Rear window leak

Demon · November 14, 2018

Just a heads up to all the other 2019 owners out there. Last night I noticed water on the top on the back seat on the passenger side and my rear window is leaking. It looks to be coming from the area around the sliding window rail. I spoke with the dealership last night and will be dropping it off today for them to fix. I'm not really pissed off about it because this is the kind of stuff that happens when you buy the first model year of a new design but I just wanted to give you guys a heads up on something to look out for.

Gagliano7 · November 14, 2018

That sucks but if you ask me this shouldn't be expected. A window leak should never happen on a new vehicle. Its not like this is the first trucks they ever built and they had this problem on the last models.

JKD · November 17, 2018

I too am a disappointed owner of a 2019 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali. Have had the truck about a month with 2K miles and the rear window leaking as well in the upper right corner. Headliner needs to be replaced and the minimum wait from factory is 2 weeks?!?! Didn’t notice the leak until a trip back from Atlanta in extremely heavy rain. How long had this thing been leaking? Probably from the start. I agree with the previous post, this should not be an issue an owner should have to deal with on a brand new truck, regardless of purchase price. Seems to me a water tight interior is a fundamental requisite for any vehicle. Poor quality control GM, hope you fix this issue at factory by recalibration of the robot that applies the sealant. Hope this is the only QC issue but I can’t help being dubious at this point.

Edited November 17, 2018 by JKD

magnum74 · November 17, 2018

I would want my vehicle replaced if I found out it was leaking. Knowing that the interior got soaked would ruin my ownership experience.

JKD · November 17, 2018

11 minutes ago, magnum74 said:

I would want my vehicle replaced if I found out it was leaking. Knowing that the interior got soaked would ruin my ownership experience.

My sentiment exactly. That’s what I have requested and GM has yet to acknowledge. It makes me think this issue is more prevalent than we yet know. I’m afraid there will be a lot of unhappy owners dealing with this same issue. Thankfully, the dealership is top notch. Not sure if I can mention the name on this forum, but they deserve the business.

magnum74 · November 17, 2018

2 hours ago, JKD said:

My sentiment exactly. That’s what I have requested and GM has yet to acknowledge. It makes me think this issue is more prevalent than we yet know. I’m afraid there will be a lot of unhappy owners dealing with this same issue. Thankfully, the dealership is top notch. Not sure if I can mention the name on this forum, but they deserve the business.

I remember my dads 81' F150 leaking from the quarter window and watching it trickle down the door onto the rubber floor and not effecting anything. These new trucks are disasters waiting to happen in so many ways.

Demon · November 19, 2018

On 11/17/2018 at 1:00 PM, magnum74 said:

I would want my vehicle replaced if I found out it was leaking. Knowing that the interior got soaked would ruin my ownership experience.

I probably should have given more details but the interior didn't get soaked, it was just dripping in and I don't think it even got the carpet wet. There was water on the top of the back seat and I just wiped it off. Of course this should still not happen and needs to be fixed but there was no damage done to the interior.

Sierra Dan · November 19, 2018

It is the nature of the beast.

2019 T1 GM trucks have the same sliding unit as the K2 current/outgoing platform.

My '14 sierra slider does not "leak" , but rather water gets in at car washes on occasion. Just enough to sprinkle the rear seat top.

Especially if you use the want and spray at an angle from the side.

Other than that rain and normal wet conditions do not produce any leaking.

My neighbor has an F150 and his slider does the same thing.

A good friend of mine has a new RAM 1500 and his also lets water in at the car wash.

Demon · November 19, 2018

3 hours ago, Sierra Dan said:

It is the nature of the beast.

2019 T1 GM trucks have the same sliding unit as the K2 current/outgoing platform.

My '14 sierra slider does not "leak" , but rather water gets in at car washes on occasion. Just enough to sprinkle the rear seat top.

Especially if you use the want and spray at an angle from the side.

Other than that rain and normal wet conditions do not produce any leaking.

My neighbor has an F150 and his slider does the same thing.

A good friend of mine has a new RAM 1500 and his also lets water in at the car wash.

It wasn't leaking at the rail for the window, that was the first place I looked. I appears to be coming in from the top of the window and was leaking while it was raining. Again, not a huge amount of water but enough that it needs to be fixed. The dealership said it looks like the seal was not installed correctly.

JKD · November 19, 2018

1 hour ago, Demon said:

It wasn't leaking at the rail for the window, that was the first place I looked. I appears to be coming in from the top of the window and was leaking while it was raining. Again, not a huge amount of water but enough that it needs to be fixed. The dealership said it looks like the seal was not installed correctly.

I got the same diagnosis from my dealer. It’s not leaking from the split window, but rather from the top passenger side of the glass itself. Bad window seal. Not sure if GM uses the butyl rubber or an elastomeric sealant, but this is definitely a factory defect. BTW, I’m sure we can all agree that any window that opens has the potential to leak if enough water pressure applied. However, a fixed window should not leak and each vehicle should be tested before rolling out the factory door...in my humble opinion.

Demon · November 19, 2018

1 minute ago, JKD said:

I got the same diagnosis from my dealer. It’s not leaking from the split window, but rather from the top passenger side of the glass itself. Bad window seal. Not sure if GM uses the butyl rubber or an elastomeric sealant, but this is definitely a factory defect. BTW, I’m sure we can all agree that any window that opens has the potential to leak if enough water pressure applied. However, a fixed window should not leak and each vehicle should be tested before rolling out the factory door...in my humble opinion.

Absolutely a sliding window has the potential to leak. I agree that a fixed window should not leak but it does happen. Now if this becomes a common thing then Chevy really has an issue that needs to be addressed.

JKD · November 19, 2018

2 minutes ago, Demon said:

Absolutely a sliding window has the potential to leak. I agree that a fixed window should not leak but it does happen. Now if this becomes a common thing then Chevy really has an issue that needs to be addressed.

Agreed. Both of us have brand new trucks about a month old with the same problem in the same place. Time will tell how prevalent the issue is as hopefully others find this post and share their experience.

Sierra Dan · November 19, 2018

In that case, watch out when you head to the car wash with the slider!

I have learned to just keep the wand away from that area at full pressure.

JKD · November 19, 2018

Thanks Sierra Dan, I hand wash and wax my truck once a week. Has never seen a car wash which may explain why the leak wasn’t detected earlier. Sold my 2 year old Canyon for $$$$$, still looked like it just came of the showroom floor.