before i say anything, my hatch didnt leak in this paticular spot a week ago.


So the one day im washing my car, i finish, get in and look in the back and the seat behind me is SOAKED. im like what the hell. so i get home, take the piece off that covers the bolts that go onto the hatch. i thought that maybe the screws were loose, soi checked, and for some reason the water was dripping where there were no holes or anything... unless the water was coming from the nuts but dribbled over to this weird spot.. so while i had the cover thing off, i decided i should align the hatch so the back spoiler looks good with those side flare things.. so i loosen the bolts, and get my 2 buddies to push it in, this worked, somewhat, so i put a whole bunch of black caulking on the nuts hopeing it wouldnt leak. the next day it rains, and i was pretty much sitting in a pool of water.. what the hell did i do?!?!?!? where does it usually leak from up there? and what is the proper way to align a hatch!? is there some type of gasket thing under those nuts or that plate on the other side?


some of you might not know what im talking about so feel free to ask questions.

PS. sorry about the long post, im just really frustrated.

pps. I tried this "Emulsifier" **** i got from our local chevy dealership. you spread it on the weatherstriping like paint and let it dry. its supposed to make the weatherstriping firmer or something.. anyone tried it?!

 

If it's dripping on your back seats, it's leaking through the t-tops, not the hatch. I drove myself crazy trying to figure this out with my IROC. The fact is, the way the hatch sits over the gasket, it's almost impossible for it to leak at the top. I found that what was happening with mine was that the water was leaking underneath the center bar between the t-tops, then running above the headliner and dripping at the back down onto the back seats. Removing the center bar and siliconing the hell out of everything should fix the problem.

 

so should i take my headliner out and take a look? and i did notice that on the middle bar that the t-tops go into, underneath the plastic peice there is some rust, maybe i should check that and get some rust destroyer in there?

 

yeah, pull the headliner and have a look around. My guess is that when you pull the plastic piece behind the headliner, you'll see the water lines in the dust.

 

how hard is it to change the weatherstriping on the t-top and where the ttop sits on the car? like by myself

 

I have some bad leaks just like you described. What a PITA! I wish I didn't have t-tops in the first place. Good luck figuring it out!

 

i think ill just have to take out the headliner, im pretty sure its coming from under there