2014 MKZ hybrid trunk leak

[Justin1958]

I did some searching on this forum but the only references I found for water getting into the trunk were about runoff from the trunk lid if open while it is raining. This is not the case with my car.

Today I discovered an inch of standing water in the tire well beneath the foam tray for the inflator and other tools. I only looked because the carpet over this was saturated and so was my luggage when I retrieved it from the trunk. There was no water pooled in the foam tray. I have wondered about this in the past because the windows fog on the inside when the temp dips and the car often feels humid. When I asked the dealer about those issues they had no idea. This standing water, however, is a bigger problem, especially for the threat of corrosion to the various electronic connectors and components unique to a hybrid.

Anyone else have or know of this problem? Were there any factory bulletins issued? Any suggestions?

Thank you for any insight or advice,
Justin

PS, I purchased the car new and there have been no accidents and therefore no chance of botched collision repair

 

[Lgoldtop]

I had the same issue on my 2015. Odds are good that the trunk lid needs to be adjusted. I hired an auto glass company and they came out and readjusted my trunk and also inspected my rear windshield. All is good now. Id have a body shop look at the hinges and see if they need to be adjusted.

 

[pandres]

I am having the same problem with our 2014 MKZ. I will look at the truck latch pull down, but all the outside body lines are good. The water is always clean when I find it, so it not off the road. Any other thoughts?

 

[68Chevysspu]

Are there any updates on this situation? I'm getting lots of water in the trunk of my 13 and I was thinking it must be the trunk lid leaking somehow. Interesting that it might just need to be adjusted. The body lines look good on mine as well. I first discovered that the carpet on the right side both front and rear was wet and then about a gallon of water in the trunk. I dried it out and it was wet again after having it out in the rain for just a little while tonight. I appreciate any help.

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[g_354888]

Sorry but I don't have an update. I need warmer drier weather to investigate. I may pull the inside liner off of the trunk lid and see if any of the pieces in the lid assembly could leak where they are attached. It is really annoying to have this happen over the winter.

 

[68Chevysspu]

It is annoying to say the least. I never thought about the parts of the assembly. It seems like the liner material would be wet though and mine isn't. I closed the lid with a light inside in the darkened garage and couldn't see any light escaping. Thanks for responding.

 

[g_832967]

I have a 2014 MKZ with the same problem. Clear clean water in the trunk. It seems to only get in when I go thru the car wash. I replaced the trunk seal and adjusted the trunk pull down. It is better but still getting some in during car wash. Body lines looks good but I think the front side of the trunk needs to adjusted down. Not sure how to do that yet. Any ideas?

 

[Whitey]

I got the same issue with my 2014 trunk...I pulled the top trunk lining out to see what was going on. I believe water is leaking in around the top trunk’s black insert and then leaks in at the bolts that holds trunk lid to trunk hinges. I am going to try use clear sealer to see if that stops the water. Will let you know what happens...

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[jhnjohnp]

Picked up a 2016 CPO MKZ hybrid, and I guess the dealer overlooked the trunk leak during their 200 point check. Any how it didn't take me long to find the leak. The water is coming through between the trunk lid and gasket top left about where the 12 V battery compartment is. Leak is not affecting the battery as far as I can see. Forget about the dealer. Not only did they not fix the leak, but created another one by misshaping the trunk lid. Corrected the dealer problem and applied a small piece of weather strip right on top of the trunk gasket, tested with a garden hose, and so far so good. My feeling is the trunk rim is a little low at that spot preventing a good seal between lid and gasket. A body shop might be you're best bet, but expensive for a nickle do itself repair. I may remove the gasket at that area, and stuff it with something so it's raised a little when I reinstall it, or swallow my pride and just apply weather stripping around the entire trunk gasket. I found the leak by going around the entire trunk lid seam, small sections at a time, with a garden hose. Hope this helps.

 

[JGRMKZ]

i had the same problem with my '13. it ended up being a broken clip under the black plastic trunk cover. its a very poor design, since if these clips fail or the plastic tabs break there is nothing from keeping the water out of the slots in the trunk lid itself! I would get an 1" of water at a time when it would rain....

 

[jhnjohnp]

Are there any updates on this situation? I'm getting lots of water in the trunk of my 13 and I was thinking it must be the trunk lid leaking somehow. Interesting that it might just need to be adjusted. The body lines look good on mine as well. I first discovered that the carpet on the right side both front and rear was wet and then about a gallon of water in the trunk. I dried it out and it was wet again after having it out in the rain for just a little while tonight. I appreciate any help.

See my post. In may case water was leaking between the trunk lid and gasket. If there's an adjustment, my dealer seems to be unaware of it, they just made the situation worse. I found the leak by going around the entire trunk lid seam with a garden hose, and it was leaking in only one spot, so applied a small piece of weather stripping to the gasket which corrected the problem for now. Searching for a more permanent solution without the dealer's assistance.

 

[jhnjohnp]

i had the same problem with my '13. it ended up being a broken clip under the black plastic trunk cover. its a very poor design, since if these clips fail or the plastic tabs break there is nothing from keeping the water out of the slots in the trunk lid itself! I would get an 1" of water at a time when it would rain....

Not sure where these clips are, could you be a little more specific. I found six plugs/caps in the channel around the gasket near the trunk lid hinge. Still pretty certain my leak is between the lid and gasket, but don't want to over look any cause.
Thanks.

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[JGRMKZ]

Not sure where these clips are, could you be a little more specific. I found six plugs/caps in the channel around the gasket near the trunk lid hinge. Still pretty certain my leak is between the lid and gasket, but don't want to over look any cause.
Thanks.

the black plastic cover on top of the trunk. under it there are about a 10 plastic tabs that have a metal clip that retains them into slots on the top of the trunk lid. my leak was from there, which would flow down the sides of the trunk lid to the gasket which made me originally think it was from that. Take all the liners out of your trunk, tape a hose to your rear window and turn it on. while looking inside you'll see pretty quick where your water is coming in.

hope that helped.

 

[jhnjohnp]

the black plastic cover on top of the trunk. under it there are about a 10 plastic tabs that have a metal clip that retains them into slots on the top of the trunk lid. my leak was from there, which would flow down the sides of the trunk lid to the gasket which made me originally think it was from that. Take all the liners out of your trunk, tape a hose to your rear window and turn it on. while looking inside you'll see pretty quick where your water is coming in.

hope that helped.

Found them securing the plastic liner to the underside of the trunk lid. They are all present and feel secure. If my fix doesn't work out, will take another look at those tabs.
Thanks again.

 

[G-899352]

Found them securing the plastic liner to the underside of the trunk lid. They are all present and feel secure. If my fix doesn't work out, will take another look at those tabs.
Thanks again.

There are more that you can’t see from just taking the liner down btw. There behind the sheet metal rib that’s runs across the truck lid. Google the trunk cover and you’ll see there are more there than you can see when it’s assembled....

 

[jhnjohnp]

There are more that you can’t see from just taking the liner down btw. There behind the sheet metal rib that’s runs across the truck lid. Google the trunk cover and you’ll see there are more there than you can see when it’s assembled....

OK, should have paid attention when I read your first post. Had no leak in that area till the dealer bowed up the lid along the base of the rear window. Managed to restore the original curve and leak stopped except original leak top left seam between tail light and hinge. Don't believe water should even get as far as clips. So you might want to check lid is flush along base of glass or gaps/burrs where plastic panel meets it's own rubber seal allowing water to enter between plastic and lid. Also, you're right, poor design.

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[jhnjohnp]

I stand corrected. The edge of the plastic panel does not make contact with the rubber gasket along the base of the rear glass which must seal with the lid metal before the main surround seal. Have no idea if design allows water or not to enter between plastic panel and lid and if so is prevented from entering trunk by afore mentioned clips. Any any rate this design seems to go beyond poor. My leak seems to be confined to the top left seam between the tail light and lid hinge, so will concentrate my effort there.

 

[jhnjohnp]

OK. I actually got into my trunk with a flash light during a rain storm, closed the lid, and observed water coming through the main seal near the left hinge and running down into the wheel well . I thought about it, and decided to try and raise the seal a bit. Pulled seal up at the leak area, and inserted a short piece of rubber weather stripping along base of metal ridge where seal bottoms out when reinstalled. This was enough to raise it about an eighth of an inch or so. Subjected the entire trunk lid seam to a forceful spray from a hose, concentrating on the suspect area, and to my delight no water. True test will come during next rain storm. Will keep you posted.

 

[jhnjohnp]

Well, it rained, and rained hard. Glad to report no leak, no water in the trunk. Apparently, on my car, a section of the trump rim between the left tail light and lid hinge is a little low preventing a good seal between the lid and gasket. Dealer was unable to repair it even after I showed them the exact location of the leak. I guess a proper fix would be to have a body shop raise the depressed section, then again it's no longer leaking, so let a sleeping dog lie. There may more leak points, as mentioned in other posts, but in my case this was the issue.

 

[Sumanlee]

Hi there, I have the same problem of water leaking into the trunk on my 2015 MHz hybrid. My question /concern is that if any sitting water in the trunk would damage the hybrid battery. Does anyone know?