97 xcab 4x4, 186k miles, i have suddenly been stuck with a reoccurring interior roof water leak, with the leak being somewhere above the rear sliding window frame, with it appearing to come out at the plastic clothes hanger clip as well as coming out at the same vertical location at the middle of the headliner, which soaks the headliner as it drips down. pulling that plastic hanger clip out and pulling headliner away some shows that there are square holes in the inner metal roof panel at both of these spots, which are the low spots from any water that is leaking into this space between the inner metal roof panel and the exterior roof panel. i say reoccurring because i fixed this similar leak 3 years ago by rtv'g a new gasket all around the 3rd brake light, rtv'g the small gap along the top of rear window on the outside, and rtv'g some spots in the roof channels that are above each of the xcab windows, which worked fine up until recently. looking everything over i saw nothing obviously wrong. i re-rtv'd the light. still leaked. then i used clear packing tape in multiple layers all around and over the rear brake light, to rule that out completely, with odd results. while the vehicle was parked at work/overnight during rain, no leak, however once i left to/from work, when i got home (15 min drive), water had come in those two spots?? and it was not raining while driving? what does this mean? i guess my next step is to tape over the 2 xcab window roof channels to see if that stops the leak. is there anything else i can look at for this? i really can't see it being the 3rd brake light since i have it completely covered in tape to the roof too and the tape is holding strong.

thanks,
chad

 

update, i taped over the xcab section roof gaps/channels this past weekend completely sealing them up as well as the rear brake light now. it rained sunday night then and again i was disappointed to see a good amount of water leakage coming inside as described in my first post. now i didn't mention that my truck is parked on an incline in my driveway. so where else could this water be coming in? a buddy mentioned maybe at the top of the windshield and then running back any inner roof supports/channels if there are any in a ranger roof? i guess the next step to test that will be to tape over the top of the windshield for that theory. i don't know where else to look here??? anyone???

chad

 

I had the same problem. The leak was coming from the center brake light assembly mounted above the sliding rear window. I made a new gasket from some 1/16 foam available from a craft store - no more leaks.

 

i had the same leak also from the 3rd brake light .. cleaned really well underneath it and laid a good coat of wax on the body all around the area of the light assembly before reinstall= no more leaks.