After a rain, I had noticed the padding under the cargo area mat was soaked. I dicovered that during a rain, water leaks from the bottom edge of the access panel on the tailgate. I checked the drain holes in the bottom of the tailgate and they are clear. so what is causing thewater to leak out of hte bottom of hte access panel and then soak into the padding under the rear cargo area mat? I removed the access panel and saw nothing amiss. It did appear that work had been done on the inerior of the tailgate at some point. I wondered if there is supposed to be a cover over the openings into the interior of tailgate applied before the access panel is reinstalled?

I wondered if I caulked aroudn the edges of the access panel if that woudl keep the water from coming in.Of course, in the future it would make removal of the access panel a bit more inconvenient.

I have replaced the upper window seal and the outer window seal.

Any thoughts?

 

There is a cover under the access cover when it comes from the factory. It is like a tar paper, and it rips after time. I cut a new piece out of an old shower curtain and put it on with duct tape.

 

I used dynomat to solve that problem, had some extra laying around, works real well but kinda expensive to use for that. Either do the shower curtain idea or some kind of heavy plastic, make sure it seals real well.

 

You might want to check for other leaks though, because although my original paper shield was ripped, and a little damp, I never had water coming into the truck and wetting the carpet. Almost every Bronco, if not EVERY Bronco of these years has rust at the bottom of the tailgate. Apparently the water usually goes out there and runs onto the bumper, and not into the truck. My truck is otherwise rust free, but has the tailgate rust that was standard eqipment on these vehicles. It's covered with a piece of armor plating and looks pretty cool that way too.

 

tomBob, mine did the same thing, a steady weeping at the bottom of the cover. Don't caulk it though, real pain when you need to remove it for the dreaded window motor replacement. Use the 3M strip caulk, comes in a box on wax paper. Some call it dum dum. Don't be shy using it as far as width not thickness. You don't want it so thick that the panel won't be flush. The strip caulk seals well but won't harden or become a true adhesive. Cleans up with mineral spirits.
;-)

 

I thought I would try the least radical solution first. So, I brushed on some undercoating around the frame and pressed a peice of heavy plastic. It appeared to seal well, so I installed the acces panel. teh first rain and %#*& if the acces cover didn't weep water as before. None of the local auto parts stores had the 3M sealer as recommended by the previous poster. The clerk in one place recommended a body sealer (apply with a caulking gun). He claimed when he worked in a body shop it was what they used to seal body parts. He said the parts could be disammbled when necessary becasue the sealer didn't act like an adhesive.

I'm thinking about pulling off the access panel and running a bead of that around the lip of the tailgate where the panel rests and see if that seals it.

Whaddaya think? Hell, no wonder all the padding under the vinyl cargo was rotted and stinking when I pulled it up.

 

You could try that stuff. That sounds like it will work. The 3M strip caulk can be found at auto body supply shops.

 

I just replaced a dea tailgate...victom of water-cancer. So, with the new one I was NOT going to sit back and watch water and moisture that will inevitably get in through window rubber etc. eat away at my brand new tailgate. So, for about $100 I took it to Rhino linings and had them coat the entire interior side of the gate and the lower third of the outside. As an added step, since the drain holes in the gate are actually lower than the seam between the outer skin and interior panel, the guys at Rhino, took the spray nozzle off the gun and filled the seam with the coating. Now there is a nice curved slope from the outer sheet metal straight to the drain holes and nowhere for water to "settle" in the gate. Only suggestion I would make for anyone trying this approach, install the torsion bar before they do the coating... I had to scrape and cut away for the lower brackets after I got it back form Rhino but the stuff is on so thick it is still sealed against water.