Back wall's air vents are leaking water into interior. And yours are, too.

So here's a discovery I made 20 minutes ago; another wonderful item for Toyota's quality control list.

I'm running wires for my second aux battery and had to take off the plastic panels behind the rear seats. Behind the panels is a piece of rubbery material (sound dampening?) that hangs vertically. Pulling back on this material, my fingers felt something wet.

Here's that piece of material, folded back:



See all these darks spots at the edge? All that is wet.

(Ignore the aluminum-looking stuff - that is sound dampening material I installed a while ago, and your truck will not have it.)

Looking around further, dried water spots everywhere:







And actual drops of water (truck hasn't been in a "serious" rain for 3-4 days):



Pulling back my sound deadening around the rear air vents, it becomes obvious where the problem is:



There is a ton of room/play all around the air vents, and the shitty excuse for a "gasket" that Toyota put in (from the back side) does nothing at all. It is practically a gaping hole for the water to enter through around all four sides of the vent.

---

My immediate reaction is to take this to the dealer, but what will they do? Even if we get past the "it's normal" run-around that they are guaranteed to give me, there's nothing "broken" - it's just a shit design. There are no new parts to install, no gaskets to re-apply. All they'll do is keep my truck for a week and smother silicone or something similar around the perimeter. I'm going to do that myself (using a Butyl-based asphalt sealant from Home Depot) in a few minutes. But I'll be sure to drop by my dealership and show them this atrocity after the fact.

---

Fuck you, Toyota.

 

Mine don't leak and trust me they've been through their paces (I live in Seattle). Just had my rear interior out last week.

 

I've had my interior out a half-dozen times before, too. Never noticed anything before. Run it through a car wash (as I did on Wednesday); I can practically guarantee you there will be water inside.

 

Interesting. We just had crazy rain the past two days. I'll pull the interior tonight after I get my boys to bed and report back.

 

I modify my truck as much as the next guy, but do you think it could have something to do with how many times you've pulled apart the interior. You mentioned you hadn't seen it before.

 

When I sprayed my rear cab wall with sound damping stuff, I noticed how sloppy those vents were, so I sprayed the shit outta them (around them) to seal the air/water movement... worked for me...This is the "before" pic.. at least 1/4 play forward to back...

What you are showing is really bad... Are the vents still working or missing the flaps..? Seems like a lot of water.. Just seal the f'rs and forget the dealer.... show them if you are nice... they might care.. doubtful though.

Good luck my friend.

 

Here is my "after" pic....


Just have to remove the green tape and the vent are free to work as designed again...!!

 

Mine are bone dry. Just pulled the rear out and pulled the pads. This pic is crappy and shows only right above the vent but the whole pad looked dry just like this.



One thing I notice in your pics is how much sound deadening you have right at the vent. Could that be hold it up?

 

Happy for you... while you're in there add some sound damping material... It'll kill some road noise for ya..

 

Or possibly cause a leak?

 

I'm not unhappy with the level of noise in the truck and would rather not mess that nasty tar based stuff. I'm glad it's dry in there at this point! cant say I won't be checking it now though, I am OCD about these type of things.

 

Any chance the sound deadening material is acting as a vapour barrier and what you are seeing is condensation build up ?

 

I'd had my truck about 2 years, 38,000 miles when I came out after work one rainy day and noticed the rear floorboard was wet. Drove it straight to the dealer. They spent 30 seconds looking at it and gave me a set of keys to a Corolla to drive. I called the next day to find they replaced the rear window at no charge even though it was 2000 miles out of warranty. They did ask to keep it one additional day clean the carpet and detail the interior. All at no cost.

 

NO. it's clearly the loose, sloppy vents... but if you are in there check those loose vents and put silicone or something all around them...!! Then again... it may your rear window leaking..??
Best advice I can give ya... FWIW.. cheers..

 

Just sealed the perimeter of both vents. The stuff I used is meant for outdoor applications, is waterproof, and still flexible after drying. In other words, perfect for sealing crap on the truck. Should be permanently good now.

Not in this case. I've never removed or otherwise touched the vents before tonight, and the time I covered the driver's side one with sound dampening. There is nothing in their structure/installation that could have been altered or otherwise damaged. There is just a ton of empty room around them through which water gets in.

Thank you. Vents/flaps are working fine. I intend to run a few cables through one of the flaps in a few minutes. And that will be getting thoroughly sealed, of course.

That looks great!

Good stuff. I'd still keep an eye on it and/or seal it for peace of mind.

The sound deadening does nothing that would affect the vent itself. It does not alter the position of the vent, apply any pressure on it, etc.

No, for the following reasons:

1. Truck is always parked inside the underground garage, where temperature and humidity are pretty constant. I've never seen condensation in any part of any vehicle I've owned over the last ~10 years of parking in undergrounds.

2. There was water immediately underneath the sound deadening material in the gaps between vent and truck wall.

3. While there are drops of dried water from the vents down, there is nothing above - I thoroughly checked that prior to posting the thread. I would think condensation would appear everywhere rather equally.

 

I'm sure you have solved your problem...!!

Cheers my friend..

 

I hope this is not a stupid question, but what are the purpose of those vents?

 

To alow air to escape when you close the door or turn on outside A/C to the cab... That air has to go somewhere, eh..?

Hard to close yer door if totally sealed....

 

This, and probably also to equalize air pressure if you go from low to high altitude (or the other way around) without taking on external air/expunging interior air.