Well. What a F;#£$ng day!!! I have found that I have not 1 but 2 (yes 2) 2nd generation Prius (Prii) that have water leaking into the cars. What are the chances of actually having 2 cars that leak in water (from 6 in total)? Even more so when they are both 2nd generation Prii that to my knowledge is not a common problem. This brings me to my query. Has anyone had water leaking into their 2nd generation Prius? If so, what year & mileage and where was the water leaking in? Both my Prii are 2008 (wondering if common in this year of manufacture?) with 100,100 and 120,000 plus mileage respectively. In fairness, one car of the 2 seems to have been maybe shunted from behind with the previous owner as the water is leaking in through all the bumber screw openings. There is also a crack between to welded parts which may have been caused through assumed rear shunt. Also, a lot of water leaking in via rear O/S taillight which is where most of the water was/is coming in from. Not sure where the water is leaking in the other Prius but the water was covering the whole space saver tyre (Yes that much) so likely somewhere through the rear bumber in that one but not yet checked by the garage.
mostly from weld cracks in the rain gutter, sometimes the hatch hinges. it is fairly common, but hard to put a number on.
Yep... The seems under the decorative black rails on the edge of the roof are prone to fail, especially if you never pulled the rails up and cleaned underneath 'em. All that debris under 'em makes it hard for that part of the car to fully dry out, which puts more strain on the seals.
There’s no seals under the black plastic strips. What they do is hide the long crack in the body seam that runs up from the hatch valley. For some reason it’s usually the passenger side. Take the black strips off clean the valley and you’ll see the crack.
Yea, I don't mean seals literally, I mean the welding, the undercoat, the paint which effectively, or in this case ineffectively, functions as a seal.
Usually people first discover this leak when they check their 12 volt battery and realize that it's sitting in 3 inches of water, which freaks people out in a big way. There's a drain plug under this part of the car and if you're unable / haven't yet time to try to seal the leak you just leave that plug out and it drains out before it puddles up.
