Serious leak and water damage

I'd get a fan and put it blowing on the moist fabric and try to get it to circulate air all around and under the seats for a few hours.

Try to minimize the damage in case they won't replace anything.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/roof-wrap-woes.443786/

This happened to a friend of mine, I was the lucky tech who got to fix it for him.
This was caused from the light being removed to wrap the roof.
The light is only sealed with a foam gasket. The new one was sitting in the box on small supports, that actually flattened the foam to where it wouldn't contact the roof panel in those spots. I put a small dab of RTV sealer and that has held up well.

We swapped out the entire rear seat assemblies with another vehicle. And dried the wet ones.
Fans and a dehumidifier will get it done. Worst case, new seat covers are easy to put on if they're stained.


I've done worse to my own vehicles..(picture attached)

Behind the back panel is a rubber sound deadening pad, some water will have gotten behind it, so be sure to clean that up as well. As well as under the tool tray under the back seats.

 

That Toyota QDR...good luck with your fix OP. Sucks with a new truck.

 

Replace the whole truck? Lololololllooollol

You guys on this site crack me up with your silly comments.

 

It's true. I basically only come here to see what asinine ideas people come up with.

Get them to fix it and dry it out, possibly even swap out the seats so you can get the truck back faster. Are you a good service customer?
Last thing they want is a truck taking up a bay with its doors open for 48 hours. Trust me.. I know. It's my job.


That light shouldn't take days to replace. I got one next-day. Still have the original in my toolbox.
It's sucks that it happened and I feel bad for you. But there is only so much you can expect from a dealership. Any dealership...

That's a 2 day turnaround in that job, Maximum. All dealers have dealt with water in cars before. AC drain tubes love to clog and then have all the water spill into the front carpet. We've all seen it and fixed it before. This isn't much different.

 

You guys are a riot. Lemon law as soon as something happens. Lemon law usually needs 3 repeat issues and repairs with no resolve, and/or a certain period being repaired before anything can be classified a lemon.

Vehicles don't mold very easy now a days. Sure it will get musty but it's not very likely that mold will infest the cabin. I've worked on cars with multiple leaks. Seen cars with enough water in the floor pan for it to slosh around while the customer is driving. Infact this happened twice on my wife's Pontiac. Her sunroof drain tube keep popping off. The foam padding under the carpet was pretty soaked and water logged. Was probably wet for a month or longer before I took it all apart. I simply pulled the carpets up and sucked it all out with a shop vac. Sucked all the water out of the floor and the foam under the carpet. The foam is pretty dense but since it was there for so long it eventually became saturated. i probably sucked 3 gallons of water out of it. Ended up repairing the sunroof and just using the car heater left it run for a while with the blower on high. Wasn't really musty at all. No mold, and after about 3-4 days after drying it was fine.

Toyota doesn't use foam or padding under their carpets and their material doesn't mold up. Infact most vehicke carpets are mold resistant. Mold has a tough time growing on hard surfaces like plastic. Doesn't mean that it can or doesn't. Just not something that happens after one day. Seat fabric is usually treated as well. And the seat foam pretty much the same. It can hold water though. It sucks that it Happened but it's not really anything to be too worried about. The biggest issues will be the stains in the headliner. Those usually never come out. Also the seat will probably stain. Those might not come out as well. So more than likely they will need to be replaced. Not sure how readily available parts will be but I'm guessing it will take some time. Your only shot at getting it bought back would be they can't get parts in time. Not sure if they can make you want to bring it in for the repair until the parts are available, or if you can request a rental now. Might be something to look into.

No doubt it's a shitty problem to have to deal with. However stuff does happen. When the new ford edges came out they forgot to seal part of the rear side window. Lots of water was in these things, and the fix was pretty extensive. They ended up having a stop sale on them if I remember correctly. I'd be more pissed about something like that vs a part that failed. Like I said. It could always be worse.

 

Have you ever lived here in Florida? The humidity here is so ridiculous, mold grows instantly. Hell if I don't run the fan in the shower room in my house, mold starts growing on the ceiling in a day. The OP has a serious issue here with the potential for mold problems. Mold is bad and can cause horrible health issues such as asthma.

 

Done the same. Truck doesn't smell like or have any discernable mold after 2 or 3 times being flooded just a good amount of mud under the carpet. I know it's not the same as a headliner/seats but that foam under the carpet holds A LOT of water as the seat foam would.

Definitely shitty on a NEW truck though. Hope they make it right for you OP.

 

Ok

No way a fucking rear light seal would cause this much to be wet.

Looks like a rear window was left open. Shit I've left mine open in heavy rain and even it wasn't that wet. On multiple trucks

Anyway.

 

Obviously it needs to be dried out properly. Humidity is a big factor, but just because it's humid doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have mold growth. Mold grows faster on certain materials. The materials inside a vehicle don't really prohibit growth. Not saying mold spores can't grow and spread inside his truck, I'm just saying if the truck interior had some paper interior or something it would be 10x worse. If the water is cleaned up, and the truck is aired out ot should be ok. Maybe they run an ozone machine over night to help kill any spores and clean up the smell. It will be fine.

 

So where is it leaking and why?

 

The rear light definatly can let in that amount of water...

Same thing happened about a year ago to mine after I wrapped my roof and thought I wouldn't have to put a new seal on the light like an idiot

Anyway... my rear seats looks exactly like OP's. Just from the rear light. Got my sub amp, 4cha amp and box wet too... I thought they were all toast. Somehow they all ended up fine!

Nice thing about California is After the 20 min rain, it dried in about 4 hours with all the doors open and a shop fan.

 

The rear lights do allow that much water in if they aren't sealed.
Just under the lamp is a metal brace in the roof, which holds water, then overflows around the edge when the truck is driving around, or just overflows if it isn't moving.

Water was dripping on my friend as she was in the back seat when the truck was being delivered.

Attached a picture of the actual lamp that allowed all the water through. Notice the seal where I have it marked.
If you ever take one out, seal it with RTV.

Also, this is only for Double cab models. The AC uses a red brake lamp with rubber seal. No, they are not interchangeable.

 

Is that seal on the bottom what it looked like from the factory or did it rip being removed? That's obviously the bottom so probably not as leak prone as a seal problem on the top, but regardless, that's not a particularly confidence inspiring seal design.

 

Mine started doing that about 2 months ago although not quite that bad. Its at the light. I just put some clear RTV around the gap and it seems to be fixed.

 

I'm about to go put some clear silicone around my light. Seems like this is a common thing on new vehicles. For future reference if anyone gets water stains in their headliner.... baby wipes.

 

maybe not swap the truck, but I'd be looking for a full new interior.
everything removed, cleaned, dried and then new interior and wiring installed.

 

my sunroof drain failed a few years ago on my Jetta, tried everything to get the stain out.
I shall try this, this weekend

 

Just be extra careful if it's a fabric headliner. Light pressure, rub, and keep swapping out wipes. If that doesn't work you can try some upholstery cleaner mixed in water about 1/50 and a white cotton rag so it won't dye or catch the fibers. Gosh I hate headliners

 

ya, not that I think of it I might just leave it.
Car is 10 years old and headliner is starting to come off at the back near the interior light. Rather just leave it alone and not cause any more damage.

But good to know for future cars.