Prius trunk LEAKS pictures compilation - common problem areas. prius 2004-2015

well done, thank you!

 

I like it.

 

Very Nice!

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I'm in the PNW with so much rain and all your work is gonna be a huge help. Will be referring people to this post for all leaks from now on.

 

I've just discovered water is coming in from an old window seal not doing it's job anymore. I've already tackled the points at the back end of the car so had to go on the hunt for why we were getting so much condensation inside.

 

Back in the day before climate change took over it use to be, as recently as 25 years ago, that rain fell fairly fairly regularly in Western Oregon in the Summer and the dry season last less than a month.

As for the leaks and the need for a recall, this is a regional issue, just like the corrosion on the voltage sensing harness in battery pack. They only do recalls for wide-spread problems not regional ones.

 

Lol, seems the people who think their car that is more than a decade old is entitled to a recall and free repairs are also same people that deny climate change?

The PNW is a very large area of what originally was 70% old growth temperate forest that had a profound influence on moderating the weather. In general, the further north in the region you go the more rain, the more temperate rainforest like and the less mediterranean the climate becomes.

Back as recently as the 1940's even the southern most extreme of the Temperate rainforest in the coastal SF Bay area was getting way over 40 inches of rain, with as much as a 1/2 foot of dry season precipitation from the last remaining big trees grabbing fog drip... Then as old growth forest liquidation accelerated after WWII the California Mediterranean climate moved north and years where the dry season of less than a month became near non-existent.

As for the fires, they're weather driven events. In 2018 the Campfire in California burned at a record rate of a hectare a second because the abnormal high winds replaced the usual 10" inches of precipitation in Paradise, CA area that they used to get in October & early November didn't give a drop.

Then this year a massive early season freeze descended on the mid west that led to massive fire making winds descending down out of the cascades and in all three states we saw wildfires burn at a rate of 5 hectares per second. Over 100K acres burned in a single day in several places. This is because climate change in the past decade has boost average global wind speed by over 17%: The World's Winds Are Speeding Up - Scientific American

These are unprecedented times and your climate change denialism has zero valid science to back it up. The data is overwhelmingly clear about what happens when humans make excuses for massive amounts of air pollution at a global scale. The whole planet begins to unravel and weather extremes scientists predicted were still 50 years away have shown up 50 years early. This whole planet is starting to catch on fire and you want Toyota to fix your leaky 13 year old car for free? Classic!!!

 

Funny you mention that, I did just install one but the leak was prior to that. Once I replace the window seal I'll keep an eye out for leaks higher up. Thanks.

 

For starters, I've never seen any pack that's failed due to a leaky roof seem because the water never gets into the packs. The packs are well designed in that regard. The only packs that fail from corrosion that I've seen are from long term exposure to regions that have cold humid air. And maybe a leaky roof seam makes that slightly worse, but not the main cause.

As for the recall, that's silly. There's no safety issues that would make leaky roof seams dangerous and it's been 11 years since the last Gen2 Prius rolled off the assembly line.

 

Out of interest, what's your experience with battery packs? Like how many have you taken apart? (To clarify I'm not being judgemental at all, just trying to gauge the chances that you have come across one by knowing number of packs you've been into.)

I'm in the PNW, my 2005 had a lot of water it the trunk when I bought it. When rebuilding the pack I had to replace all the hardware as it was so badly rusted. It's possible that the amount of rust can impede current so much that the ecu errors. It will definitely have some effect, I just don't know to what extent.

 

After 2 1/2 years I'm getting close to 20 Honda and Prius packs I've worked on... I've never seen rust in a pack though? Copper doesn't rust, nor due the nuts, but they definitely corrode and the only problem I've seen that's more common than a bad module is corrosion in the voltage sensor plug where it enters the hybrid battery ECU and eventually that corrosion fries / shorts out the ECU. In my experience all the other problems with corrosion beyond that plug is incidental and causes no harm to the functioning of the pack.

 

Yep, you're right. Thinking back it wasn't rust but white corrosion of some sort.

 

Thanks, OP. I have this page bookmarked.

My water story on a 2004 Gen II - signs of water/very very slight rust on driver side = wait and see. On the pass. side/battery compartment area though, there was about 1/4 inch of standing water, and surface rust suggesting this had been going on a while. I actually saw some water appearing to drip down from those seams along the rear wall below the rear hatch sill, on the battery compartment side. I caulked all the slit-like seams and also caulked the place where the right rear brake light assembly fits onto the body -- it looks like this water is supposed to go OVER the brake light when it cascades down the shute in the rear hatch enclosure area...

After some more rain, I notice maybe even a bit more than 1/4 inch - but not on the rear side of the battery, and the seams look dry. Thanks to this thread and OP, I am going to turn to Pass. side mudflaps, those several bolts holding the bumper cover onto the wall above the battery. I checked and didn't see signs of water from the hinge cracks, or water in the spare tire area.

Great car - great Site about it and great posters!

 

Don't forget to check where the roof meets the rear hatch at the end of the channel on both sides. This is the most common location. The cracks are hairline, but let in a lot of water considering you can almost not see the cracks.

 

It’s shown.