[FAQ] DIY How-To: 96-00 hatchback water leak fix

[Aquafina]

Ever wonder where that water in your 96-00 hatchback is coming from? Well look no more as it comes form your taillight gaskets. Over time your gaskets will go bad (why, I don't know). You have a few options....

1) Drill a hole in your car to drain the water
2) Buy new gaskets from Honda
3) Bail
4) Do this

What you need:

Craft foam, 2/side 2 from Wal-Mart are about $0.77
printer paper
8mm socket
scissors
pen or pencil
scotch tape
RTV sealant (optional)
Root Beer (optional)


STEP ONE_
Remove your taillight.
-Pull the squarish plastic off and remove the 4 8mm nuts. Be careful not to drop them as they are fun to fish out. PIC 1
-Press on the back of the taillight to push it off the car, hold it on the outside so it won't fall and scratch your paint.
-Remove the power clip and set aside.

STEP TWO_
Make the template.
-Remove the gasket from the taillight and set on printer paper.
-Trace gasket with pen or pencil.
-Cut out template and cut the holes out. PIC 2

STEP THREE_
Make the new gasket.
-Set the template on one sheet of foam.
-Put a piece of tape on your pants to catch fuzz and make it less sticky so it won't tear the template. PIC 3
-Tape the template to the foam sheet. PIC 4
-Cut around the template, don't forget the middle holes. PIC 5
-Cut small (mine were about 1cm square) holes for the bolts.
-Place the gasket on the taillight and trim to fit. You will want a 1/2" overlap around the outside.
- Repeat the following steps but cut out the middle of the gasket. Also continue the middle hole to the bolt holes.PIC 6
-Place gasket with holes on taillight first, then place the hollow gasket on it. Reuse template for other side, just flip it over.

STEP FOUR_
Reinstall the taillight.
-Reverse STEP ONE to reinstall the taillight. PIC 7
-Optional: Use RTV sealant to create a 1/4" bead around the gasket to help seal better. You will place the bead where the depression is on the old gasket. This is not needed for everyone as mine sealed without it. They only leaked a little bit after I hit the hatch gap with a pressure washer. Less than a dozen drops of water made it inside. PIC 8

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[untuned]

another common leak on 96-2000 hatch backs are from the vents under the taillights

[rukawa1one]

Nice Job! That craft foam is the best! I'm using it to under my wing to keep the water and elements out as well

[Aquafina]

Those vents are faced up. Unless you remove your mudflaps or submerge the rearend in water, they should be fine, no problems here.

[chepito]

I guess I haven't had that problem yet, but I will look into it. Thanks

[nauticapinoy]

I had that problem well stil do, I've just been to lazy to fix it. I heard all you have to do is go buy some new gaskets from honda and double it up on each side. If oyur to lazy to make your own.

[fivepointo]

nice

[Aquafina]

Using two sheets of foam it will be a little bit thicker than the OEM gasket. It's thicker to the point of the nut actually being harder to turn than it was before.

[BLUE EH3]

i will be doing this as soon as i get my 99-00 tails!

[BLUE EH3]

Originally Posted by BLUE EH3

i will be doing this as soon as i get my 99-00 tails!

9900 TAILS WILL b here thursday!

[pdiggitydogg]

your gasket looks like a fat turtle taking a crap

[Soccerking3000]

Originally Posted by pdiggitydogg

your gasket looks like a fat turtle taking a crap

lol i was just about to say that

[JDMisGOOD]

Nice write-up. The turtle comment made me giggle.

[devils_civic]

great write up. when i took out my tailights there was already like a cup of water in them! this fixed my tub of water in the trunk problem. thanks man. best hand full of change i could have spent. also sanding all the rust off by hand was fun too. haha

[purple98ek]

back from the dead......I will be doing this tomorrow

[HA0LEFIED]

Another spot where EK hatches leak from is the vents.. Take off your rear bumper and there will be vents..

SEAL AROUND THE VENTS.

[purple98ek]

i will check that out too........thx

[Aquafina]

These are still working leak free, just an update.

[alacard]

Originally Posted by Aquafina

These are still working leak free, just an update.

Yup, I followed your how-to, and it has seemed to work for me as well. You should put a warning on there though not to torque the bolts very much because um...well..you could break off the stud

not speaking from experience or anything like that..

[Aquafina]

They're tiny nuts so I figured that was a given.

[xzodiackillerx]

rootbeer is not optional.. I tried it without and still had leaks tried again with the rootbeer and no more leaks

[eastbobdam]

Did this two weekends ago and I believe it cleared it up. Actually ended up taking my mirrors off and putting some on the back. Did my side markers too when I did the install. I went foam Caraz-y!!!!!!!!!


Thanks.

[geneeunit]

sorry imbringing up an old post. but its a usefull post. and i just wanted to say it works wonderful. i used the 3mm foam sheets. i work at joanns fabrics and crafts and we carry 2mm 3mm and 6mm but the 3mm was closest to OEM. but thanks again for being a genius!! no more leaks!!!!!

[SuperSonikBluEK]

[uniseriate]

The previous owner of my car let this problem sit for too long. I jacked up the rear and water started to pour out of the chassis plug on the bottom of the spare tire well. The plug had apparently rusted through. I soaked up the rest of the water with paper towels and ordered new gaskets to prevent future leaks.

However, I'm not sure what to do about the plug on the bottom. I found that you can order new ones but am not sure about installation. Do these need to be bonded in with seam sealer? Is it safe to just knock out the remainder of the plug?