1996 explorer sport collecting heavy dust from the trunk

[pepehuertars]

Hi guys. I've recently traveled to Patagonia in Chile. Great trip, lots of fun and with that also a lot of dirt roads.

The car performed ok as expected but we were driving in a cloud of dust in the cabin coming from the rear end of the trunk. Our luggage ended covered in dust and I couldn't find the source of the leak. All the rubber seals of the lift gate look ok ,so I don't know where to start from.

Any advice?
Thank you guys!

 

[CDW6212R]

Welcome to the forum. I'd start with the seals like you mentioned, then climb under the truck and see if you can find any rubber plugs that have been lost, removed, or pushed out. There are several along the sides of the floor just under the trim, and a couple in the back floor board. Those generally never get touched, but you may have the dust coming in from under the rugs. There are seams in the body too that any accident can open up, leaving gaps that let dust inside.

Below, you can see the ground through a missing rubber plug that is at the back end of that side channel. I had to fill the seams long that section where the body had been hit, and reseat the plug. I sealed that all with black RTV, as I had a lot more dust inside my truck too.

 

[pepehuertars]

Oh! thank you very much. I'll check that during the week and post my findings.

 

[CDW6212R]

Hopefully you just find a few small holes such as from someone mounting a sub box, with screws into the floor, that removed leave little holes. My old 93 had that and they were simple to fill once I knew they were there.