Rear wiper seal letting water by

[VFR]

Had the car cleaned today at one of those drive through places that give it a blitz first with a power washer (yes I know but cannot wash it myself where I live now)

Opened the rear later on in the day to find quite a bit of water that was dripping from the rear wiper area & as I had read a thread about this issue (it would seem ?) thought I would read up on the details prior to asking Lexus to sort it under the warrenty (bought the car a month or so back)

Had a good search prior to this thread but could not find the thread in question so if anyones memory can point me to it ?

Thanks in advance.

[Herbie]

27 minutes ago, VFR said:

Opened the rear later on in the day to find quite a bit of water that was dripping from the rear wiper area

If it's only dripping when the tailgate is open it's probably just water lurking in the seal nooks and crannies rather than an actual leak. I suppose the best way to see what's going on is to have someone in the back with a torch while you (or someone else) blasts the tailgate from outside with a pressure washer.

[VFR]

Yes that was my first thought but should have been more specific as the drips were coming from inside the plastic cover that runs along the top of the tailgate and exiting on the lower edge where the slot is for the hinge, plus water was splashed around  inside the boot area that was clearly visible as the door lifted.

[steve2006]

It sounds like the spindle seal or grommet as Lexus call it.

[Delphius1]

Those supposedly more gentle hand car washing places can actually be quite aggressive due to over-zealous jetwashing inches from the bodywork.  I'd guess the pressure from the jetwash has got past the rear wiper seal.

I now avoid them because I had one jetwash my wheels on a previous car and destroy the rubber seals on the caliper slider pins.

I've also seen them jetwash the lacquer off paint. 😮

I prefer to wash the car myself then I only have me to blame. Plus my wheels are so scabby if they jetwashed them like they usually do I'd have no paint left on them.

[VFR]

Visited Lexus in Stoke this morning that I had booked in for 11.

Take a seat, sign this, key, big plastic folder held out for me as I wondered why ? (all this in a kind of authoritative tone without the hint of a smile) and knew who we were from the off (guess they must have seen me parking up)

Oh! the folder was for me to drop my key into it, anyway the nice lady at reception made us a coffee and we took a comfy seat as I saw the next customer go to the desk where the same guy simply took his key from his hand ?

We both looked at each other wondering was it me ? (as you do) and no we both thought we had done something wrong (how strange)

Anyway 45 min's later a tech guy asked us to follow him outside to show us what he had found where he took his time to explain what he had done & found. He thinks that the rear dash cam camera lead that had been installed so neatly (by me) was causing the seal to lift just enough to let water by as he had checked carefully and could find no former trace marks anywhere that you would expect had it leaked before, he had sorted the wire to another route and jet washed the area to double check.

A real nice knowledgable guy who I would be very happy to work on our car again should the need arise who complemented us on our choice of Lexus (and meant it) and bid us a good day.              😀