# T31 X-Trail water leaking into boot!



## Oxalainen (Aug 26, 2021)

Hello everyone!

I purchased a 2012 model T31 X-Trail earlier this year (May 2021, that is). Today I went to tidy up the boot a little bit, but when I opened the tailgate, I almost got a shower. When the tailgate opened almost fully up, a trickle of water started pouring from one of the interior trim panel seams. And it created quite a puddle into the boot floor too, eventually.

Interestingly, there's no sign of water leaking in _before_ I opened the tailgate, all the water had been gathering somewhere and now when I opened the tailgate, it poured through the left hand end of the top trim panel, which covers the extra brake light assembly.

I'm wondering if it's just a drain pipe/gutter clogged, since I haven't needed rear window washer for a while. It has been raining cats & dogs here for past couple of days, for the record.

Any thoughts or hints where I'd start digging? Thanks in advance!

Cheers
Janne aka Oxalainen
Finland


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

There should be drain slots somewhere in the bottom seam of the tailgate, they must be clogged. Car doors and hatches are never waterproof, the water is simply supposed to run out. If the drains are clogged, they'll gradually fill up.


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## Oxalainen (Aug 26, 2021)

Cheers mate, I'll start poking the drain slots once it stops raining here, LOL!

Before this X-Trail I had an E83 Bimmer (1st gen X3) and the moisture barrier on co-pilot's door leaked. I fixed that maybe 3 times total, and judging by the amount of sealant the previous owner tried to fix it before me too.


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

The square holes above the latch are the drain slots on an '18 Qashqai. Yours will have something similar.


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## Oxalainen (Aug 26, 2021)

Brilliant, thanks!


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

You're quite welcome. Happy motoring!


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

VStar650CL said:


> The square holes above the latch are the drain slots on an '18 Qashqai. Yours will have something similar.
> 
> View attachment 7739


Good advice. 
I was thinking, altho this idea not necessary, 
*Oxalainen could just pop off the rear hatch's interior trim panel as it is very easy to remove and re-install. Then remove the plastic vapor barrier. Take a flash light and inspect inside, remove any muddy debris build-up by hand or vacuum. While in there, might as well spray some W-d40 or whatever spray lubricant on the lock mechanism. 
Something else to check out for a a rear hatch area water leak us the third brake light. I've seen a variety of third brake lights leak in thru the mounting holes. The water could trickle over to to top inside corner and appear to leak from the corner trim he mentions. Sometimes water can also come thru the rear body mounted brake light housings. 
These are all easy fixes. Basically remove/clean mounting hole areas and add some type of semi soft sealant. Even a cheap , white, gummy, bathroom sealant will do.







I have a good hunch it is leaking from the third brake light area. Another possibility is is leaking water from the hatch glass itself. The urethane glue has a pin hole or is separating from the body to glass contact . In that case, the vehicle should be taken to a Auto Glass repair shop where a technician can do a water/air leak test for the backglass and can either determine to reseal the glass without removing ( if possible). Sometimes the glass has to be cut and re glued back in. That obviously will be more costly, but a good technician can check the body for pinchweld rust and properly fix that before re installing the glass. Save you further persistent headaches to come . *


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

tonyvancity said:


> I have a good hunch it is leaking from the third brake light area. Another possibility is is leaking water from the hatch glass itself.


The OP says it's accumulating inside the door, Tony. The only way it can pool in there is clogged drains, a leaky glass or high brake would be leaking into the car. Not that you're wrong about high brake lamps in general. People mess up the little rubber gaskets on them all the time when changing bulbs, then wonder why their headliner is wet.


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## Oxalainen (Aug 26, 2021)

tonyvancity said:


> Good advice.
> I was thinking, altho this idea not necessary,
> *Oxalainen could just pop off the rear hatch's interior trim panel as it is very easy to remove and re-install. Then remove the plastic vapor barrier. Take a flash light and inspect inside, remove any muddy debris build-up by hand or vacuum. While in there, might as well spray some W-d40 or whatever spray lubricant on the lock mechanism.
> Something else to check out for a a rear hatch area water leak us the third brake light. I've seen a variety of third brake lights leak in thru the mounting holes. The water could trickle over to to top inside corner and appear to leak from the corner trim he mentions. Sometimes water can also come thru the rear body mounted brake light housings.
> ...


That's actually not a bad idea to check out, just in case. I was planning on removing the interior panels at some point anyway (possibly while it's still warm enough here to do job like this outside) and mount some sound dampening mat on the tailgate. While my facelifted T31 isn't terribly noisy, for example IMO mk3 Honda CR-Vs and mk3 Subaru Foresters (even pre-facelifted T31s) are a lot noisier, there's still a lot of resonance booming through tailgate, especially on gravel roads. Thus, while I have the interior panels removed, might be a good idea to check out all those possible leak areas at the same time. Just trying to figure out if there's a specific order where to start removing interior panels, which panel needs to go first.

Thanks for the tip!


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

VStar650CL said:


> The OP says it's accumulating inside the door, Tony. The only way it can pool in there is clogged drains, a leaky glass or high brake would be leaking into the car. Not that you're wrong about high brake lamps in general. People mess up the little rubber gaskets on them all the time when changing bulbs, then wonder why their headliner is wet.


yesssss....also, i mentioned this on a previous post, i fixed a water leak that was dripoing onto my rear view mirror. The culprit was that roof mounted external antenna ! Before i found out where the leak was coming from, Winter rolledaround and i ended up getting condensation on the inside of my windows and a few times the temps hit zero....got FROST on the inside of my windshield. 
So i'm just saying that these pesky water leaks can be tricky to track down and they can end up leaking from somewhere you may think to yourself '' no way! wtf??''. 
I'm just offering up a few ideas to mill on and easy for a do it your selfer at home.


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

tonyvancity said:


> So i'm just saying that these pesky water leaks can be tricky to track down and they can end up leaking from somewhere you may think to yourself '' no way! wtf??''.


Yep, been there done that.


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

Oxalainen said:


> That's actually not a bad idea to check out, just in case. I was planning on removing the interior panels at some point anyway (possibly while it's still warm enough here to do job like this outside) and mount some sound dampening mat on the tailgate. While my facelifted T31 isn't terribly noisy, for example IMO mk3 Honda CR-Vs and mk3 Subaru Foresters (even pre-facelifted T31s) are a lot noisier, there's still a lot of resonance booming through tailgate, especially on gravel roads. Thus, while I have the interior panels removed, might be a good idea to check out all those possible leak areas at the same time. Just trying to figure out if there's a specific order where to start removing interior panels, which panel needs to go first.
> 
> Thanks for the tip!


i bought some generic ''sound deadening'' material thru home depot about two years ago and i removed all four door panels plus my rear hatch inner panel. Then i cut to shape my material. It's really meant as pipe insulation, not true sound deadening. 
But the real stuff is expensive and i just wanted a small reduction in road noises. So it worked for me! This is exactly what i bought here in Canada....the reason i went El Cheapo is my Xtrail is now 16 years old and i think i have spent enough money in about 6 years on a vehicle that may now only be worth about $2500-3,00cnd.
If you can , post some interior photos and i can guide you on what to remove first. You should use some type of trim removal tool, they are cheap enough and can come in handy.


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

VStar650CL said:


> Yep, been there done that.


Can you imagine if he had his xtrail parked outside in this hurricane in New Orleans? 
Link to live web cam in New Orleans ....check it out before their power goes out and cameras go dark. https://www.nola.com/news/hurricane/article_1f66066a-08b4-11ec-9398-67156bab7680.html


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

tonyvancity said:


> Can you imagine if he had his xtrail parked outside in this hurricane in New Orleans? Link to live web cam in New Orleans ....check it out before their power goes out and cameras go dark. https://www.nola.com/news/hurricane/article_1f66066a-08b4-11ec-9398-67156bab7680.html


Been watching it all day on the news, if it veers a little west of where they're predicting we'll catch the edge of it here in Arkansas. Kudos to the Army Corps of Engineers, though. The reinforced levees and upgraded pumps and floodgates they installed after Katrina seem to be doing the job. I bet we'll still see a rash of auction flood cars, but they'll be from places outside the NO metro that weren't as well protected. Prayers for the folks in outlying areas, the storm surge hit 16 feet and most of the levees down there are only 12. That's more dirty water than I even want to think about.


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## Oxalainen (Aug 26, 2021)

tonyvancity said:


> i bought some generic ''sound deadening'' material thru home depot about two years ago and i removed all four door panels plus my rear hatch inner panel. Then i cut to shape my material. It's really meant as pipe insulation, not true sound deadening.
> But the real stuff is expensive and i just wanted a small reduction in road noises. So it worked for me! This is exactly what i bought here in Canada....the reason i went El Cheapo is my Xtrail is now 16 years old and i think i have spent enough money in about 6 years on a vehicle that may now only be worth about $2500-3,00cnd.
> If you can , post some interior photos and i can guide you on what to remove first. You should use some type of trim removal tool, they are cheap enough and can come in handy.
> View attachment 7746
> View attachment 7745



That sounds good! I was actually aiming to get the noise just a tad lower, not completely silent anyway. So if even a little bit of insulation works, that's awesome!

I have very similar set of those tool, seen already some use when I had my Bimmer, LOL! The sound dampening mat I was eyeing, DynaMat, is indeed expensive. One car part dealer has mat which only costs about one third of DynaMat, but I was expecting it to be inferior for sound dampening job as well. On the other hand, if it just eliminates _some_ resonance, that's already fine to me. We have winter ahead here and I'll probably swap the studded tires on My X-Trail in month or two, that always means more road noise too.

But, I was going to create another post for my X-Trail's modifications anyway, so I'll move the sound dampening in that thread too!


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

Oxalainen said:


> That sounds good! I was actually aiming to get the noise just a tad lower, not completely silent anyway. So if even a little bit of insulation works, that's awesome!
> 
> I have very similar set of those tool, seen already some use when I had my Bimmer, LOL! The sound dampening mat I was eyeing, DynaMat, is indeed expensive. One car part dealer has mat which only costs about one third of DynaMat, but I was expecting it to be inferior for sound dampening job as well. On the other hand, if it just eliminates _some_ resonance, that's already fine to me. We have winter ahead here and I'll probably swap the studded tires on My X-Trail in month or two, that always means more road noise too.
> 
> But, I was going to create another post for my X-Trail's modifications anyway, so I'll move the sound dampening in that thread too!


Where the sound deadening matts ( the good stuff) works very well is the floor boards. Of course you would need to invest some time and effort ( and lots of money) to remove your seats, carpets and transmission console to get at the floor boards. 
I never bothered with that. I was content with just doing my 4 doors/rear hatch. 
The part of Canada i live in is the west coast in the city of Vancouver. We get very mild mild winters compared to other parts of Canada /USA. Even still , i was hoping the duct insulation help to insulate my truck a bit more as the heating in the Xtrails kinda suck. Mind you i did put in new rad fluid 5 months ago, so that may help with a bit warmer heater temperature. I could change out the thermostat, but honestly i think ''it is what it is''. 
My Xtrail is now 16 years old. Very good shape, mechanically and body/interior. At some point i will need to get another compact , used suv. A used Mitsubishi Outlander V6 GT AWD , but kinda spendy for me.


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## Oxalainen (Aug 26, 2021)

tonyvancity said:


> Where the sound deadening matts ( the good stuff) works very well is the floor boards. Of course you would need to invest some time and effort ( and lots of money) to remove your seats, carpets and transmission console to get at the floor boards.
> I never bothered with that. I was content with just doing my 4 doors/rear hatch.
> The part of Canada i live in is the west coast in the city of Vancouver. We get very mild mild winters compared to other parts of Canada /USA. Even still , i was hoping the duct insulation help to insulate my truck a bit more as the heating in the Xtrails kinda suck. Mind you i did put in new rad fluid 5 months ago, so that may help with a bit warmer heater temperature. I could change out the thermostat, but honestly i think ''it is what it is''.
> My Xtrail is now 16 years old. Very good shape, mechanically and body/interior. At some point i will need to get another compact , used suv. A used Mitsubishi Outlander V6 GT AWD , but kinda spendy for me.
> View attachment 7747


A bit off topic already, but I've had a chance to test drive Mk3 Outlanders twice. The PHEV (one from the very first model years, I think) was quite fun as long as I didn't venture outside urban jungle, but somewhat rubbish at road speeds. The diesel engine suited this car much better, better at motorway and I could imagine better on forest roads too. Too bad we don't get the lovely V6 GT here (I'm in Europe, we're inherently afraid of bigger than 2-litre engines), I think that might add quite a bit of fun to the Outlander's driving experience.

Oh, I'm not a fan of this generation's somewhat docile appearance either... Too rounded and forgettable SUV. But on the other hand, I hear they're mechanically very sound. And super practical too.


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

Oxalainen said:


> But on the other hand, I hear they're mechanically very sound. And super practical too.


 Bingo! Sometimes after owning a vehicle for 5-6 years or so, one gets tired of the little quirks and reoccurring issues which can empty out your bank account . That's why so many people buy bland but super reliable automotive appliances that pretty much run with basic maintenance. The ToyotaCorolla, honda civic come to mind (i've owned both).
From what i've read the Mitsu Outlander also falls in that '' blandy but reliable'' category. 
I have a friend who has 3 mitsubishis in his family , a new and older model Outlander and a rvr sport. 
8 years now and he just does basic maintenance / wear and tear stuff. My kinda vehicle ! lol. 
Anywho, lol.....did you find the leak source??


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## Oxalainen (Aug 26, 2021)

tonyvancity said:


> Anywho, lol.....did you find the leak source??


Sadly, no time to tinker with my car much lately, been SUPER busy with family & household chores for the past few days... My T31 actually started making an extra droning noise at road speeds, so I had it checked up at my loyal garage. Left wheel bearing going kaput, so they'll replace it in couple of weeks. But if I find spare time somewhere in between, I'll start messing with the boot hatch.

Actually, before I bought my first SUV about 6 years ago (Mk2 Hyundai Santa Fe), I was very much drawn to Mk2 Outlander. Loved the 4-cyl 2.4-litre petrol engine, but after test driving 4 different Mk2s I realized the road noise in Outlanders back then was awful. Especially with studded winter tires the noise was unbearable at 60kph speeds and up. Other than that, really fun car (for a SUV) to drive, and the boot is almost as huge as in T31!


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

Oxalainen said:


> Sadly, no time to tinker with my car much lately, been SUPER busy with family & household chores for the past few days... My T31 actually started making an extra droning noise at road speeds, so I had it checked up at my loyal garage. Left wheel bearing going kaput, so they'll replace it in couple of weeks. But if I find spare time somewhere in between, I'll start messing with the boot hatch.
> 
> Actually, before I bought my first SUV about 6 years ago (Mk2 Hyundai Santa Fe), I was very much drawn to Mk2 Outlander. Loved the 4-cyl 2.4-litre petrol engine, but after test driving 4 different Mk2s I realized the road noise in Outlanders back then was awful. Especially with studded winter tires the noise was unbearable at 60kph speeds and up. Other than that, really fun car (for a SUV) to drive, and the boot is almost as huge as in T31!


i really liked the santa fe's starting in 2007, especially with the optional V6. They have gotten steadily better in build quality and mechanically much nicer. But they crept up in price to match the Japanese suvs. 
I'm not too fussy with road noise or need a super quiet cabin . Most of my car trips are short city based drives. Worst vehicle for road noise was my then new 2004 Honda Civic Si. ...honda was notorious for being skimpy with sound insulation/excessive road noises in the smaller compact vehicles. I hard much improved now a days.


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## Bern (Mar 7, 2020)

Hi Just a thought. if when you do open up the back inside panel and you find any rust I have made up a cheap but very very effective solution of one part fisholine, one part engib=ne oil and one part shellac, Mix it all in together and paint it onto any rust, It may smell of fish fro a few days but it is VERY effective at stopping rust, The engine oil takes the fisholine into the inner cracks and then this kills the rust and the shellac sets hardish and stays flexible but stops the smell after a few days, I buy the shellac as flakes ( used fro french polishing) and mix it with methylated spirits until it is a thick but pourable paste. I worked on the waterfront and our security van was parked outside all the time and got salt spray, fertilizer, sand etc blasted at it, We painted this mixture on and 10 years later there was still no rust. When we replaced the van we water blasted the shellac mixture off and it looked like new,


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## Oxalainen (Aug 26, 2021)

Bern said:


> Hi Just a thought. if when you do open up the back inside panel and you find any rust I have made up a cheap but very very effective solution of one part fisholine, one part engib=ne oil and one part shellac, Mix it all in together and paint it onto any rust, It may smell of fish fro a few days but it is VERY effective at stopping rust, The engine oil takes the fisholine into the inner cracks and then this kills the rust and the shellac sets hardish and stays flexible but stops the smell after a few days, I buy the shellac as flakes ( used fro french polishing) and mix it with methylated spirits until it is a thick but pourable paste. I worked on the waterfront and our security van was parked outside all the time and got salt spray, fertilizer, sand etc blasted at it, We painted this mixture on and 10 years later there was still no rust. When we replaced the van we water blasted the shellac mixture off and it looked like new,


LOL, okay thanks! That's good to know! I actually was eyeing shellac some time ago, but for completely different purposes. I own a small workshop business which includes woodworking. But this one's a good advice, even though I may not keep the car longer than 2 or 3 years I still don't like the idea of having rust on sheet metal.


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## Bern (Mar 7, 2020)

The other time I used it was a Morris 1100 BMC car ( British) got it new but found the painter hadn't painted inside the doors. Surface rust was showing on a new car, Painted this mixture on and when we sold the car 10 yrs later still like new, Best rust preventative I have known, Another car I had was a Datsun, I went to get the spare tyre out of the boot and found it was sitting in a muddy sludge. The car must have been backed into a swamp or flood at some time. Washed it all out and cleared the small drain rubber thingies in the bottom. Painted this mixture on and also many years later still good.


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

Oxalainen said:


> LOL, okay thanks! That's good to know! I actually was eyeing shellac some time ago, but for completely different purposes. I own a small workshop business which includes woodworking. But this one's a good advice, even though I may not keep the car longer than 2 or 3 years I still don't like the idea of having rust on sheet metal.


does your Xtrail have the typical cancer affliction ( rust) over by the left rear fender lip? My Xtrail is a 2006 and it was rusty there back when i bought it in 2015. I would say it actually never became worse ...till i decided to pick at it to see how deep it went. Then i created a small pinky nail sized hole.
I had briefly considered doing my own basic driveway bodyshop repair with buying some bondo, sand paper, and cheap can of matching primer paint......but as i mentioned '' 16 year old suv!''.
The next buyer in line will have to live with it. ( Google image pic of Xtrail same as mine)


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## Oxalainen (Aug 26, 2021)

tonyvancity said:


> does your Xtrail have the typical cancer affliction ( rust) over by the left rear fender lip? My Xtrail is a 2006 and it was rusty there back when i bought it in 2015. I would say it actually never became worse ...till i decided to pick at it to see how deep it went. Then i created a small pinky nail sized hole.
> I had briefly considered doing my own basic driveway bodyshop repair with buying some bondo, sand paper, and cheap can of matching primer paint......but as i mentioned '' 16 year old suv!''.
> The next buyer in line will have to live with it. ( Google image pic of Xtrail same as mine)
> View attachment 7775
> View attachment 7775


Ouch man, that looks nasty!

Mine is actually 2012 model, one of the last batches of T31 generation ever made and I'd like to think they improved the galvanization process when the generation changed... But that's just a hunch. Time will tell, but it would not surprise me to see some rust in those locations at some point. Especially since in my neighborhood roads are still salted during winter time.

A friend of mine bought a 2014 Ford Mondeo few months ago. And it's turning out a real rot pot. Which is crazy, only 7 years old car with less than 125.000 miles on the clock.


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## tonyvancity (Jan 2, 2017)

Oxalainen said:


> Ouch man, that looks nasty!
> 
> Mine is actually 2012 model, one of the last batches of T31 generation ever made and I'd like to think they improved the galvanization process when the generation changed... But that's just a hunch. Time will tell, but it would not surprise me to see some rust in those locations at some point. Especially since in my neighborhood roads are still salted during winter time.
> 
> A friend of mine bought a 2014 Ford Mondeo few months ago. And it's turning out a real rot pot. Which is crazy, only 7 years old car with less than 125.000 miles on the clock.


Here in Vancouver, whenever i'm driving around or walking my dog, i like to check out other Xtrails and do a quick lookover to see if they also have rust in the same exact spot...Yup, always! But sometimes i spot an exceptionally super clean and originally looking Xtrail with no rust, no bumper dents and even the factory alloy wheels look near new. 
I feel like i want to go bug the owner, shake his/her hand and congratulate them.  
The worst rust i ever seen was when i was a young kid and my eldest brother owned a used 1969 Camaro. This was about 1978-9 . I'd sit in the back seat and would use an empty 1 lb butter container to scoop up rain water on the floor carpet by my feet and toss out the water thru a rolled down passenger 1/4 window. Like a bad , drowning row boat comedy tv skit. He eventually took the Camaro to his friend's autobody shop for repairs and a paint job, Dave stuck the car up on a hoist to do an inspection and advised him to just scrap the car. 
Entire floor boards rusted like swiss cheese and bunch of under carriage rust everywhere such as exhaust, Cat, brake lines, you name it!


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## Bern (Mar 7, 2020)

Hi Checked my 2008 T31 X-trail and no sign of any rust in that particular area. I felt up under the edge inside and seems to be good, If there had been any I would have immediately applied some of my 3 pot fisholine, shellac engine oil mix, guaranteed to stop rust even in places where it could get "washed" off with road spew from the tyres. Sets hardish but remains slightly flexible to move with the normal body movements.


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