93 fastback rain leak question

[ivantheterribl3]

hey guys i know im fresh to your site but im not fresh to cars. i have searched thoroughly on this topic and have found nothing that really helps my situation. i have a water leak in the back of the car ( its gutted. thoroughly) i have resealed the taillights and replaced the hatch seal with an OE nissan part. the water is appearing inside the car between 2 seams of metal on the c pillars on both sides near the top of the hatch. i have also put generous amounts of silicone on the grommets where the wires for the defroster and 3rd brake light come through. its a base model with no sunroof, no rear wiper, and therefore no washer fuid line. has anyone here ever dealt with this issue before? its a pretty bad leak. are there possibly seams under where the hatch bolts down or something like that that i cannot see from inside? i know once i find it a little seam sealer will fix it but its driving me nuts. any input would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance.

Ivan

[johntom]

well you took the right steps to solving the problem, im gonna go ahead and say your door jam seals maybe hardned , some mothers back to black will take car of that, or anything else that moisturizes, except gasoline products because that will ruin the seal, condensation sucks
Modified by johntom at 9:23 PM 3/28/2010

[ILoveMyRHS13]

Yeah, my hatch leaks a ton. Sadly that's just a part of owning a hatch.

That's actually really weird that you've actually replaced everything and re-sealed the tails and it's still leaking.

But my question is this: if you've got a gutted interior, why care?

[SkinnyKibbles]

I used to have a ton of condensation build up on my hatch until I found out that the drain plug underneath the spare was missing. I don't get condensation any more.

[ivantheterribl3]

thanks for the responses guys.

@RHS13: i care because its my daily and i frenquently have tools / clothes etc. back there and it leaks all across where the rear seats would be and down into the footwells. and rust sucks. and the only reason i yanked the seats was because the rain leak was there when i got the car and had caused them to develop some nasty slimy moldy stuff that smells terrible.

@kibbles: thanks but its a bit more than condensation i can sit in the back when its raining and watch it drip and almost pour out of the seam there... i knw the drain plugs are there because when my taillights were leaking i used to pull them all the time lol.

i think im gonna pull the hatch tonight...

[ivantheterribl3]

ok so i dug a little deeper tonight and think i got it figured out. underneath the front of the hatch i saw a place where the factory seam sealer had deteriorated and cracked. i isolated it with rags and sprayed pb blaster on it. about 5 to 10 seconds later it appeared in the same spot in the car. i yanked off the hatch and wire wheeled the seam and the place where the studs for the hatch hinges come through.

[img][/img]

here you can see the seam im talking about a little better

[IMG][/IMG]

i then seam sealed the crap out of it and re-siliconed the grommets

[IMG][/IMG]

its now drying. were supposed to get a lot of rain tonight so well see what happens... ill let yall know if it worked so maybe someday somebody in my shoes wont have as much of an issue with it as i have.

p.s. sorry bout the crappy pics. cell phones my only digi.

[johntom]

good work man, if that doesn't solve your problem i don't know what will, how did u get the bolts off cus its a very tight cinch between the hatch and the roof?

[ivantheterribl3]

if youre referring to the ones on the hinges, theyre actually studs. the nuts are on the inside of the car once you take them off you just have to pry gently to break the glue that supposedly seals the hinge. the plugs for everything go a foot or two into the car and you just pop the grommets outs took me all of 15 minutes to get it off