope they do me a favour and fix it without huge labour costs. It looks very likely that it’s leaking where the roof welds are, maybe the specialist would agree to just fix that initially and see how it goes without taking the nuclear approach.

[ColinBarber]

12 hours ago, m4rkw said:

I don't have roof bars, anyone know how the pieces of trim that sit where the roof bars go come out?

Pull out, you need to start at the front cover:

 

[Jaystar77]

Hi Mark, I tackled this on mine back when I got it.  Turned out the majority of the water was those body seams mentioned in that video.

Didn't take too long to sus it out as you can plaster some sealer over them without too much drama and retest when it cures.

Worth a punt!

 

EDIT: quick link 

 

[m4rkw]

Hmm I don't think they come out like that on mine, mine are a solid piece all the way along.

[johnmac1956]

I had the same issue on my RX400. Removed roof bars and black strips. Hairline crack was evident along the roof line body. I initially sealed with Vaseline, water leaks into boot area cured so then followed with sealant.

You should be able to remove black roof inserts. If not try putting Vaseline  or similar on the gap between the black inserts and roof body. Should stop majority of water ingress. Temporary fix until you can get inserts off.

[m4rkw]

Pretty sure the inserts don’t come off easily on mine, probably bolted on from underneath. Anyway, dropped it off with Toyotec this morning so should hopefully be sorted out in a couple of weeks or so. Could possibly have found someone to bodge it for cheap but in the long run it probably makes sense to just sort it out properly and not have to worry about water ingress ever again.

[Tomtit]

Mark.

I agree; it is best to have a permanent repair done. I will have to tackle this job on my wife's newly-acquired RX300. I would be interested to learn what your garage did to cure it.

[m4rkw]

1 hour ago, Tomtit said:

Mark.

I agree; it is best to have a permanent repair done. I will have to tackle this job on my wife's newly-acquired RX300. I would be interested to learn what your garage did to cure it.

They’re going to strip out all the interior and then put it under a water-spraying test rig to find the leaks. Then fix the leaks they find and repeat the test over and over until they’ve got them all. I understand it’s a very tedious and labour-intensive process and to be honest I’m grateful they’re willing to do it at all as it sounds like a nightmare job. 

[plastic orange]

When any car i own leaks, it's time to go. If an RX is pristine underneath then possibly worthwhile to spend time sorting it, but if not - goodbye. My solution was to drill a few holes in the boot and problem mitigated, not solved. Pretty poor that cars of this quality leak and are poorly rustproofed underneath.

 

Pete

[m4rkw]

i understand your sentiment but it didn’t make financial sense to me to throw it away. i’m looking at ballpark £2k to fix the water ingress, no way i can buy anything reasonable for that kind of money and the rest of the car is in good condition and has been serviced very well, brakes are all good, tyres are basically new, alternator was replaced last year. i had the underside sealed a couple of years ago, will probably redo that this year. these cars are generally very reliable and known to reach very high mileages.

[m4rkw]

Update - my car is still at the garage, coming up to 4 weeks now. Not their fault, the main delay was waiting for a new boot seal to arrive from Japan, still lots of supply chain issues.

Hoping to get some good news next week, fingers crossed!

[m4rkw]

Well after nearly two months I finally got the car back today. They fixed several leaks all around the back of the car and got it to the point where there were no leaks at all, but then they realised the car has a panoramic roof and tested that just to be thorough and found that was also leaking in more than one place. When they realised this the owner called me and mentioned that if they'd realised at the start that it had a panoramic roof they might not have taken the job at all.

Long story short they ended up taking the entire roof assembly out of the car and sealing the cartridge up completely against the roof panels, so the roof will still operate normally and open but the roof assembly will never come out of the car again without breaking lots of things. Perfectly acceptable for a car this old.

It now stays completely bone dry under extreme test conditions (way more than normal UK weather) which is a fantastic result. They did mention that they can't guarantee it won't leak again simply because of the age which is fair enough.

They sent me the photos in the afternoon before I went to collect the car and it's really clear they've spent an inordinate amount of time on it, so given the unanticipated issue with the panoramic roof I was expecting a much heftier bill than initially quoted.

The total was £1968.72, and that included an MOT and oil service. I was stunned.

Best money I ever spent.

I cannot recommend Russell Birch and Toyotec enough, the time, effort and attention to detail that went into this repair is phenomenal.

Mark

 

[Tomtit]

Great news. It is good to be leak-free. I had to strip out all the interior of my wife's RX300 to trace and cure the leaks. I know how much work is involved.