water in the trunk...?
 

Gents,

Ok, so I noticed on Monday that when I opened my trunk, it had kind of a funky smell to it. I put my hand on the trunk floor and it was soaked. I figured that maybe the trunk wasnt closed the whole way and the dealership lot attendant washed the car and water leaked into the trunk. No biggie.

So, I pulled the cover and the spare tire and there was a little puddle of water (and apparently someone spilled almonds in there at one point) in the tire well. I sopped it up with a towel, and put it all back together.

Today, just for a sanity check, I opened the trunk again and noticed condensation on the trunk trim and also on the inside of the trunk. So, I pulled open the cover and looked in the well. Again, a little puddle of water.

Upon further inspection, I did notice that my trunk seal has a rip in it but the rip is located at the bottom of the seal by the trunk latch. If I look in the compartments where my battery and CD player are, they seem to be dry.

I was planning on looking into the sunroof drains to make sure they are clear but if they werent, I would see water by the battery and the CD player in those trunk wells, correct?

Could the seal rip at the bottom be my culprit?

I am planning on climbing in the trunk and having the wife hose the trunk down to check for leaks but wanted to get your guys opinion as well.

Thanks guys!

Chris

If it's not the sunroof drains, check the watertightness of the tail light assemblies. Found this leaking (passengers side) on my car years ago...repaired with a bead of red silicone on the gasket...out of sight and sealed tight.

I will check that as well, thanks!

I did do some investigation last night.

I pulled the panel off the passenger side trunk and checked the sunroof drain. Disconnected the blue tube and blew through it. No clog. I looked at the small little clear tube that was connected to the black grommet and it seemed to be clear.

its weird because the majority of the water was in the spare tire well. the rest of the moisture was residual condensation; with more condensation towards the passenger side.

I didnt look at the sunroof drain on the drivers side but inspecting with a flashlight didn't yield any water on the drivers side.

With that said, I pulled out both trunk panels, the spare tire cover, the jack tools, and the spare tire. Cleaned up all the water in there and then put some desiccant in the trunk. I then got my little space heater and turned it on high and shut the trunk in the attempts to dry it out.

Let that run for a while (about 2 hours) Seemed to be dry in there.

Finally, to check the actual trunk seal, I busted our the Vaseline and coated the trunk seal. Shut the trunk and then opened it and checked for the Vaseline on the lower trunk pan. The entire mating surface of the trunk pan had Vaseline on it proving that the trunk seal is actually sealing.

PA got a **** ton of rain over night into this morning. Before I left for work, I checked the trunk and it seemed to be just as dry as it was last night.

I am hoping that the wetness I saw was just residual moisture from the trunk mat/spare tire cover being completely soaked.

I am going to continue to monitor it to see if it gets worse.

Also, I did notice some condensation build up in between the actual trunk skins. Put my hand on one of the inspection holes and it was moist in there too. I am chalking that up to residual moisture due to the soaked trunk mat/ST cover.

If it continues leaking, Have someone in the trunk with a flashlight and hose the car down and have them look for the leak. Trunk, tail lights, rear windshield can all leak into there.

Trunk leak fixed. :) think it was the dealership not shutting the trunk the whole way. Just for ****s and giggles, on Saturday, I cleaned the rear (and front) sunroof drains. They were completely clear with no junk in them at all.

It's always good news when a problem becomes a non-issue.

That it is sir! Just have some other minor issues to take care of now.