Okay. So I fixed the windshield and hood cable leaks on the son's wagon (ref. my previous posts on this). That does not mean the car is watertight: When I lifted the tailgate after a few days with heavy rain, water was running out of the holes near the window. This means that even if the drain holes along the bottom are open, they are not doing an effective job. So I guess I have two problems that should be addressed:
(1) Stopping the water from getting in. Where is the most likely place to start looking - besides the torn weatherstrip which I immediately replaced?
(2) Improving the drains. Do I just drill more holes?


As always, thanks for any comments.
Erling.

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My 240 Page

I fought tailgate leaks on my '86 245 for two winters before figuring it out. One leak , similar to yours, was when water entered under the rubber hatch gasket along the side. The water then ran down between the body and the rubber gasket to the bottom of the hatch. There the water collected until it rose higher than the little drain holes in the hatch (tailgate). The water then ran into the hatch and collected at the bottom of the tail gate and would run out when I raised the tailgate.

Since I didn't have a replacement rubber gasket for the hatch, I simply covered the drain holes in the hatch with black plastic electrician's tape. This prevented water from getting into the hatch and the water seemes to find a way out of the space at the bottom, probably ewhere the rubber didn't fit very well. If the water didn't escape, I was going to tape a small plastic tube where the bottom of the gasket meets the body to provide a drain.

The other leak, in case you are so lucky, was through the holes where the trim above the bumper clips onto the body. The water from this leak ran into the storage space under the rear floor. I sealed this with silicone along the top edge of the bumper trim.

Good luck!

Great advice, thanks Jim! It would have taken me a long time before I had thought of this. But now that you mention it, I did in fact notice that the gasket was wet when I removed it from the parts car. My only worried thought was rust related when fitting it to the son's car. But I'll be watching this closely from now, for the reasons you point out.

The son's car is completely dry in the storage room, touch wood. But the parts car has a nice pool there. Small wonder, there are large rust holes where the trim used to be.

Again thanks,
Erling.
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My 240 Page