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Tahoe & SuburbanThe power, space, and brutal towing ability make the Tahoe and its longer sibling, the Suburban, arguably the best full size SUV's on the market today.
I have a 2011 suburban that I bought used. It had been in a rear end crash. Thats all I know. I bought it anyway. Then I started noticing discoloration along the top rear roof liner. I do go through car washes alot. Now I can see actual water on the floor right after going through a carwash. It is comming in through the top hatch area I think soaking the material on the roof. I have not really looked at it that hard yet but was just asking for any opinions on what it may be, where or how it could be leaking. Any suggestions appreciated. I'm hoping its just a seal but one never knows. thought I may even find someone with the same issue. Just looking to fix it myself if I can diagnose the issue.
After a quick look in 20 degree weather it looks like the boot/seal where the electrical from the top brake light could be one spot where water could come in, and its right at that spot. Almost does seem like its not pushed all the way down/sealed at the top but you cant see it. Only feel, plus my fingers are freezing making it harder to tell whats going on. I am thinking about putting some silicone sealer or some double sided tape up there. Any suggestions? What is this part called for one so I can further search? Any tips or links in the right direction as to how to replace this properly. May or not be the isssue but seems likely.
So I may have posted in haste. After some looking it up it seems this boot where the wires run in/out of the truck should be the problem. I will just silicone it and see if it helps. Unlike the vast majority I will post back on whether or not this fixes the problem so folks looking up this issue years down the road will see an update and not just a question.
Looking at the vacinity of the water damage, looks to me like roof rack might be the issue. If the boot isn't the problem, look around the attaching points of the luggage rack.
Yea will do, but the boot was/is loose and big gap there. Im quite certain its the culprit. But I could be wrong. I'll post back in a few days when a couple layers of silicone are dry and I hit a carwash. Lost of folks out there with the same issue and it seems that this is the most common fix. The water mark is also directly under that boot and also where the puddle forms inside.
Last edited by abrahamx; December 12th, 2018 at 1:49 PM.
Checked out the roof rack and I can see how water could just funnel in. What is the issue with this? Loose bolts or something else. I was able to tighten it a tad. Like not even a quarter turn. The back hatch does have that seal that should funnel water to the side but I have found 7 or 8 others that said the boot fixed the issue. And like I said there was a gap there. It will even push in a little but not stay there. Im done messin with it for now till everything drys.
I ran it through the car wash and instead of a 8-10 inch puddle I only had a few drops. I put some more silicone on there last night and will run it through a car wash again shortly. Seems to be helping. Any pointers on how to best clean the stain?
Yep it was the boot. It sits in there loose. Mine was half way out. I just siliconed it right where it was and after a couple passes with the silicone no more leak. Now to figure out how to best get the stain out. Even if you are not aware of a leak I would check this boot and silicone it anyway. The only reason I probably found it is because I go to the carwash 5-6 times a week. Without doing that I would probably not have noticed a slow leak.
I had a similar issue with my 2013 Suburban. After following good advice from this forum, I still had the leak. I tried "gooping" on a bunch of RTV in and around the different possible entry points, as recommended, but still had the leak. I finally loosened the bolts on the hinges (13mm) and found water between the metal of the hinge and the body (the gooping wasn't enough). There wasn't a gasket or anything on either of my hinges but it was obvious, from all the dirt that was in that gap, that was "a" the problem. I cleaned and gooped between the hinge and body with more RTV, replaced both the spoiler seal (Part Number 15270012 Spoiler Seal) and the upper weather seal (22845014 Upper Weather-Stripe). Enjoyed a serious winter downpour this week and no more leaking...so far.
December 12th, 2018, 8:06 AM
Water leaking through back hatch at the top?
