Please tell me how bad this car problem is

I just bought a 2016 Honda HRV, lightly used. A few days after I bought it, I opened up the back, and I heard water sloshing around. So there’s a leak in there somewhere, and the water drains out, but if there’s a lot of water, it sits in there for a while. I haven’t found any water inside the car. How bad is this? Did I just waste a lot of money on a car that’s going to be a huge problem? I’m trying not to panic, but I do want the facts, no matter how bad it is. :worried:

"Opened up the back.”
I assume you mean the Hatch?
If so, crawl in there, close the hatch, and have someone spray a house at the car until you can find the leak. Generally, leaks are easy to find - they are almost always gasketing issues.

Well if you have water sloshing about in your car the most effective solution is:
Top Gear Season 10, Episode 4, Botswana Special.

Water drains out from where? If this is in the back of the car, have you pulled the spare tire out to check under there? That and the muffler are about the only places in the back of the car that I can think of what would hold any significant amount of water.
Does it happen all the time or only when it’s raining? If it’s all the time, I’d look at the exhaust. If it’s just when it’s raining, I’d start with the spare tire well.

Also, since you made no mention of any smell or color, I’m assuming it’s water, not gas or oil or any other liquid.

ETA: It’s not windshield wiper fluid, is it?

Yes, the tyre well is a common place for this - it’ll have a drain that’s plugged up with muck.

Another possibility is a taillight - a crack in the plastic can let in a surprising amount of water.

Sorry, I didn’t explain that very well. The water is in the trunk lid/hatchback (I’m not sure what’s the correct term for this kind of car). I haven’t found any water inside the car (it’s definitely water, not another fluid). There are holes in the corners of the trunk lid where the water drains out that had rubber plugs in them. I took those out so it can drain out quicker. I’ll post a photo tomorrow that will hopefully make it more clear.

It’s raining again. :crying_cat_face:

So you mean it’s dripping out from inside the door, right?
It only has a high mount brake light, but I’d be surprised if that was cracked. There are still plenty of penetrations though. With the door open, look all the way around the edge, focusing along the top where water is more likely to get in. There’s probably one or more big rubber boots that hold the wiring and a small, likely black, tube for the wiper fluid. Make sure all the boots and grommets are in tact. Check where the struts mount to the outside edge of the door. Make sure the license plate light is in place. Sometimes if the clips break the light can fall inside. Make sure the wiper is mounted solidly and no gaps around the hole where it passes through the window.

But, first and foremost, check for obvious signs of rust. Even if they don’t look like much, they can sometimes still allow water in.

Also:
1)Does this happen only when it’s raining or does it also happen on days when there’s no rain (or water left on the road)?
2)Have you confirmed it’s not wiper fluid?

The only two liquids that, so far as I can think of, could ever build up inside a rear hatch, to the point of audibly sloshing around, drain out and reliably do it over and over again, are water, due to intrusion or wiper fluid from a broken wiper fluid hose inside the door. Ruling out foul play, of course.

Joey_P, it only happens when it rains, and it is water, not another fluid. It’s worse on the passenger side. There is a tiny gap at the bottom of the taillight on that side where it doesn’t lay flat to the body of the car. I don’t see anything else that looks wrong.

I think something I would try is, when it’s full of water (ie you hear the sloshing), open the door, and if possible have the car pointed downhill. I’m wondering if you could get the water to roll back up to the top and drip back out from wherever it’s getting in. It’s a long shot, but it doesn’t cost anything but time.

Hold on…this whole time I had CRV instead of HRV in my head. There’s a ton of posts on the internet from people with your exact problem. If you google 2016 honda hrv water inside hatch door, you’ll get lots of hits. Most of them talking about it getting in through the brake lights. However, it seems like a lot of people never seem to find the actual problem.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you don’t have a smoke machine (usually for finding vacuum or evap leaks), but that might help find the problem.

I’ve found some of the HRV forums. There are many places where the HRV could possibly be leaking from. :worried: Also I’ve seen some negative reviews of the service department at the dealer. There’s a company that specializes in leaks about four hours away. I’m really thinking about going there instead of taking it to the dealer, if I can’t find anything closer.

You might try an auto body/collision repair shop.
Also, decide how big of a problem this is for you and how much you’re willing to put into it. If you’re going to keep this car a while, it might be worth driving it 4 hours away or even just replacing the entire door. OTOH, it’ll be a lot cheaper to just drill a bunch of additional drain holes in the bottom of the door.

Yeah. This seems like quite a saga:

To the OP: I’m so sorry. Best of luck!

(I would) Just drill a hole on the underside of the lip of the hatch. It’s probably fiberglass or plastic of some kind, so probably not gonna rust. Three minute free solution.

Gatopescado, (can I call you Gato?), there are drain holes at the bottom of the door. I took out the little rubber plugs so it drains more quickly, so the water isn’t usually sitting in there very long.

I loved that e[episode. The best part was yet to come, a few minutes after this clip. Hammond has stalled his car in knee deep water and is on the walkie talkie with Jeremy. Jeremy asks him how it is going. Hammond looks around and stammers, “I’m going to need the gun…”

Best bit was them crossing the Makgadikgadi with Clarkson and May’s stripped down vehicles providing no shelter from the torrents of choking dust while Hamster was thinking whether he should open Oliver’s quarter window for a bit of ventilation.

Depends on where you live. If you have moisture in your car as it evaporates your windshield will fog up more often in the appropriate weather conditions. However, if you live in a more northerly clim you’ll need the ice scraper on both the outside & inside of the windshield when you come out in the morning. Just trust me on this one!

If you’ve got drain holes now and the water does not collect and slosh around anymore, in my opinion, you’ve solved the problem. Having a little water drip through the door and out the bottom is not going to hurt anything.

I once opened my trunk and revealed the spare tire to find it was completely underwater in my Camry. I had been carrying around a small bathtub’s volume of water for years probably. I removed a plastic plug so water can now drain out the bottom. I know how it gets in too, it’s through the left taillight. But as long as it drains, I consider it problem solved.

SlpperyPete, that’s very encouraging. Thank you! I took the little rubber plugs out so it drains more quickly. There was a little water on the floormats and on the spare tire, but I think that was overspill from the big rainstorm, and not actually a leak inside the car. I’m going to take it to the dealer to get it checked out, but hopefully it’s not something big.

I have the problem where after a rain storm there is water in the hatch door. I have taken the plugs out of the bottom of the door but I’m not sure all of the water comes out. The local Honda dealer wants to charge $185 to bring in an “expert” to fix Honda’s defect. Tomorrow I intend to further investigate the plastic trim at the bottom of the window in the hatch door. It appears there is a defective seal between the window and the trim that would allow the water that runs down the window to enter the door itself.