Water in Rear Well; 2004 SRX door handle / lock?
 

With my 2004 SRX now five years old and out of warranty :(, I've got a problem with water ac***ulating in the rear well (where the jack is stored). Any time there is rain or we take it through the car wash, I get a few cups of water in the well which (as you know) is carpeted. Soon thereafter the mold/mildew takes hold and things start to smell.

I've dropped the spare down and looked around for any obvious openings under the car and checked the weather stripping around the door. Everything looks normal.

From looking at other forums, this seems to be a common issue with 2004 models. Has anyone else on this forum had this problem and found the source?



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mod edit: title

water leaks are tuff to find........ take everything out, get well semi dry, and run water over rear top of vehicle to see where its coming in. good luck
rickyd

Advice?
remove the rubber plug in the wheel well and at least allow the water to drain.

then do the $1 bill test on the weatherstrip, and inspect the seals on tail lights and locks.



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I just bought a 2004 SRX with the same problem, finally found where it was coming from. Water would get in the track of the weatherstrip and leak into the well at the lower body seam. Took off the weather strip, got a tube of black RTV silicon and filled the track with it. Re-installed the weatherstrip and no more leak. Now got to get the roof popping noise fixed!

Good news - I found the leak!

The key was cutting the carpet out of the well, fully drying the well out and then getting the hose out.

Where was the leak? It turns out the water runs down the back window and behind the license plate assembly into the hatch. Then through the latch into the carpet around the catch for the latch and finally into the well.

Now for how to stop water leaking behind the license plate bracket!?!? (without a big tube of silicone)

Has anyone taken the rear door apart and have a clue how to remove the license plate assembly?

Water Leak is Fixed!
 

After some dissassembly of the rear hatchback, I found where water was getting in and now are leak free!

I started with removing the interior door trim liner. There is one screw and a number of press fit clips that hold the liner in place. I broke a few of the plastic clips, but they are cheap to replace and easy to find.

Inside the door there are five nuts that when removed will allow the license plate bracket to be removed. I had to push on the ends of the bolts and give them a rap to free the assembly.

Once that was out, I found the culprit - the rubber gasket that seals around the door handle mount was leaking. To stop the leak I did two things:

1. Put a bead of silcone calk around the top of the door handle mount.
2. I removed the rubber gasket, cleaned it and lubricated it with silicone grease.

When re-assembling the whole thing, I also lubed all the rubber to metal contact points for the license plate bracket, tightening everthing and checking for leaks.

Last but not least, re-installing the carpet in the bottom of the well under the jack.

Done.

percyad... way to go there. glad everything turned out for you...... YOU got'r done all on your own. see ya 'round
rickyd

door handle .. locks .. all the same .. great news,
thanks for coming back and providing status of the find.