porter ds

About a month ago I noticed a muggy smell coming from the back seat of my civic. The car was purchased a local Honda dealer about two months prior so it was relatively clean, but I did find one of my coffee mugs that I assumed had leaked. There was a little bit of moisture on the carpet so I cleaned it up and thought nothing more of it.

Yesterday we received over an inch of rain and upon getting in my car after work, I noticed the same muggy smell. I put my hand down on the carpet behind the drivers seat (location of the previous "spill") and felt a soggy floor. I thought there was a leak along the door panel, but my hunting lead me to the rear seats. When I lifted it up, the bottom of the seat was dripping and there was an inch of standing water. Awesome, huh?

Once I got home and was able to search some more, a small water trail led me to the trunk where I found another inch of water under the spare tire and about two inches above the rear, driver's side tire. I checked some forums and decided to get in the trunk and have my wife pour water along the back window to see if I could find the leak.

She poured it along the bottom of the rear window and nothing happen. She began working her way up the left side of the rear window and about 5 inches away from the top, water started coming in to the trunk. Not just a drip, but a straight flow.

Before I get the rear window replaced and resealed, is there anything else I should check? The seal around the trunk itself is still in great shape and intact. There is no cracking or gaps between the seal and the frame. I just can't think of anything else to check.

Any thoughts?

bee guz

Take the car and have the window resealed correctly, then send the bill to the dealer, then you need to get as much water out of the carpet as you can using a vacuum cleaner.

MonsterSquad

I vaguely remember seeing something about this on here a long time ago with photos of some sort of drainage pipe in the trunk. I'd take back the carpet on the sides and have a look.

porter ds

The plot thickens…

After finding the leak in the window seal I had someone come out and replace the seal and rear windshield. There is a clip about 1 ½ inches long that holds the rubber seal to the car near the bottom of the windshield that was not connected. It was definitely what was causing the water to come in, or so I thought…

After the next rain storm we had, I checked the carpet behind the seat again and sure enough it was soaked. I ripped apart the trunk again and found about the same amount of water as before. My wife and I did the windshield water test and there was nothing coming in this time. After dropping a few f-bombs and some other colorful words I noticed that the water in the trunk had a lot of sediment in it. It looked like it was coming from the rear, driver’s side wheel well. I took off the tire and blasted the hose all around the well and saw a small but steady stream of water going in the trunk. After some closer examination of the well, I found this plug that was not connected to the frame correctly. It’s the cord that connects the gas tank cover release switch in the front of the car to the gas tank cover. I put the hose right up to it and definitely found the problem.

I emptied over half a bottle of silicone sealant around the plug after putting it back in. Hopefully that’s it.

bee guz

Something like that will do it, I had an acura that let water in at one of the clips that held the bumper cover on, the rear wheel pushed water into the trunk under the mat.

porter ds

Well, that didn't work. It rained again today and there's still water getting in. I let the sealant dry for two days so there shouldn't have been a problem there. The water is definitely getting in from the wheel well somewhere though. I sprayed the hose again tonight and was getting the same result. Are there any recommended wheel well sprays or sealants I could use?

bee guz

Check around the clips the hold the bumper cover you still need to find the leak and seal it before you can use undercoating.

You should be able to follow the mud trail, if water is kicking up from the wheel well follow the mud dust or the wetness back to the leak point.

Go back to where you don't see any moisture and see where it starts, draw an imaginary circle around the spot and look at ever possibility, do not rule out water making weird angles it can be coming in from a plug hole or around a plug, the moisture in your case should point to it.

Check body seems in that area also one could have not been sealed when the car was new.

Sometimes they can be a bitch.

bee guz

I see from your pics you are not the first one to be looking for the leak or did you use the spray can undercoating, I use that after I find the leaks to seal over the area. Good Luck.

meetyoutoday

good luck for there.

porter ds

I did find another spot that was open; the gas cap housing was not sealed on the inside of the wheel well. There was a half inch gap all around the housing. I tried to get some pictures, but I couldn't squeeze my camera that far into the well. Anyway, I sealed around that and there's definitely not as much water getting in, but there was some after driving home yesterday.

I'm sure I'm not the only person that has looked for the leak based upon the existing spray.