After a day of heavy rain I came across a leak into the rear interior and wondering if anyone else has seen one like this? I've got a 2011 with no sunroof. I do have the cargo rails. The leak is coming through the seam on the rear side trim panels. After another day of rain I was able to trace it up a bit. It appears to be coming through on the trailing edge of the roof sheetmetal seam. I'm thinking this may be coming from the cargo rail. Before I start trying things, I want to see if someone else has seen one similar and if it was from the cargo rail or something else. Here's some pics of the areas:


Areas the water has come through the trim panel and run down

The sheetmetal seam that appears to have water coming through

The water trail from the roof onto the trim panel

 

I think I would start with water in a spray bottle to try to narrow it down

 

Hi Norge, We certainly understand why this may be concerning. We kindly recommend having your dealer inspect this concern for you as they are in the best position to assist. If you do work with your dealer, we would be more than happy to provide you with additional support.
Rob
DodgeCares

 

TrueDogman, That's what I'm going to be starting this weekend. There's only a couple of spots I can see that could be a source of water. The roof rack or one of the rubber wire conduits that plug into the body. I'm leaning towards the roof rack.

DodgeCares, I'd love to work with the dealer, however I'm well out of warranty (over 120K miles). I've searched around and found two discussions that describe about the same leak I've got. One mentioned the cost being $385 five years ago. Both refer to a body seal or weld area having to be resealed. They describe an area that sounds similar as I have circled in the second picture, which ironically has sealant protruding which was painted over when it was manufactured. 2011 Citadel Roof Leak @ Rear Hatch and Cargo / Hatch Area Leak

I'm planning to start looking at the passenger side roof rack. It seems to have a seal/gasket that goes under it, which I've added a picture of the roof rack where you can see it. However, when I'm searching online I can't find any mention or part number for just the seal, so I'm not sure it has one. I'm sure I'll find out when I start looking this weekend.

Rear of right roof rack

 

I starting searching for the leak and found it pretty fast. It's the body seam of the roof and rear quarter panel. I found that it's actually primarily going down the side interior behind the trim panels and only seems to leak on the trim panels and into the interior when it's really leaking a lot. I looked into the hole that is used to lower the spare tire and there's water in there. So yeah, this is actually pretty bad and worrisome that it's been leaking into the rear interior for an unknown amount of time and I only found it due to an extremely heavy downpour. There are two body plugs on the underside, just above and behind the spare tire. I've pulled them out and water's continually dripping out of there.

Interior looking up at roof seam

Close up of the leaking area

Exterior of roof seam

Exterior of roof seam

Spare tire lowering point with water

 

The picture above showing the backside of the roof seam molding shows a crack in the paint. I looked up further and there's actually a gap with a hole that goes into the cavity. This seems like a bad way to build a vehicle, or that a vehicle that's 9 years old shouldn't have this issue. The roof seam molding actually has a cutout that ends just before this part because it's uneven. It's completely reliant on the sealant to be adequately applied and not to fail while aging. I'm worried how long this has been leaking since most of the leaking went unnoticed behind the interior trim panels and into the lower body cavity. Also if that water led to any other corrosion or damage.



Passenger side roof seam. Sealant missing in this portion and the paint that was over it has cracked/is missing. This has a gap that's leaking into the interior.

Driver's side roof seam. No sealant gap, but the paint has also cracked.

Rear view of driver's side body seam and the crack in the paint. The paint below it has separated from the body seam sealant and bubbled up.