brians356

After two days of heavy rain I found about a half gallon of water accumulated in the spare tire well of my '92 Civic VX. The water seems to be entering on the driver's side of the hatchback, the floor under the mat is wet in the left-rear corner, and the water runs from there down into the well. But all the rubber seals on the hatch and the tailgate look ok, and I can't see yet how the water is entering. The water should run off the roof's drip channel on that side, and down the channel adjacent the left end of the tailgate and out.

Anyone know of a particular likely path of entry for water in a rear corner of the hatchback?

My next task is to wait for dry weather, make sure everything's dry inside that area, then have someone pour water out of a hose on the car while it sit inside observing things. But first I thought I'd ask here, as this might be a fairly common and known problem, or design flaw.

Any clues appreciated!

brians356

PS
In the thread "Common Problems, Recalls and Service Bulletins for '92-'00 Civics and del Sols" I found this under " '96-'00 Civic Issues":

BODY
Hatches experience leaks into the hatch.
Replace taillight gaskets.
(NO TSB.)

Not the correct YOM range, but this makes some sense because of the stealth nature of the leak. The left-rear corner had been repaired before I bought the car, and it's possible the taillight gasket was not properly installed, or is now ill-fitting.

Other ideas still welcome.