water leaks into trunk

[tommyturbo]

Wanted to see if this a common Gen II thing. Both my 95's leak water into the trunk. Wasn't an issue in California, but now in the Northwest seems to be worth fixing. Even the 92LX I had years ago did this.

It appears the seams in the corners of the trunk below the rear window is the area, the factory sealant has dried out and cracked.

Any product recommendations for this?

 

[zoomlater]

Do your cars have a sunroof?

On my 94 ATX, I had a puddle on the right side of my trunk for a couple of years. I finally started to get a leak on the front passenger seat and noticed it was dripping from inside my sunroof. I spent an hour or so using a shop vac and straws to clear out the four sunroof drains and made sure they drained properly. Not only did it clear up my leak on the inside, my trunk leak disappeared as well.

In the past, when I was repairing a rear end 92, I bought a can of this gray paste the auto body shops used. It was really expensive but I was sealing the entire trunk area. Have you tried pulling back the trunk liner to see where the water is coming from? My cars have similar dried out sealant but aren't leaking.

 

[tommyturbo]

yes, both have sunroofs. Although the LX did not have a sunroof and leaked into the same spots. My leak seems to be worst on the left hand side. I have not had any leaks inside the car. Also the sunroof seals very tightly, has new seal. So doubt that the amount of leakage is from the sunroof drain. However to be safe will check them out.

 

[mrecoolgar]

Guaranteed it's leaking through the tail lights.
Remove them and reseal the gaskets to both the lamp and the body.

 

[luigisho]

Guaranteed it's leaking through the tail lights.
Remove them and reseal the gaskets to both the lamp and the body.

Are there replacement gaskets available or do we have to use RTV or other sealer?

 

[BaySHO Performance]

Not sure I've had the problem of leaking tail lights on a gen 2, but have had plenty of cases on gen 1s. Those have been leaking where the channel at the side of the trunk meets the tail light. I've used clear bathroom caulk to seal it.

I did have a gen 2 sitting in my driveway for a long time. Slightly on a downward slope. Rain water would collect in the top front corners of the trunk channel and eventually overflow into the trunk.

 

[mrecoolgar]

Probably not too many gaskets still available.
They can be carefully removed to reseal.
One main gasket at the straight lens and a small gasket for the side lens.
I use black RTV on both sides of the gasket.

 

[tompumped]

I had problems with all three of my 92's. The way I was able to figure it out was to go inside the trunk and have someone spray a garden hose into the wheel wells and around the seams. I remember the last car I fixed the leaks on it was definitely leaking around the seams and I used a caulking tube with black rtv to fix it. They didn't use enough seam sealer or it dried up. I think this time around with this car I have yet to drive i'll use actual seam sealer.

Sunroof drains can cause all sorts of problems. That same car would leak inside the vehicle in various areas until I cleared the sunroof drains. I remember the rear lights in the headliner leaking. I also replaced the sunroof gasket. The car I got now is my first gen 1 with a moon roof and the rear windshield and tail lights are different.

I also had problems with the rear windshield leaking on two cars and there are no more new rear windshields for gen 2s around. The glass shop found one from a junk yard, but after a number of years it started to leak again. I could literally push up on the glass and see it move, it leaked at the upper edge.

 

[luigisho]

Where is the seam locations you have tackled before? I have some leakage into the trunk of my '93 in the depressed storage type area on the passenger rear of the trunk. I'll be chasing this when the weather breaks.

 

[tompumped]

Pull the trunk liner out and you'll see what i'm talking about. Its been so long since i've done it I don't remember, but there are seams where two pieces of metal join and they use seam sealer that was applied sparingly or was defective.

My last '92 rotted from the inside out because of the trunk leaking. It's next to impossible to completely fix the leaks sometimes.