Jimny boot filled with water after driving through torrential rain (pics inc!)

Last night my partner and I drove down from the Scottish highlands, through Glen Coe and back to Glasgow. It was absolutely chucking it down with rain for about 3 hours. Easily the wettest conditions I have ever driven in, we were stuck going 40mph it was that bad. Window wipers on full, monster puddles that splashed water all over the windscreen, just crazy amounts of rain.

Anyway, 15 minutes ago I was coming back from the gym and randomly decided to look in the boot where the jack lives, underneath the wooden panel, and it was filled with about 2-3 inches of water. I pushed the rubber gasket through and it all splashed out onto the ground.

Question is - what the heck causes this and can I do anything to stop it? Is it just because Suzuki only spot welded the boot so it seeps through? Bad seam sealer? Something else? The last time I was in there was about 2 weeks ago and it was dry but it looked like a flippin' aquarium just there!

 

There are all sorts of places it might have got in, some suggestions

Do you have rear seats fitted? If not the seat mounting holes go all the way through.

You might have a hole or leak from one of the rear wheel arches, you would need to take the side panels off to have a look.

Then there is the rear door seal, is it ok? What about door adjustment, does it fit tight enough?

Do you have the roof rails fitted, it might be leaking there and running down the inside of the side panels.


The boot floor is a known rust spot, usually from the inside out so I would guess it can be quite common. Does your Jimny show any rust here, it might have been happening for some time?

Hope that helps

Robin

Hey Robin, thanks for the response. I have the rear seats in place and no obvious holes in the arches (I removed the side panels 2 weeks ago and put in sound dampening material / rear speakers), no roof gear equipped.

In the back I have some rust but nothing as terrible as I've seen online or had before on my last Jimny. It's the usual spots, a patch at the bottom of the jack area and then two little patches in the rear corners. My gut says it's one (or both) of those corners that is letting water in and contributing to rust, probably due to Suzuki's dodgy seam sealing. Both sides have quite ugly dollops of it in those places. Still, it was a lot of water in there, more than I'd expect from that alone.

Your point about the back door seal is interesting though. I'll need to have a closer look! You mentioned adjustment, is there anything I can "tweak" there to might it tighter? I do wonder if we didn't shut the door fully or something, the car was packed to max capacity with 3 passengers + luggage.

I'll have to do some tests with a pressure washer, see if I can manage to spray into the car. Only issue is waiting for it to dry out now...

There is a small amount of adjustment on the latch striker plate at the rear. Mine was a little slack at one stage and the back door rattled. Check the seal all round for any gaps, you get quite a back draft when moving along and this could have forced water in.

Whilst we are on back doors the hinges gunge up and stick, mine shut ok, but was stiff to open fully until I forced some lithium grease in to the hinges.

The problem is the boot is the lowest point so any leak will gather in there.

The boot sits above the exhaust back box, so that would tend to get in the way for spray from the wheels.

Robin

Ah wow, I didn't realise it had any adjustment at al! I'll take a proper look tomorrow and see if the door seal looks ok and how it's draining etc.

The other thing that just struck me was that I have a small rust patch on the back window seal. I don't think it was that but yeah, need to spray the car with a pressure washer and see if I can make it happen again.

Might even be time for a micro-fibre cloth and a hairdryer (to dry out the area) and then the old talcum powder trick ( to reveal exactly where the water ingress is and where the route of travel is). The left over talc might then prove handy to aid wriggling into your neoprene wetsuit before heading down to ASDA for a pint of milk and a loaf of bread. Trust you can work out the point of entry and resolve the situation - even it is simply down to 'operator error' and you didn't fully close the rear door before setting off in a downpour.