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H3 2006 H3 NO sunroof, sloshing from rear?

Gent

Active Member
Messages
35
Location
Canada
Hi gang,

I've searched for this in a few places without luck, and it may be nothing but I thought I better ask.

My new to me 2006 H3 does not have a sunroof. I recently started hearing sloshing - but from the rear. It's not the typical HVAC drain issue. No wet carpets. Definitely from the back.

Now, I started hearing it after I laid the seats down to move stuff using the H3. It's quite possible that I'm a dumbass and I'm just hearing the fuel tank sloshing. Can you guys hear your fuel tank on agressive cornering? Or is there a drain I need to hunt down? I do live in the Pacific North Wet, so she does get a lot of rain on er'.
 

Gent

Active Member
Messages
35
Location
Canada
Yeah, I was just trying to decide that. I think it was better with a full tank; however, I wasn't sure if it was just because we've had a bunch of dry days at the same time.
 

5gn-h3t

Well-Known Member
Messages
616
Location
Northeast Pennsyltucky
If any of the door drains are clogged, you could have a door full of water. Open and close each door and see if you have water sloshing around in one of them.
 

f5moab

Mr. Beretta
Messages
1,986
Location
Hiding in a potato patch in Idaho
If you had a leak in the roof it the headliner would show it and would not contain the water. Since the noise is more prevalent with the seats down, pay special attention to the rear door. But could easily be a fuel tank.
 

Jeepwalker

Well-Known Member
Messages
866
Location
WI
Not sure on your sloshing sound.

Did you pop off the rear storage carpet threshold cover and feel under the rear carpet? It's not uncommon for leaks to develop (at least on mine) along the roof rail seams under the roof rail covers and trickle down the rear corners on either side of the rear cargo door. The foam below the carpet can absorb an incredible amount of moisture. That wouldn't cause 'sloshing' sounds, but if water worked into another area and didn't drain out, that might.

The rear carpet on mine was soaked last summer. I battled such a rear roof leak for a quite a while till I got it resolved. When I removed the rear threshold, carpet, and the rear side panels (they all 'pop' off pretty easy with just hand pulling), and put a hose up to the roof, there was a steady drizzle of water down the side of the rear roof (near the rear cargo door) into the cabin. You wouldn't see it with all those plastic panels installed.

I suspect rear cargo door water leaks are going to become more common as these rigs age, for the following reasons:
1) Factory seam sealer on the top rear roof pinch weld area (where the top rear weatherstrip goes), the seam sealer can crack or rust in the seam on the top corners. Even so, there's a height difference there between thicknesses of metal.
2) The rear weatherstrips have metal in them that 'clamps' them onto the pinch weld. That metal can rust in rust-belt areas or just become stretched and weak overall and not pinch tight to the seam. I re-bent the metal tighter with a special (wide) metal-forming pliers which made a big improvement. It fit a lot better but on the top strip it didn't fit tight enough and replacement of that piece was the solution. But it made a big difference in the perimeter gasket which goes around the cargo door.
3) The top roof edge seams under the plastic roof rails are eventually going to crack at the seam sealer, or leak where the bolts or clips go.
I worked at a body shop for years and after a while you can just tell how things are put together are going to eventually rear their ugly heads and become problems as vehicles age. It's normal and not new or specific to any vehicle.

Back to your water sound, the rear carpet threashold cover pops off nice and clean (shouldn't damage the clips). If your carpet foam is nice and dry that probably isn't your problem. I had to remove my top outer plastic rails and re-seamseal the outer seam. There I just used a tan urethane caulk that sort of matches my rigs paint color. I also had to replace the top rear weatherstrip that attaches to the cargo door roof ....and apply some non-hardening caulk on that roof pinch seam as well as the seam for the weatherstrip surrounding the rear cargo door area. Car mfgrs commonly use a non-hardening bedding compound (and have since the 60's) which is this stuff if you want to be technical. It's messy stuff but cleans up pretty well with WD-40.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company...Glazing-Compound/?N=5002385+3293194048&rt=rud

Anyway, that all did the trick for me. The problem with 'letting it be' if one has such a leak, is it will eventually trickle down and soak the rear pass footwell carpet area and rot the floors.
 
Last edited:

Gent

Active Member
Messages
35
Location
Canada
Update: I looked everywhere. Double checked the hvac drains in case I was nuts (I wasn't). Pulled up the rubber mat in the back and popped the rear side panels, check the doors. All dry!

I guess this is what happens when an autocross guy corners in his H3. Thanks for the advice, everyone!
 
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