I got water in my trunk

Ames63 · July 3rd, 2009

lately I have been battling a musky dank smell in my truck. I have a bad wet spot behind my passengers seat that I vaccuum dry and covered with baking soda for a few days. I put my nose it the carpet today and there was an ever so slight smell now. But the car still had a heavy smell. Every other area in the cars cabin was dry, so i went into the trunk and started pulling things out. As it turns out I had 2 inches of water in the spare tire well. After removing this water I noticed there were no drainage holes. Is this the case or did I over look something. BTW my car is an 89 coupe.

It appears the water came in via the antenna.

nic walker · July 3rd, 2009

Water will come in from the bottom of the antenna. On both my 90 coupe and the 90 roadster the factory seemed to forget to put a drain hose on the antenna (there is an water exit - drain hole on the side of the antenna). I got one drain hose from Jim Finn and was speaking to the fellow who generally has the 75.00 Reatta antennas for sale on ebay and he sent me another. May be that the factory left a lot of them out or off. I put the correct hose on and added some more hose to it, drilled and exit hole in the side of the spare tire well, added a groumet and fitted the hose through it....sugest that everyone take a look see and do the same if they are without......

Water can also be coming in through other areas as well

Nic

Richard D · July 3rd, 2009

When I installed my new power antenna I looked for a drain hole in the car from the original, could not find one. So I put a quart bottle back there and ran the drain hose into it and last week we had almost 10" of rain and not a drop in the bottle. I guess some antennas leak and some don't. I used a Hirshmann replacement.

nic walker · July 3rd, 2009

I am not sure, however the answer to the lack of rain in the bottle may be whether the antenna was up or down during the period when it was raining.......

Greg Ross · July 4th, 2009

I find it hard to believe you'd collect 2" of water in the spaire tire well just from leakage via the antenna, that's gallons of water! Imagine the few droplets of water that would be on the surface of the mast when it was retracting and once it's down theres' very little opening between the mast tip and the bezel. And while it's in the up position the telescoping sections pretty well self seal. My car lived outdoors in South Louisiana for several Summers and I never had water leakage issues there. And they really get rain.
Any corrosion in your wheel wells? I think I'd be inclined to completey gut the trunk, remove everything. Now get out the garden hose, start at the top and work your way down. After dousing the rear windows pop the trunk open and look for water ingress. Next, the trunk lid itself in case the seal is leaking by or there's some means of leakage behind the Taillamp assembly where most of that drainage water is going to pass through. Next the wheel wells.

Ames63 · July 5th, 2009

I just read everyone's reply and it sounds like long story short, I need to add a drainage hole. Also my antenna remains in the up position. I had not thought it was important yet to change it out for a working one. But I feel my opinion is changing as I don't want water in my trunk or the smell.

Greg I may have a leak somewhere other than the antenna although it is not evident, but I can assure you I had better a couple of gallons of water.

daveagain909 · July 5th, 2009

my coupe was leaking right in the center of the trunk and the water was getting into the spare tire hole. not a lot but enough to cause slight rusting which i sprayd and has been ok, I found the leak to be in the trunk gasket where the two ends come together just under the center brake light in the window. mine gasket had been replaced at one time I believe and was not glued together at that point. to find this leak I ran a hose over the trunk area and opened the trunk and found it dripping right at that point where it was suppose to be glued together, glued it together with black RTV and no leak since, I put in glue and then taped the two ends stogether and let it set open over nite then rimoving the tape. all is good now and no leaks, JUST A THOUGHT.

Barney Eaton · July 7th, 2009

You do not need a drain, you need to find the leak. Here are the major sources.......

* Taillamp.... there are 8+ studs that hold the lamp to the body and they should have a seal
water can easily blow into the crack, run down the back of the lamp and get into the trunk
if there are no seals on those studs. I think they were round spongy gaskets, but in a
pinch you can use putty.

* Not common ...but a rusted rear window frame area will allow water into the turnk.

* the antenna is seldom a problem. GM used a drain on early cars but you seldom find one
on late cars

* It may sound stupid, but check for leaves and other junk around the trunk lip that would
cause water to dam up and leak over the trunk seal.

Ames63 · July 7th, 2009

Hey barney I did have a lot of debris around the trunk lip, but guess I never would have suspected it as the culprit. No more parking under the shade trees !!

It rained the other night and rain got in again. I could physically see the water trail from the antenna mast. For as much as it poured the other night I only had about 1/4 of a cup of water in the trunk.

Think I will hold of in popping a hole in my trunk and concentrate on replacing my antenna and making sure the channels around the trunk stay clear.

mgibson · July 7th, 2009

I had the same leak as Dave (above). The trunk seal ends did not quite meet on my 91 coupe and water would drip into the center of the trunk. I sealed the ends together with butyl rubber and no more leaks.