[tru1man]

I have owned my 2020 RL since Dec, bought with 4500 mi. It's not my daily driver and lives a pampered life garaged. I pulled the rear sill plates, expecting it to be bone dry. To my dismay, the driver side carpet pad is soaked. Water intrusion sucks big time. Other than being washed a few times, I think today was the first time it has been in the rain in the 5mo I have owned it. Many thanks to those of you who have shared your experiences

 

[tru1man]

I'm almost inclined to remove the trim and leave it off until I'm satisfied that my '21 isn't leaking. The frequency of these posts makes it seem that if yours doesn't leak, you should probably go buy a lottery ticket.

I agree, the sill plates will stay off mine for the foreseeable future.

 

[tru1man]

I had no clue mine was leaking till I pulled the sill plates I suspect the percentage of leakers is higher than known.

 

[tru1man]

I have a tonneau cover on mine and it is garaged 95% of the time. Carpet was dry. You have to pull the sill plates and check for soaked padding under the carpet. Thanks to zroger for highlighting this issue. Without checking, I could have ended up with a festering problem post warranty. Scheduled for service on Thur. Dang!

 

[tru1man]

Picking my 20 up tomorrow- dealer couldn't find source of leak. I will do my best to dry out the soggy sponge under the carpet and monitor for the expected recurrence.

 

[tru1man]

If you find moisture after removing the sill plates, the plastic bar that the rear seat legs rest on is also removable, but takes a stronger tug. After removing these 3 pieces and also the trim plate at the base of the rear seat hinge area (left side in my case), I propped up the carpet and placed a small heater/fan on low, sitting on a bucket at the door opening. Looks like it will take about 24hrs to dry out. I will leave the trim pieces out for awhile and monitor for continuing trouble. No mold or mildew so far.

 

[tru1man]

Currently have my rear seat removed and the carpet folded back to expose the bare floor across that entire seat frame riser. Then water tested only the unsealed forward seam with the hose pointed only at the seam. Bingo, it leaks. Then repeated the hose in the bed and let gravity work to drain out the forward drains. Holy cow what a flood inside. This time on both sides of the cab, entering the cab entirely from the drain slots along the bottom of the seat frame riser, and it was all I could do to catch the water with a bath towel at the rate it was infiltrating. I'm also gaining a sense that Honda knows all about this leakage because they placed a foam blocker seal about 3" inside the ends of that seat riser. That blocker diverts any water into the carpet foam and keeps it from flowing out the ends of the riser toward the door sills.

I'm going to let my truck dry out while trying to figure out how to gain access to that seam without dropping the fuel tank. Thinking maybe working through the fuel pump access panel, but that's working blind and not much room to work.

After getting this deep into the problem, I'm convinced there are 2 types of Ridgelines... The ones that are known to leak, and the ones where it hasn't been noticed yet. This is a shame.

I had my left rear fender liner out today. The factory application of seam sealer is very sloppy. I wondered about that forward seam that you have outlined. Can that forward seam be sealed from the cab side?

 

[tru1man]

How about a strip of self adhesive foam weather stripping just just aft of that seam and it is reversible. Foam strip could act as a dam. I suspect that open seam might be to allow a flooded cabin floor to drain during an adverse event?

 

[tru1man]

I used Flex Paste to fill in seam sealer defects that I could see. .FP seems to be a very good product, At the location where RogersRTS has a black strip 2 images up is where I placed a self adhering rubber window weather strip from Ace Hardware. I think this should work well as a drip edge I was able to place it without removing anything, but I think this task requires skinny arms. It's a tight space.

 

[tru1man]

About 5mo ago, after reading about this issue, I checked under the carpet- soaked left rear. Took it in to dealer and couldn't find a problem. Since the vehicle was purchased used with 5k, I don't know what might have happened before me. So all summer long I kept out of the rain, waiting for a better time and hopefully better Dealer awarenes of the problem. Tech claimed hadn't seen any issues. So a few weeks ago, I left it out in drizzling rain for 2 days- soaked same place. So took it back to dealer on a Sat afternoon and new SA says maybe SR drains- I am not feeling hopeful at that moment. They were aggressive with their investigation and disassembled the rear seat area and acknowledged the problem. It was sent out to local bodysuit for testing and repairs. Glass co called in to reseal rear window and seam sealer on left side. A little over 2 weeks in shops. I will pick it up tomorrow.. Seam sealer application from factory looks like it was done by a Jiffy Lube dropout. So far I am happy with the dealer response. Tomorrow I pick up the truck. First off, I am eager to see if they dried out the carpet or not. At least my RL is in the queue and the dealer seems interested in solving my problem. I will add that the SA offered me a loaner, which I didn't need/ declined.