How to: Fix your trunk leak!

[TheMAN]

My car has been normally parked in a garage/shelted parking for years... with my new jobs the car has to be parked outside... I never really knew there was a small leak in my trunk until the past 6 months when I checked it on the suggestion of the local folks... so my trunk does have a small leak where the jack is... the jack has a little bit of rust now but is still usable　:(

anyway, according to M-Tip 3245 (http://www.protegefaq.net/tsb/mt000003245.html), trunk leaks on the 3rd gens usually are the result of the body seams being cracked due to a minor collision, not the weather strip itself.... my car had a love tap a couple of years ago and so I decided to get off my ass and pull the tail light out and check because the rainy season is here..... :eek:

[TheMAN]

as you can see, the seam sealant had cracked resulting in water leakage...
first I sprayed the area with adhesive cleaner to remove whatever oil and dirt there was

and very quickly I was able to see that the cleaner went into the trunk... it's hard to see in this pic but it was wet when I took it!

[TheMAN]

next I applied body seam sealer around the affected areas and smoothed it out with a putty knife... yes, I half assed it because you won't be able to see it once you put the tail light back on

[TheMAN]

finally, after letting it dry for about an hour (it takes 6 hours to cure), I applied liberal amounts of touch up paint over the sealer to prevent erosion

I'll see in the next few days when it rains again if this really fixed it, I'm pretty sure it's fixed

[TheMAN]

this is where seam sealant exists in the rear end of the car... check those areas and fix as needed

[xtrememps]

Awesome write up man. I need to get off my ass and do this. After the heavy rain last month I had a decent amount of water inside on both sides.

[jeg0024]

Nice work, and thanks for the write-up! Im so glad I have a garage:)

[TheMAN]

yeah my jack would be totally rusted if my car wasn't parked in a garage.... I'm glad I have a garage too :)

[xtrememps]

I really wish I had a garage. My car has gotten so much wear and tear from just sitting outside all the time. Oh well.

[mark_nb]

Here I was thinking I was the only one with this problem. Thanks for the write up, I'll have to tackle this one in the coming weeks.

[CulRidr]

Awesome write-up! Both of my sides are constantly filled with water, but somehow it hasn't started rusting yet (must be some good rustproofing from the previous owner). Many threads have mentioned it has something to do with the vents to the trunk, so I will try this and see if it works.
2 question though;
1: in that picture from post #5, are the bold black lines where the seam sealant is?
2. I assume once you take the tail lights out that the stripping used for them will need replacing? what do I use to replace it?

this is where seam sealant exists in the rear end of the car... check those areas and fix as needed

[99 ProLX]

huh, thought I was the only one

[batbl18]

When I was cleaning out my trunk on my Protege and vacuuming, I noticed that there was some water on the drivers side indent of the trunk. I vacuumed the water out, and after a car wash it was fine. After a couple of rain storms I noticed a bit of moisture had occurred in the spot again. It was only a quarter or half inch or so of water in that one spot shown in picture 2. Just wondering if any of you have had this occur, or know of where the water could be coming from. Thanks!

Here is a picture of the general area on the Protege where the moisture is.
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/6779/picture024nb6.th.jpg (http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture024nb6.jpg)

Here is a closer view of the area which is wet.
http://img400.imageshack.us/img400/5601/picture028yl5.th.jpg (http://img400.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture028yl5.jpg)

[jeg0024]

did you even read this thread?

[toronto]

this is a big problem with my car, but only in the drivers side, i went under there once and saw a small lake in there, so i emptied it and thoroughly sprayed rust killer it still fulls up a bit sometimes after a wash or if i drive in rain so i keep a cloth in there and check it every once and a while.

[SpeedAdiction20]

subin, i even took my car to the dealership about this to hopefully get it fixed under warranty, but it was denyed so i just payed for it.. ($105) just to get the light gasket replaced.. and i checked it the other day, and theres a big puddle of water in there.. so that was a waste of money it seems, but i guess ill have to look around some more and actually figure the problem out