Having never lived through a winter until this year, my 1998 Acura Integra hasn’t seen much snow. So when water showed up in the spare tire well of my trunk, I figured it was freak occurance of the quickly melting snow finding leaks. The rude surprise of the water coming through my back seats from the spare tire well freaked me out more. I had a waterfall in my car when I came to a hard stop!
But when it happened again I knew I had a problem. A lighter rain seemed to show that the leak is mostly on the sides of the trunk. I can’t detect anything obvious with the rubber lining of the trunk. Can anyone help? My mechanic declined to look for the leak. I have a 1998 Acura integra four door (so no hatchback).
Check the rear window seal, the trunk lid seal, and the tail light mountings. All are potential leak points. A rust hole in the trunk floor can also admit water, but it’s probably coming from above, rather than below.
Have somebody spray water from a hose onto the back of the car while you look for the leak from inside. If your rear seats fold down–great, you can look from inside the car…otherwise someone needs to get into the trunk with a flashlight. I have discovered leaks due to bad sealant around the rear windshield that sent the water directly down into the trunk–it was easy to pinpoint the leak from inside the car and recaulking solved it.
I had the same problem for months with my VW Golf. I finally brought it to my mechanic and he fixed the problem for about $15. It was some kind of seal around the taillight that was the culprit. I should not have waited so long!
And pull the drain plug out permanently.
I have a 1991 Acura Legend that had a very similar leaking problem. It turned out to be a clip that holds the bottom trim around the rear window. The adhesive that Acura uses to glue the small gasket around the clips had dried out allowing water to drain down the rear window, under the trim, and instead of draining from under the trim it flowed under the gasket and into the trunk. Once you take the trim off the rear window a trail of dirt will usually point out the leak. Be aware that pulling off the trim from around the window will probably break some clips which can be had from your Acura dealer.
Don’t listen to these other guys. I had the same problem. But you have to deal with this ASAP!!! of enough water gets underneath the back seat, it will find it’s way into the connector at your fuel pump. The connector eventually shorts and WILL FRY YOUR ECM!
trust me it happened to me and that ends up being about a $1500 mistake, even though this leak is a manufacturing flaw. Pull out your trunk lining on the driver side. You will see a small vent with a rubber flap. This is so that the air in your car has somewhere to go (when you close the door for example).
When you are driving in the rain or snow, the water that the tires kick up ends up sometimes getting past the rear tire mud guard and between the back driver side corner of your bumper and the frame. That is where the vent goes out to. The flapper on the vent doesn’t sty closed very well so water comes through and slowly seeps into your trunk. Another good clue is if you see a quantity of dirt on that side but nearly none on the other and if it seems to leak only when you drive the car. If you get a nasty rain but the car has stayed parked throughout, you shouldn’t see any water. I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with this. Not sure if I am just going to seal the flapper on the vent shut or if I am going to modify it.(Replacing this vent requires removal of the back bumper and I’m not that Brave yet.)
On 08/19/2007 6:31:13 PM slohrasb wrote:
Don’t listen to these other guys.
Excuse me?