Noticed that when I take the car through the car wash water leaks inside somehow and collects on the tailgate and in the cargo area. The dealer sprayed the rear area with the hose and refused to do anything about it. The ir official statement: "Mitsubishi only warrants water leaks that happen because of regular rain and not during high pressure car washes. Not a warrantable issue."

Does this make sense? Do all 2014 Outlanders leak like this? This is my first car that ever leaked water during regular touch-less car wash.

Nick

 

Try to talk to Mitsubishi Canada. Dixie Mitsu are morons.

 

No. My 2014 Outlander does not leak. Sometimes a leak like that can be a bear to find. Good luck.

 

Here is reply from Mitsubishi Motors Canada:
"Can you please contact our customer service department at 1-888-576-4878 or by email at mitsubishi-canada@mmcan.ca?"

 

Thanks Vadimus. I called Mitsubishi Canada at the number you posted and they told me that the dealership needs to contact their technical department and submit a case. They will then provide them with a proper procedure for testing for water leaks.

I did a bit more testing for water leaks myself. I climbed in the cargo with a flashlight and then my wife took the car through the car wash. :-) Well, there was not much water seeping through. Basically several drops fell down during the actual washing. Then there was maybe around two seconds of heavy drip once the car started moving. Water was seeping through the top plastic piece on the tailgate, actually two spots where the top plastic meets the side plastic pieces. It sure felt like water got in through the high-mounted stop light area. Which made me think that the spoiler that I had installed recently may be the culprit. It was installed by a Mitsubishi Dealership in the US and, luckily, I asked them if I could keep the installation instruction. There are total five bolts that hold it In place. One of them actually goes through the high-mounted stop light area. On the last page of the installation instructions they have a note/warning saying something like “If the Belleville Nut on the middle bolt is not tight enough, the packing material [whatever it means] may not function well enough. This may cause water leak”.
I am going to take the car to the dealership to have them look specifically at this bolt.

Nick

 

I installed my own spoiler. The directions for mounting leave a lot of margin for error particularly in the area above the high mounted stop light. I would suggest popping out the high mounted light and checking the nut with a 10mm wrench. If you can move it without a lot of effort, I'd say it is too loose. I would also see if they elongated the hole for the stud for the nut. If that is the case, you might have to wait until things dry out and coat the whole area with RTV.

 

Followed your advice. Just taking the top mounted stop light is not as straightforward as just pulling it out. It required first removing the plastic cover, located on the inside of the car just under the light, then pressing onto three hooks with the screwdriver to unhook the light itself and then unhooking the top clips and pulling the light out.

Two things were done wrong during the installation of the spoiler. The top spoiler mounting hole right above the light was elongated. I could fill rough metal with my fingers just behind the Belleville nut. The nut was pretty tight though. Also, they (Mitsubishi dealership that installed the spoiler in Rochester, NY about ~300km away from where I live) didn’t not follow the instructions in the Service Manual, when removing the top mounted stop light, and simply ripped it out from the outside. In doing so they bent the metal where the light hooks up with top clips. All three spots where protruding out about 1/8th an inch. So the light itself was not flush and likely was also letting water through though its seal.

The leaking stopped after I coated the area with silicon and straightened bent out spots!

Thanks for the advice,
Nick