Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

OK, our Delicas don't really have a "trunk" - I just call the loading/cargo area behind the rear bench "trunk".... and this is where I noticed another "wet carpet syndrome" - very similar to the already repaired front "wet footwell" leakage...

Those of you in the lower mainland know that we've had some pretty good rain over parts of the past labour day weekend - with rain at one point coming down almost like out of a pressure washer...

So it might be a bit out of the ordinary - but nevertheless, I noticed the rear cargo area was wet yesterday, Monday. I have actually a large plastic tray in the "trunk" that fits right into the shape of the rear area and has a Mitsubishi emblem embossed (to protect the carpets when loading dirty or wet stuff etc.).

There was water in that one too....

Any help as to where the water may come from and what I could do to stop it?

Cheers, Chris

Check your rear pop out windows. They tend to leak. There is a thread about fixing that.

Also check to see if your rear hatch is closing properly and snug. When closed, if you can push on it from outside and it jiggles, then adjust the lock/catch mechanism on the body itself.

3rd thing is a long shot but it an option.

If you open the rear side panels (access to tool kit and the rear washer) you may not notice but for some reason Mitsu did a poor job sealing the joints/body panels.

I found this out by driving down a dusty road and was perplexed to see a ton of dust inside the rear. It turned out that the rear door seal was fine (put a thin coat of vaseline on it and checked to see any dust) but the two compartments were packed full of dust. Later on the trip, we hit heavy rain and as the wheels were turning, they kicked up water into the compartments. To solve this, I bought some expanding foam and had Maryna shine a flashlight at night from underneath. I saw a lot of light coming in and applied the foam. Let it sit overnight and cut away the excess. After that, I went through a dust road and zero dust inside along with zero water.

Chris,

Easy way to find out if a seal leaks is to do a water test. get somebody to hit the side windows, and the rear channel of the back gate with a garden hose and you follow around inside observing where the water is getting in. Its already a giving its leaking, you just need to pinpoint the location. We do it this way for watertight doors/hatch seals in the marine industry, just with alot more pressure.

If its right at the back, chances are its at the top of the rear hatch. The seal is either folded or there could be something stuck up there. If its at the sides as in the rear pop outs , you can add a few washers to the inside latch to snug it up tighter, and as another helpful gesture to the 15 year old window seals is to massage them with dialectric grease. It will swell the rubber a little bit without breaking it down. DO NOT use Vasaline, as its a petroleum base and will eat away at the seals.

Good Luck

Also clean your rear seal up nice,
I had/probably have again lots of leaf matter and other organic
crap along the the top of the seal which will trap water.
Right in the folds of it,be gentle geting it out,old tooth
works and warm water with dishsoap works well.
If you have a third brake light on that back window,the
point where the wire passes through the seal is an
excellent pass through for water depending on rainfall
and wind speed/direction,silicone it up like you were
Pamela Anderson's personal doctor.

Right on!

If you dip the van into a lake and then hold it up to drain, watch where the water drains out and that should give you a good indication of where the water is getting in...

Ah, never mind, I seen the others have much better ideas than mine.

Seriously though, check the seals on your taillights. If the rubber has not been seated correctly when the lights have been re-mounted, i.e. folded over, they could be letting water/dust in at that point.

I had water in the back of mine but then I noticed that there was nothing coming out of the rear washer nozzle and having tried to use it was always right before noticing more water. Turns out the tube for the washer fluid come off in the tailgate, wasn't too hard to re attach, probably not it but it is a free and easy fix so worth looking into?

mararmeisto wrote:If you dip the van into a lake and then hold it up to drain, watch where the water drains out and that should give you a good indication of where the water is getting in...

Ah, never mind, I seen the others have much better ideas than mine.

Seriously though, check the seals on your taillights. If the rubber has not been seated correctly when the lights have been re-mounted, i.e. folded over, they could be letting water/dust in at that point.

Nah, just stick a garden hose in the sunroof and walk away for a few hours; on the upside your van will get a real deep cleaning.

Everybody did cover the usual suspects, Maple leafs normally resulted in our rear getting wet during your current Canadian fall season.

mararmeisto wrote:If you dip the van into a lake and then hold it up to drain, watch where the water drains out and that should give you a good indication of where the water is getting in...

Couldnt he look for bubbles when he goes into the water, this is how you sub guys do it, isnt it.

Sailing Deli wrote:

mararmeisto wrote:If you dip the van into a lake and then hold it up to drain, watch where the water drains out and that should give you a good indication of where the water is getting in...

Couldnt he look for bubbles when he goes into the water, this is how you sub guys do it, isnt it.

You can only watch for the bubbles when you're on the OUTSIDE of the submarine, which of course, is not where you want to be when the submarine dives - you want to be on the INSIDE, where the water is pissing in at a terrible rate, spraying all over the place, making it difficult to determine where exactly the leak is coming from...

...oh, the terror, I can't talk about it any more.

Did you find that leak in your van? Quick hurry, before the trim is affected and we have to adjust the ballast! Somebody flash up the hull pump! Aaaagggghhhhh!

Check the pop-out window seals - classic leak spot.

Luna-Sea wrote:Also clean your rear seal up nice,
I had/probably have again lots of leaf matter and other organic
crap along the the top of the seal which will trap water.
Right in the folds of it,be gentle geting it out,old tooth
works and warm water with dishsoap works well.

Where can a guy pick up an "old tooth" ? Do they have 'em at princess auto in the surplus section?

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the feedback.... The seals around the rear gate are good... I cleaned them really well (and gently, I might add) not too long ago and sprayed silicone spray all over them etc.

The rear window seals appear to also be ok - they are soft, rubbery and appear to close tight. Never saw any water in there... I will check how tight the rear gate locks (how would I adjust it, if I find it wiggles?) - on that note: I find that I sometimes have to slam it shut pretty good so that it will actually lock... and will also silicone the post of the rear wiper (where it sticks out of the door), will check the rear lights and how tight they sit (I did remove them recently when I put LED bulbs in) and finally check for cracks in the lower seams in the compartment below the tail-lights as suggested.

Hopefully that'll take care of it...

Thanks for all your ideas!

Cheers, Chris

Another possibility is the seams at the top of the roof where the gutters are. They are prone to cracking at the front of the van right above the windshield (one of the wet footwell causes), so maybe it happens at the rear too. Memory is vaguely making me think there have been posts about this.