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Wet trunk

S

SVT3391

CEG'er
Joined
Jul 28, 2004
Messages
480
Location
Columbia, MD
Well, I admit I have some junks in the trunk. But they are dry and not "too" messy.

Yesterday I had a battery/alternator failure (not sure which it was even now). Some one was kind enough to give me a jump start, so I was trying to find the jump cable in my trunk. After some digging, I found the cable. However, near the right bottom of the trunk where I had a trash bag for some paper (BB flyers, etc) I noticed it was wet. Not entirely wet but you can see some water within the wrinkles of the trash bag. We had some rain a couple days ago but it seems that the water had been trapped longer than that.

Is it caused by the degrading of the weather strips on the trunk lid? I didn't see the same wetness at the left side inside the trunk.

Thank you for all ideas.
 
Feel around to see if you can trace the moisture. It may lead to the cause. Hope it works out for you.
 
i also have a wet trunk, on the left side i had two shirts, and after a rain storm then two days of supercold weather i came out and the shirts were frozen together in one piece.... eek!
 
Get in the trunk with a flashlight. Close the trunk and have someone use a garden hose to spray the top of the car/trunk. You should be able to see the leak coming in.
 
like stated above usually any type of trunk leak on these vehicles is the tail light gaskets or the trunk applique panel. if you are working alone on this, look on the back side of the trunk for water stains, if there are none, pull loose the trim around both tail lights and look for water stains. you may be able to narrow it down on your own. if not use tony's suggestion and get someone to help, get someone that will let you out of the trunk! lol. the other thing to ask is has the vehicle ever been in an accident involving the rear of the vehicle. if so it gives you another place to look. these cars were built very well and have rarely seen any body seam leaks even after 150k's in service.
 
Try to keep and conceal your cellphone when someone tells you get in the trunk.
 
i know this is off topic, but at the stealership i work at we work on cop cars. so sometimes when we have to road test them we politely ask one of the salesmen to help us with a rattle. all they have to do is sit in the back seat and listen for the rattle. sure enopugh hook line and sinker every time they go. we drive around the block, come back, park and say thanks and leave them in the back seat for about 20 minutes!!!lol
 
The trunk vent on the right side behind the bumper leaked so bad on our '97 that the the spare tire well filled with enough water to overflow into the back seat. It was easy to find by letting water run down the side of the quarter panel. I would also pull out all the liners and check them for mold. That also makes it a lot easier to see the leak. Ours were so moldy I had to toss them.
 
the hose is the best idea i'd say, it's been too cold due to this whole "winter" thing, but i have a leaky trunk as well.

I plan to pull out everything from the trunk, all the crappy plastic molded stuff is coming out, then i'm going to just run the hose, watch for leaks, and RTV the crap out of whatever is leaking haha
 
Tony2005 said:
Get in the trunk with a flashlight. Close the trunk and have someone use a garden hose to spray the top of the car/trunk. You should be able to see the leak coming in.
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Other than I have to first clean out the junks before I can even go in, this is a good idea.

I think I will get some recycled paper tower used in most of the office restroom and tape them all over the trunk along the trunk wall. They show water very well when wet. It probably will be better than locking myself in the trunk. But I would think in order for some one to go in the trunk, the back seat has to be lowered. That case there may not be risk of locking self in.
 
i'm essentially going to strip the rear interior of he car. and i need to make a false floor now because my crappy plastic stock liner is all warped from the wetness. there's even condensation/frost that has formed in the spare tire well.
 
The Five-Oh! said:
my taillight seals are good, but there's a gap in the weather stripping of my back glass, i'm worried that it is leaking from there.
Click to expand...

I have the same gap, but it is not dripping straight down... Actually, IIRC when I tried sealing it (it was too cold for the crap to stick) I took the ends off the glass and there did not look like a way for the water to get into the trunk, like it would just drip onto the outside of the trunk seal and go nowhere...
 
I have a leaky trunk as well, and after searching the forum I figured it was the side vents. What can I do to fix the problem. Should i get caulking or something like that or should i replace them? In all honesty fixing it cheap is the route i would like to take :laugh:
 
I tried the chaulk route first but it didn't work. The bumper has to be loosened and depenening what side is leaking that rear wheel well liner has to be removed to acccess the one torx head bolt that secures the bummper to the fender. There are three bolts per side that secure the bumper. The two rear 10 mm nuts (per side) were rusted pretty badly on my 12 yr old SE but with plently of PB blaster I got them off without breaking them.

One bad thing I found was once my rear wheel liner was out I found the inner fender has rusted out pretty badly. in certain areas.
 
My trunk leaks as well. If your antenna is a little loose water can slowly drip down into the car and into the bottom right. Thats what my problem was.
 
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