Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting ???Trunk leaks???

My leak was due to the taillight as mentioned earlier.
My daughter recently called to complain that she had a leak in the trunk of her '96 Contour.

It's nice to know you're not alone...

FYI - After removing the side panels in the trunk I noticed a little stain underneath the drivers side tail light on the inside. That seems to be the culprit. After removing the taillight, I'll put some silicone on the gasket and reinstall. Man - after running the hose on the rear window and watching all the water run down to the taillights, I'm surprised it doesn't leak more than it does.

Thanks again...

Hey BeaterCar

did u have a chance to take pictures ??

I am still trying to fix mine...

I'll try to take some pictures when I do the job. Thing is if I don't get to it tomorrow morning (Sat) then it won't be until Monday since I'm going to Richmond, VA for the NASCAR race Saturday night.

The process I'm gunning for is to remove all the interior fabric; remove the taillights (3 nuts each); clean the taillights real good; add clear silicone to the foam gaskets on the taillights; tighten down the taillights real tight; replace everything.

You still out there 2G sport? My 99 CSVT is still leaking afer I have checked and sealed all the usual culprits: tailights, vents etc. It looks like the water is getting into the trunk near the trunk arm hole near where the back glass comes down. The water is dripping from the back, top of the trunk, nowhere near the vents or tailights. You mentioned that you solved the problem by adding some more silicone to the rubber molding. Are you talking about the rubber moulding that seals the trunk lid or a different one? Do I have to remove my back shelf to get at and fix the leaking area?

This wet trunk is really starting to pi*& me off.

Can anyone help?

Reading the post you refer to it sounds like the rear glass exterior rubber weather seal was removed.

Best to find the actual leak location first, however, since leak point and point of water dripping and becoming visible are not necessarily the same place. This would require removal of rear interior window and parcel shelf trim plus the 3rd brake light, to expose the glass/urethane contact surface.

You may wish to also consider getting an estimate from auto glass shop to re & re existing back window glass.

p.s. I believe the arm hole referred to is actually the sub-woofer hole, an option that was not made available in N.A.

I fixed my problem without removal of the glass. I had a leak coming through the(be forgiving as I do not know the proper term...lol) gap that the trunk arm goes between when you put the lid down The leak was coming through part of the urethane that was damaged/pinched, running down the back glass and in a recessed part of the metal shelf, going into the trunk because it had nowhere else to go. What I did was removed the trim around the backglass and trickled water down the backglass in certain parts while looking through the backglass. When I found the general area it was coming in, I used a little urethane(I said silicone by mistake in my original post) to go along the area I thought the leak was located. I trickled water in the same area, and this time it didn't leak. I put the trim back on around the backglass and reinstalled the shelf carpeting. No more leaky since. If you cannot find the leak, but you have a feeling it is coming through the backglass, go to Safelite(sorry I am partial, my wife works for them ) and have them check it out. Good luck.

can you guys explain this again? i cant find the leak in my trunk, and its killing me... pictures, anything? i have a 99 SE

Open the trunk. (Check Both Sides) Pull the trunk lining away from the rear fender walls. You should now see (on each side) a Black Plastic vent like square protruding. One of these black vents in mine was completely pushed into the fender leaving massive room for H2O to enter, the other side vent just wasnt working properyl (Each Vent have these plastic FLAPs outside allowing air to exit but not enter) Havent had a single drop since. (AIf your leaks seemed to accumilate only near the rear side walls of the trunk, this is 99% the problem) BTW use common sense to repair/replace/fix these, very simple. Later

My 1998 SVT has some water leaking in the trunk. I read all the posts here, does anyone have any pictures? The links in this thread don't work anymore.

Also I just bought my car and it seems to be missing the fiberboard over the spare tire. I have carpet but nothing to support it over the spare. Did the contours come with some type of hard surface over the spare, like my other cars? I'm just wondering. Thanks.