water leak in storage bin?!

[122838B]

I opened the storage bin behind the driver seat on my 1990 Reatta and it was half full of water and apparently had been for some time, since the only item in it, an umbrella, was rusted. The lid of the bin was dry and there was no water leakage in the bin behind the passenger seat. There have been several heavy rains this spring, but no sign of water leaking into the interior of the car, which has a sunroof. Has anybody run into this problem and any idea of the cause?

[Barney Eaton]

You probably have a leak at the back window. The shelf behind the rear seat is molded plastic, covered with carpet, the storage bins are the low point.

Water is probably leaking at the window, down the rear plastic panels (either on the inside or trunk side and then on to the rear shelf.

Since you don't check it ....the water is probably running under the carpet to the low spot in the bins. It will take a little investigation but I'm sure you can find the trouble spot.

[tstemmer]

Had the same problem in my 90 over a year ago. My mechanic worked on the underside because it seemed most likely that water was coming in from the bottom when it rained - the carpet was wet - no standing water. It stayed dry until this spring when I found wet carpet again. Left the windows open on a sunny day with the lid up and it dried nicely.

Barney's suggestion makes sense, especially with standing water. A water leak - on a roof or in a car - is a funny thing. It can run and show up where you don't expect it. Hope this helps. I'll be watching to see how your problem is solved.

[trubrit]

My 88 has a sun roof that a previous owner tried to seal up. I had water in the same bin you describe, and on the floor. I re-sealed the sun roof, (looks tacky) but.... no more water....

[jimustanguitar]

check the rear window leak idea. It happened to mine the week after having a new piece of glass installed, and couldn't figure out where the water was coming from until I drove through a car wash and was drenched by a bad install job on the rear glass. I could have done a better job and have done many front and rear windshields, but at the cost of the glass, I opted to have them 'professionally installed'. Lucky for me, the window needs to be re-set so I'm gonna have the shop pull it out and hold on to it for a week while I paint the car, and then re-install it for free wiht my original receipt.