Water leak in tailgate

N

Newcs

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T6 Pro
A few days ago I opened the tailgate to hear water sloshing round inside. When I checked the tailgate had quite a bit of water pooled in the bottom. I had rained the day before and I had just washed it.

I thought I would test it out today whilst washing. Tested round the window seal (aftermarket and not long been in) which was fine, tested the 3rd brake light which seemed fine and went round the seals. All appeared fine.

After washing I checked again to find there was water pooling in the bottom again.

I started testing different areas from the bottom up and it appears to be coming in around the handle area. Has anyone had this before? I tried to remove the handle but couldn’t quite get it out and I was pushed for time.

Does anyone have any ideas of the cause? Does anyone have a diagram of the parts? I’m not sure if there is a separate seal that can perish.

The van is a 2017 and it was bought from VW a few weeks back so there is a warranty available.
 
Results of a Search (top right corner on screen).
Personally I would be using the warranty, pulling it apart yourself may void your warranty rights.


1661778026612.png
 
have a look here:

www.t6forum.com

Water pouring out of rear door

havent used our van for a few weeks. Opened the rear tailgate today and water poured out from the door card. Not just a drip or two but litres of it! Can’t think it is from the conversion as they haven’t made any additional holes in the door in the outside. Perhaps the rear window is leaking or...
www.t6forum.com www.t6forum.com
 
Thanks for that. I had read those posts but when I’ve hosed around the handle that’s where it appears to entering. I may be wrong. I’ll contact the dealer tomorrow and see what they say. Problem is they’re a 4 hour drive away which isn’t ideal.
 
Easy fix, just drill a hole like I did in my previous T5. Tiny little hole will not make any harm and will Not damage or rust the tailgate
 
Quick update on this one, turned out that the tailgate handle was leaking. The seal isn’t available as a separate item so it requires a whole new handle which is around £45. This isn’t covered under the used van warranty so it’s a fix I’ll need to do.

@Pauly are there any downloads available for the removal and fitting of these?

When it was in they also discovered that the crankshaft seal was leaking, funnily enough this isn’t covered either. This is looking like around a £600 fix so I’ll be contacting the dealer where I bought it from to see if we can come to some arrangement
 
So I have water getting into the tailgate.
Door seal is correctly fitted and in good condition.
I have removed the four plastic drain hole bungs for the moment.

It seems the high level brake light may be the cause.
I'm puzzled though as from I have read it doesn't have any sort of rubber seal behind it - without that I would have thought that water would get in from day one?
Going to order a new light but is there a mod I can do to improve the long term weather sealing?
Anybody tried anything??

Ta!
 
YellowHound said:
So I have water getting into the tailgate.
Door seal is correctly fitted and in good condition.
I have removed the four plastic drain hole bungs for the moment.

It seems the high level brake light may be the cause.
I'm puzzled though as from I have read it doesn't have any sort of rubber seal behind it - without that I would have thought that water would get in from day one?
Going to order a new light but is there a mod I can do to improve the long term weather sealing?
Anybody tried anything??

Ta!
Click to expand...
Probably not much help but thought I'd share my wet tailgate experience from last Autumn. The cause was leaves trapped above the centre of the tailgate/ brake light. I hadn't noticed because the van hadn't been driven for a while. Cleared the leaves and the flooding stopped. Already had to remove leaves this year as a precaution. I have a full length spoiler fitted but I think it's more to do with the gap between the tailgate and the van body.
 
Mine was the external release handle, the seal was damaged. I assumed it was the rear high light but experimented with a hose and found the cause. Couldn't see any damage from the outside but it used to flow out of the lower bung holes after a good downpour.
 
I have previously noticed the odd trail of water on the inside of the rear window so I think mine has to be the tail light.
Anybody have a part number?
 
YellowHound said:
I have previously noticed the odd trail of water on the inside of the rear window so I think mine has to be the tail light.
Anybody have a part number?
Click to expand...
In @Ads_Essex list below

Ads_Essex said:
Parts

Tailgate 7E0287105c

Hinges x2 7E0827301c & 302c

Bolts to attach hinge to tailgate x2 N91069101

Bolts to screw tailgate to body x2 N90928801 (remember your box spanner)

Spreader plates x2 7H0827689

Gasket x2 7H0827365 or single piece 7E0829193R



Handle / button 7E0827566

Handle inner casing 7E0827315 (packaging shows 7E0827526; don’t accept 7E5827315(A) or 7E5827526 as that is incorrect)

Reinforcement for handle 7E0827264C

Motor actuator for handle 3B5827061C

x2 bolts for actuator N10488204

Actuator Rod 7E0827515

Actuator pivot for latch 191837199

Handle outer panel trim 7E0829139GRU

Bottom lock-latch 7E5827505b

Bolts for bottom latch x2 N90931602

Dampers x2 6X0827499F



Ball pins for tailgate panel x2 7E0827439 - if you buy the Transporter HQ struts then use the four ball-pins that they provide.

Vagnostics kit (adapts current holes for upper barn-door hinge to take a plate fitted with ball pins to mount tailgate gas struts to).

Gas struts x2 (see above) - you’ll need T5 gas struts for the Vagnostics kit, as these are slightly longer and ensure the tailgate lid stays open at the correct height.



Third brake light 7E0945087

Registration Mark lamps x2 3AF943021A (will need coding to van or having resistors added inline)

Taillamps to suit tailgate (see forum shop)



Guide (that attaches to body under tail lamps) x2 7H0829733C

Screws for above x4 N10451405 (or rivet as no holes present)

Guide (that attach to tailgate) x2 7H0829721B

Screws for above x4 N0214173



D-pillar trim pieces 7E0807322DGRU & 321DGRU

Threshold trim cover 7H0863485C



Tailgate bumper 7E5807417C

Reflectors 7E0945105E & 106E

PDC mounts - the tailgate ones supplied did not fit with my PDC sensors (sensor part 1S0929275C) as they appeared too large, meaning the sensor would simply fall out.

The barn door bumper mounts are parts

7E5919491, 7E5919491A, 7E5919491B, 7E5919491C.

The tailgate mounts are

7E5919491D, 7E5919491E, 7E5919491F, 7E5919491G.

I returned the tailgate mounts and bought two lots of the two centre barn door mounts - 7E5919491A & B.

If your PDC sensors are different then I’d suggest having a look at EKTA.

(The reason the sensors are different is due to a slight crease/curve in the bumper. More-so, the mounts on the barn door bumper are rounded at one one corner, making them unique. As far as I could see, the two centre mounts are identical so if it boils down to utilising second hand parts, try the two centre mounts on the outside)



Tailgate wiring connector plugs - if you don’t want to splice your wiring, you can use the mating plugs and around one metre of cable per pin to and make up a short loom:

4F0972575 to mate with tailgate loom plug (which is male 4F0972483)

Pins (male crimps) x14 000979035E

6Q0972777 to mate with van plug (which is female 6Q0972778)

Pins (female crimps) x14 000979131E

The plugs themselves have a built-in locking mechanism so the pins don’t pull out when pressure is applied to the loom - this lock just needs sliding out something like 5mm to release the pins.

The heated rear screen pins are larger but, as I never used them, do not know the part number. I bought these from eBay seller ‘mshugaev-2008’ who was really helpful and provided me with the part numbers after I gave him the plug part-numbers.



Cable will still need running back to the BCM - VolksFit installed this and coded the BCM to accept the tailgate.



Some other bolts that I appear to have used somewhere as I have empty bags and no bolts leftover..

x2 N10451405 bolt

x2 N90479203 nut

x2 N10741402 bolt

x4 N90962401 bolt



I’ve probably missed off some parts here, so make sure you spend a large portion of your life looking at part sites with those exploded diagrams once you have ordered all of your bits.

A good site is nemigaparts.com.
Click to expand...
 
I’ve just noticed that I have water in tailgate. Searched through posts and it seems to be either the light or handle.

I take it this will be covered under warranty? My van is a 2021

CheersD44E3015-A425-4359-AF92-591BE00067C3.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Newcs said:
Quick update on this one, turned out that the tailgate handle was leaking. The seal isn’t available as a separate item so it requires a whole new handle which is around £45. This isn’t covered under the used van warranty so it’s a fix I’ll need to do.

@Pauly are there any downloads available for the removal and fitting of these?

When it was in they also discovered that the crankshaft seal was leaking, funnily enough this isn’t covered either. This is looking like around a £600 fix so I’ll be contacting the dealer where I bought it from to see if we can come to some arrangement
Click to expand...
Why wasn’t it covered under warranty?
 
How is water getting in through the handle? The handle is up under the registration plate recess.
 
Fortunately I haven't detected any water ingress in the tailgate myself. However, it did occur to me could the water be entering through the numberplate fixings when open in the rain. The contour of the panel would mean water would soon pool and if inadequately sealed allow water to ingress over time. When the tailgate is closed the amount of water the fixings experience would be minimal, protected by the overhang and the numberplate itself. Similarly, as suggested here, the handle recess could be another weak point.

Rather negates the benefit of using the tailgate as shelter from the rain.
 
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