2014 MKZ hybrid trunk leak

[David O]

I cut factory seal off even with base of back window then I applied about 1 in rubber trim sealer adhesive side down on that ledge running from side to side facing up now in the trunk closes it hits and seals that totally across there and no water can get up under the black trim between that and applying sealer under and around the black trim my trunk is now dry it's a bad design on several levels LOL

Found the source of the leak
There is two vents on the bumper core , below the tail lights
Water sips very slow
I will post pictures tonight

 

[David O]

Found the source of the leak
There is two vents on the bumper core , below the tail lights
Water sips very slow
I will post pictures tonight

Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

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Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

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Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

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Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

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[Zohaibm99]

Hello all, just reporting in . . .
I had silicone caulked the upward facing joints on the trunk deck lid; after several rains my trunk is dry and I'm not getting the cupful of water out the corner lid drain. There may be a better way to fix the problem, but this seems to have been effective, for mine, at least.

Hi, did you caulk the underside of the black trunk lid or the top side? I have caulked the entire black trunk lid from the topside and water is still getting in.

 

[Zohaibm99]

I have caulked the entire black trunk lid from the topside and water is still getting in. Im confused on how I can fix this problem

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[jhnjohnp]

I had the same problem, and posted my fix. I got into the trunk with a flash light, had my son close the lid, and spray around the entire trunk lid, small sections at a time with a garden hose, until I spotted the location of the leak along the trunk gasket between the left hinge and taillight some 12 inches or less. I then inserted a piece of weather stripping under the trunk gasket at that point to raise it about an eight of an inch. Not exactly rocket science, but no more leak, and the dealer was unable to repair leak even when I pointed out it's exact location.

 

[Zohaibm99]

I had the same problem, and posted my fix. I got into the trunk with a flash light, had my son close the lid, and spray around the entire trunk lid, small sections at a time with a garden hose, until I spotted the location of the leak along the trunk gasket between the left hinge and taillight some 12 inches or less. I then inserted a piece of weather stripping under the trunk gasket at that point to raise it about an eight of an inch. Not exactly rocket science, but no more leak, and the dealer was unable to repair leak even when I pointed out it's exact location.

 

[Zohaibm99]

Can you please do me a hugee favor please??, I was reassembling my trunk lid portion but couldnt figure out where 1 wire connects, can you please just take a picture of the entire wiring of the lincoln trunk lid?

 

[Zohaibm99]

Can you please do me a hugee favor please??, I was reassembling my trunk lid portion but couldnt figure out where 1 wire connects, can you please just take a picture of the entire wiring of the lincoln trunk lid?

Nvm I've figured it out

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[L-horwath]

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

I have a 2015 Lincoln MKZ and have the same issue but can’t figure out for the life of me where the water is getting in at I have spoken to several mechanics also and they all tell me I would need to go to a body shop I even went as far as painting the well with a rubber coating sealant but still no luck

 

[G-569277]

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...

I can see the water on the inside come from this area. Did this solve the problem?

 

[jhnjohnp]

I can see the water on the inside come from this area. Did this solve the problem?

You can try what I tried successfully with my 2016 MKZ hybrid. Empty the trunk, pull up the rug, mat, etc. to expose the wheel well. Go around the trunk lid, at the gasket seam, with a garden hose a small section at a time and ck for water leak after each section is hosed. My leak was thru the gasket between the left hinge and taillight. I raised the gasket at that point about an eight of a inch by placing a piece of weather stripping under neath it. Apparently there is a slight depression on the body panel at that location preventing a good seal between the gasket and trunk lid. End result I no longer have a leak. By the way I pointed out the exact location of the leak to my dealership, and they were unable to deal with it. Good luck.

 

[Lincolnlawman]

B I

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[Lincolnlawman]

Have 2015 Lincoln MKZ hybrid with terrible trunk leak.

Soaked up massive amount of water inside spare tire wheel well. Pulled out drain plug in bottom of this that went to outside bottom of car.

Took apart trunk trim on lid and inside trunk. Had wife run garden hose on top of trunk and I lowered or put down backseats to look inside trunk with flashlight, from back door/s.

Leak was coming from trunk lid, weather stripping all the way around trunk, and misaligned trunk lid.

Dried everywhere with towel and let car sit for few days in carport to dry out completely.

Drained lid by pulling out 2 mini plugs in bottom of lid. Used black and clear flex tape (from Home depot, $15 each for 2 rolls) to seal black plastic drain trim pieces on sides of trunk. I installed two rolls of 1/2" thick black rubber weather stripping self adhesive tape on underside of trunk lid edge ($20 each X2 from Home depot), all the way around. This lined up with the trunk's existing rubber weatherstrip to create a good seal.

Adjusted rubber stop legs (2 on bottom of trunk lid) and lowered trunk metal bar latch on bottom of inside of trunk that trunk locks or clicks onto when trunk is shut.
I now have to slam the trunk lid by hand to close it at the end of the automatic close. But creates an even tighter seal.

Caulked around black plastic trim piece on top of outer trunk lid with all weather clear silicon caulking (1 tube, $15 from Home depot paint section). (Use lacquer thinner ($20 from Home Depot or Canadian Tire, use sparingly on tissue paper to wipe up excess or to clean off your hands). Use tissue to smooth out caulking while it's wet. Let caulking dry for few days. Then caulked around top edge of black plastic trim piece on top underside of trunk lid. Let dry for a few days. This stopped water from going inside of trunk lid.

Installed more weather strip tape on edge of black plastic drain trim pieces on both two edges of trunk, to line up with trunk lid.

Put drain plugs back in, on bottom of trunk lid and in spare tire wheel well.
Put trim covers back in. Ran garden hose again. No more leaks.

Once trunk weather stripping begins to get bit flatter, will likely have to readjust trunk latch metal bar or rubber stops on trunk lid.

Wife discovered you have to put original trunk rubber weather strip on top of black plastic drain grim pieces on side edges of trunk. Then we put Flex Seal tape around the drain trim pieces and on those 3 black round fasteners on each side. Leave bottom of trim drain pieces open, so any water that gets under drain trim pieces can escape.

Could not believe how much water was coming in. Was like a shower...drip, drip, drip. Was so much water, it caused check engine light to come on. Once water was f
removed and trunk dried out, check engine light went off.

Had to replace the regular 12 volt car battery, due to the excess moisture. Battery died and we got locked out of car. Had to use emergency metal valet key to get into car, then put down back seats to crawl into trunk to access trunk release pull cord to access battery in trunk. Was about $400 for new car battery, from Lordco originally, but I got it half off from a sale. Is a specialty battery for hybrid vehicle's and you have to have it programmed or reset into car's computer by a mechanic with a code reader, or it will keep going dead and you will have to jump it. My friend is a mechanic and has a $2000 code reader, so he did it for $25, and it only took him 5 minutes or less, to reprogram the battery and computer so it was reset.

Good car, great mpg, gots all the bells and whistles, including built in radar detector, and massaging seats; but, real real shitty trunk design.

Thank God for smart wife, otherwise, we would all be lost.

 

[maralcangl]

I had the same problem, and posted my fix. I got into the trunk with a flash light, had my son close the lid, and spray around the entire trunk lid, small sections at a time with a garden hose, until I spotted the location of the leak along the trunk gasket between the left hinge and taillight some 12 inches or less. I then inserted a piece of weather stripping under the trunk gasket at that point to raise it about an eight of an inch. Not exactly rocket science, but no more leak, and the dealer was unable to repair leak even when I pointed out it's exact location.

Can

You can try what I tried successfully with my 2016 MKZ hybrid. Empty the trunk, pull up the rug, mat, etc. to expose the wheel well. Go around the trunk lid, at the gasket seam, with a garden hose a small section at a time and ck for water leak after each section is hosed. My leak was thru the gasket between the left hinge and taillight. I raised the gasket at that point about an eight of a inch by placing a piece of weather stripping under neath it. Apparently there is a slight depression on the body panel at that location preventing a good seal between the gasket and trunk lid. End result I no longer have a leak. By the way I pointed out the exact location of the leak to my dealership, and they were unable to deal with it. Good luck.

Can you post a pic of where you put the weather strip?

 

[maralcangl]

Hello all, just reporting in . . .
I had silicone caulked the upward facing joints on the trunk deck lid; after several rains my trunk is dry and I'm not getting the cupful of water out the corner lid drain. There may be a better way to fix the problem, but this seems to have been effective, for mine, at least.

Could you post a picture of how you did that?

 

[ljrullman]

Although this message string is aging, some people out there may still have this era vehicle and could use this information. I know I did internet searching to figure this out so am putting what I did out there. I tried butyl tape in the left and right channels just below the rear window (trunk trim panel?), and to cover the ridiculous gap under the plastic near the taillights, but this cheap/easy fix didn't work. I had soaked carpet and standing water in the wheel well. So... here's what I did (see photos):

• I laid down inside the trunk with a flashlight, closed the trunk, and had my wife pour water on top. I saw dripping water from the bolt attaching the arm attaching the trunk so concluded it's pooling somewhere on top under the plastic deck lid finish panel and finding clip holes (and other holes).
• I removed all of the carpet and the black trunk deck lid finish panel on top of the trunk. This required removing the GPS receiver on top, two bolts, and numerous metal clips with trim panel pry tools I bought on Amazon (be careful - the plastic is brittle - just pry gently all the way around). I could see evidence of water - dirt, etc. around holes for clips.
• I cleaned the metal and poorly designed rubber gasket (should be round to compress rather than flat) with alcohol. Then I applied a bead of RTV silicone on both the gasket and around each opening from the top to inside the trunk. I then replaced all the parts.
• Next, instead of the butyl tape, and noticing a small gap between the plastic channel guards (trunk trim?) and metal, I decided to use silicone on it too. I previously closed the gap near the taillights underneath this plastic with butyl tape which seemed to be holding.

At this point, everything is sealed with good quality (Permatex) RTV silicone and should work. As many have said, this is just bad design.

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