Leaking Snugtop cap

so I have a snugtop cap that I purchased last June. This thing is pretty new. Recently during the rainy months here in Seattle I have noticing a musty smell like moisture in the back. When I lift the bottom bed rug that I have, I saw water. Now I have a lineX bed liner on the back of the truck. I have just the bottom piece of the bed rug. When I called the shop that installed my canopy they said they would take a look at it, but it is common for water to get in anyway. Are you serious??? Doesn't this defeat the purpose of a canopy??? I wanted a canopy to keep stuff dry in the back. His reasoning is that there are too many opening in the back window area that can let water in. The other thing he told me, is that he saw a newer Tundra in yesterday and he found that water was leaking in from the drainage caps in the bed. I guess it is letting water come into the bed. He says it's a manufacturer defect. Have you guys heard of this and have had any issues with this? I am taking this thing in next Saturday for him to take a look at it. Confused how this can happen. I had a tonneau cover on my last truck and I never had any issues keeping in dry. Let me know if anyone had experienced this.

 

I have a Snugtop also and don't seem to have any leaks. However I live in AZ though, and we sure get a lot less rain than you!

 

Looks like he's trying to make any excuse he can. How the hell does water come in through the drainage holes... unless you're missing the plastic covers. I've never had a cap but I would expect it to be completely water tight. Like you said, what's the point if it isn't.

 

Yeah, I'm trying to rationalize it. I'm going to bring it in next Saturday, but it's obvious that water is getting in. I am just trying to see if anyone has had any experience with this.

 

I couldn't figure out why I still had water in the bed of my truck after I changed all of the seals for my Leer canopy and installed a tailgate seal.
It turns out that there are little holes in the drain caps that do let water in under certain conditions. I filled the holes with shoe goo and haven't had any problems since then.

 

Wow!! So this does happen? Is this a flaw from the factory? And by holes in the drain gaps; are they easy to see? I had the truck lined with lineX so it's hard to tell. Where are the holes exactly? how can this not be part of recall from Toyota if this is something that is a factory flaw. Could you post a pic of how your drain plugs look after you sealed it? Thank you.

 

Water can get in in the gaps in the tailgate. Get inside your shell and close everything up and notice all the daylight that you will see in any corner or edge of the bed. I just have a soft Tonneau cover. I did a tailgate seal and added a few pieces to make it practically watertight. Also up at the front where the side rails meet the front rail there is a little gap there too. If you don't have the deck rail system there is holes up font for that too.

On the weatherstripping where the tailgate shuts and the vertical and horizontal strips meet, I left a little gap at the bottom so that if water does get in it can drain out.

 

Where were you able to find these weather strips from? I want to make sure that the truck bed is completely water proof. I still can't comprehend how shops can't do this already when they install canopies. I would of paid for this all upfront if I knew it was going to be an issue.

 

I think the holes are intentional. They're in the same place on both plastic plugs and the holes are small, but square shaped.

I'll get a picture later and post it.

 

You can find it anywhere online and at autozone. If you aren't worried about ever taking your topper off you can use silicone around the inside of the topper seal. The window seals on the Snugtops are pretty good but nowhere near perfect, especially if your using your topper alot. I've had numerous brands and I've never had a perfect topper, even the really expensive ones.

 

As Almaboy said there is a kit or specific seal for tailgates. But it's all the same stuff really.
You do have to get creative with placement. And i used a piece of foam weather strip on my tailgate to meet up with a secondary piece on the bed itself. Not perfectly water tight if I blast the hose at an upward angle. But its tight for direct line of fire. What ever makes it in is minimal.

But im sure the shell installer can't guarantee no leaks on a tailgate because of its poor design. So they would rather not attempt to seal it.

 

So I'm here at the canopy shop. They found where the leak is coming from. There was water coming in from the drain plugs in the back of the bed and the upper left corner of the bed. Gary, the owner of the canopy shop says that this is a factory flaw from Toyota. They don't seal the bed of the truck very well. His tech was able to seal the drain plugs and the corner of the bed with some kind of glue or gue. Hopefully this remedies this.

 

I can't imagine any reason any truck manufacturer would be making tailgates waterproof. This is not a flaw. Truck beds have been for cargo for over 100 years. Because recently some of us are treating our truck beds like big car trunks is not their fault. I'm not opposed to the idea, and I've made a fairly successful effort to do this on my own(more for dust than rain, in AZ). Get creative, there's lots of products available to facilitate this. Just my.02

 

I can understand your point of view, but I would think that if you purchase a tonneau cover or canopy, you would expect that your cargo would be kept dry or dirt free. My old Ford F-150 had a pace Edwards power cover. I never had any issues with keeping stuff dry in there. Now don't get me wrong, I love my Tundra. It would just be nice to know this when they installed the canopy.

 

Good point, I just thought that the idea of a Toyota recall for this was a bit over the top. I'm fully on board with leaks at the camper or tonneau cover interface being unacceptable. A tailgate that has seals like a cab door would add incredible unit costs and not even be desired by fleet buyers. It would be cool if manufacturers offered this option and I bet some of the big 3 will within 10 years. Toyota never will.

 

Hey guys I just bought a snugtop rebel and it keeps leaking by the front rail system. I took it in and the guy re sealed the whole canopy and still leaking. Anyone have better luck with different brands? I am on my second snug top the first one was a base model and leaked so much after 5 attempts to fix it the place I bought it from upgraded me to the rebel at the same cost. But still no luck thanks

 

Man, mine is still leaking now again. I had mine sealed up, but I noticed that it was leaking from somewhere else. It
Looks like it's leaking from the rear window.

 

Check that spot right there. That is one of the few places I see daylight with my bed cover on. There is a seam where the front of the bed meets the side rail and it is a good spot for a leak. I've been thinking of filling that gap with black silicone and then reinstalling my bed cover.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely try that

 

I have had ARE toppers on several of my trucks over the years. I have never had a leak with an ARE topper when installed right, not that it does not happen. They all will leak of not installed properly. I always have the installer use a double seal especially on the front lip of the bed rail corners, right where yours appears to be leaking. Also put the seal on the topper NOT on the bed rail of the truck, you will spend forever trying to remove the seal later if it's installed on your bed rail.

The other point is to make sure Banana Joe installer does NOT put his super human gorilla grip crank down power ranger arms on your topper C clamps. They need to be snug tight, not crimping the seal. Crimping the seal will result in leaks. As far as your window leak...that could be a leer topper issue or they could have tweaked the seal on the window when installing the topper.


If they say they have fixed it, run your truck through a brushless car wash and check it. It should not leak if they know what they are doing. No expert here, but like you I don't want water in my truck bed when covering it with a $2000 topper.

 

Mine leaked at the windOw as welll I watched the guy take a part the window and re seal it and that fixed the leak. As for the corner of the bed where you see Day light that's a tundra defect mine had the same thing and the guy also sealed it. Mine is leaking from the the middle where the top meets the bed. The funny thing is he also sealed the whole bed around the perimeter. So I'll give it one more shot and see if it will fix. If it I might go the ARE rout.

 

Thanks my driveway had a slant so do you think it's because of that why it's leaking?

 

This is where my top is leaking from.

 

I have a snugtop and they are well built, however, I found the drain holes they put in the lower window frames weren't big enough to accommodate the volume of water accumulating in the window tracks and it was coming inside under the windows. I used a small drill bit and added more holes to the outside lower track. This fixed my issue. Another thing I noticed if I spray water up into the fender it will work its way under the bedrail and into the bed. I sealed this with closed cell foam it it no longer comes in. I have also installed a tailgate seal for dust and this works well. I did all of this while I lived in GA, here in CO my only concern is the dust because I sleep back there a lot and don;t won;t choke on fine road dust.

 

What he said. My installer did a little caulk job on the truck bed in this area.

 

These are GREAT suggestions.
What type of seal would you recommend applying to the topper?
Same type commonly used to seal tailgates?
If not, all suggestions welcome!
Thank you!

 

On my previous topper there was a 1-1/2" or 2" wide by about a 1/4"- 1/2" thick soft quality foam that was stuck on to the bottom of the topper. Then a thinner strip along the front rail

 

every time I think I want a topper I read threads like this and realize this sort of thing will be frustrating for me.....ahhhh, what to do

 

I’m on my third snug top and have had no leaks.