Anything I can do about hatch water
 

I've been getting dampness on my rear floor pan under the carpet for a while now and I finally found that it is coming from the rear hatch area. The car has a 9" out back on stock height springs running a 28" dr, on the front I'm lowered about 3/4" and I'm running 26" skinnies, so the car has a good bit of rake. Whenever it sits outside and it rains the water pools in the front of the hatch water drain and eventually overflows, making its way down to my carpet. Is there anything I can do to make the water drain down from the area itself? Attachment 707612

the hatch weatherstripping might be bad... I would look at getting a new replacement..

check out Ricks Camaros dot com.. they sell new hatch weatherstripping

There was a TSB about one of the body seams in the hatch channel allowing water to leak into the cabin. I don't have a link handy, but this was discussed in another recent thread about water pooling in the back seat floor (thread was in this section, posted in the last few months).

I'm going to initially assume it is the weatherstripping. There is definitely evidence that it is dripping down from this area and not from a seam. I wonder if there is any way to put an actual drain in this area itself. I'll be installing mini tubs soon and while I'm there I'm sure there will be be a way to modify the channel to drain from the front and down into the tub area. For now I'll just order a new weatherstrip and hope it fixes it.

This is the area addressed in the TSB.

For the OP: We don't have actual copies of the TSB's with pictures (that I know of) on this site that address this area. You can get a short (3 day) subscription to the "General Motors Service Repair Manual Information" for $20 through this site: https://www.acdelco.com/for-professi...formation.html

^ There, you can get the full TSB's, along with that 3 day subscription. You'll also be able to see the full Factory Service Manual (for a short time) if there is anything else you want to check out.

TSB #01-08-57-009 is the one we think may be the culprit here. You can see a written description of the problem in this thread under post 26. https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-m...argo-area.html (If you want to see any pictures associated with the TSB, you'll have to roll the dice and get the subscription above. You'll also need to buy the appropriate 3M body sealer.)

TSB #01-08-58-002 also has some handy things that may also be at fault. I've posted that one, attached to post 7 in this thread: https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-m...t-leakage.html

Thanks everyone for the quick and detailed replies. I do think however, this it really just is a seal related issue. I ran some water over the car with the interior out and found that the main seal is allowing water to get by and slowly trickle down to the spare tire area. The water is pooling here (area pictured above) significantly due to the rake of the car and how I usually park it (with the rear just slightly angled upward). And the seal is just allowing water to slowly make its way into the cabin. Hopefully a new seal is all I need, I would like to keep the hatch at its current height (not moving adjusters) as the hatch is perfectly lined up with the quarter panels and berger panel, moving would ruin the panel gaps I have, but if it comes to that I suppose it's better than ruining my new carpet. When I minitub I will definitely be modifying the front of the gutters with a new drain to keep the water from pooling here, my car is outside 24/7 so anything I can do to prevent this the better.

That main seal just keeps water out of the interior. It's also not designed to make the gutter a water pipe. There is no sealant around that main seal. It floats free and isn't designed to resist water flowing out of the gutter.

If you have water coming in through the spare tire area, that's something else.

This will help you know for sure:
- Park on the incline where you saw the problem.
- Open the hatch
- Take a small container of water and fill the gutter, seeing if it raises up to the level of the curb where the weatherstripping sits
- Close the hatch and walk away

If the water gets in, you have a leak in those gutter seams.