Hi all, I took some pics of my latest leak fixing mission - hope it helps some people. Please note - this is a New Zealand Toyota Surf KZN185, so the 4runner interior may be slightly different.
I was getting wet carpet in the back - first step was rear door seal (second hand, $45nzd) - I could see it had been leaking previously and had some rust repaired - I retreated the areas and replaced the seal which fixed the problem until we got some real heavy rain.
I found one of my roof rack rails had a missing bolt and the hole was very badly siliconed up - which was leading to water entry, ending up on and around the wheel arch. I stripped out the rear interior (very easy, pretty much all clips apart from unscrewing rear ceiling light and the base trim by rear doors and rear opening on floor. Also unbolted rear seatbelts). The roof lining clips were impossible to remove without wrecking them - I had the tool and everything but they were stuck. Just going to replace them.
Turns out the missing bolt was snapped off, and someone had just siliconed over it. I got it out with pliers from under the roof lining.
Here are a few shots of the back interior for you all - note the rear sunroof drains.
I replaced the bolts with stainless - lucky my Dad never throws away anything so I just raided his shed. The red washer is a tap washer - seemed like a great idea but it squashed up when I tightened it so I had to go back to the originals.
Treated any rust with this awesome stuff...
And this is the sealer I used - seals when wet, seals when oily etc.
I put a blob of sealer around the bolt holes and smoothed it out (lick your finger, saliva stops it sticking).
Be careful not to use too much, there are little drain holes in the roof racks to stop water getting stuck.
When I had pushed the roof rack rail down into place, I did the same sort of sealing job on the top of the rack before I put the bolts in.
No leaks at all so far, very easy job.
I was getting wet carpet in the back - first step was rear door seal (second hand, $45nzd) - I could see it had been leaking previously and had some rust repaired - I retreated the areas and replaced the seal which fixed the problem until we got some real heavy rain.
I found one of my roof rack rails had a missing bolt and the hole was very badly siliconed up - which was leading to water entry, ending up on and around the wheel arch. I stripped out the rear interior (very easy, pretty much all clips apart from unscrewing rear ceiling light and the base trim by rear doors and rear opening on floor. Also unbolted rear seatbelts). The roof lining clips were impossible to remove without wrecking them - I had the tool and everything but they were stuck. Just going to replace them.
Turns out the missing bolt was snapped off, and someone had just siliconed over it. I got it out with pliers from under the roof lining.
Here are a few shots of the back interior for you all - note the rear sunroof drains.
I replaced the bolts with stainless - lucky my Dad never throws away anything so I just raided his shed. The red washer is a tap washer - seemed like a great idea but it squashed up when I tightened it so I had to go back to the originals.
Treated any rust with this awesome stuff...
And this is the sealer I used - seals when wet, seals when oily etc.
I put a blob of sealer around the bolt holes and smoothed it out (lick your finger, saliva stops it sticking).
Be careful not to use too much, there are little drain holes in the roof racks to stop water getting stuck.
When I had pushed the roof rack rail down into place, I did the same sort of sealing job on the top of the rack before I put the bolts in.
No leaks at all so far, very easy job.
