Tire Blowout; Spare Tire Submerged

[GP1138]

Had my driver rear go flat on me on the highway today, and as I'm taking the spare out I notice it's almost floating in leaked water. How would I go about counteracting this? I know people have had this experience before.

[sl3196]

I think it leaks in the tail light area. You don't have a spoiler so that would be my only guess.

[94CutlassSLCoupe]

i could have sworn the spare tire well should have a drain hole...but i could be wrong.

 

You could just drill a small hole in the bottom of it and the water will just drain out

[AWeb80]

ya, then just fill it back in with silicone....if it fills up again, poke a hole in the silicone and then refill the hole....that can get kinda PITAish

 

so check the seal around the brake lights.....

[Prospeeder]

man, that sucks, check all the weather stripping too, for ripped, cracked, dry, or deformed rubber

[jeremy]

my cutty had started to do that just about the time I was going to sell it....I used a wet-vac to get all the water out...If I was going to keep it, I was going to create some kind of drain hole...

[1990lumina]

Go to the car wash with Carri and go in the trunk and have her spray water all over the trunk area....you with a flash light in the trunk look for leaks while she is doing this...

 

But seems like the taillight answer is the best

[GP1138]

Go to the car wash with Carri and go in the trunk and have her spray water all over the trunk area....

 

I love this board, I ask for ideas and get IDEAS!

 

I might try that. I bet it is the tail-light, I couldn't find all the little thingies to screw the tails back in completely. Thanks a lot!

[White93z34]

i just recently adjusted the latch mechanism on my trunklid to be higher up so when the trunk closes it creates a tighter seal around the weatherstrip.

 

also what i noticed is i was getting water in where the OE seam sealer cracked, so i sliiconed it up, 2 years later i'm still fighting a leaking trunk, but at least its slowed down to almost a crawl now.

[1990lumina]

also what i noticed is i was getting water in where the OE seam sealer cracked,

 

Mine is like that as well...half way down the "valley" around the weatherstripping there is a joint on my car...both are totally cracked and used to leak..but I glued it all up to shit so no more leaks

[mfewtrail]

My guess is one of the taillights. My passenger side light was leaking around the studs that hold it in(the old rubber washers on those studs were pretty much non-existentt after 10yrs). Also, check around the antenna mounting area, I've seen leaks there as well.

[Turbo231]

There should be a body plug on the bottom of the spare tire well...just straighten out one of the tabs and break the seal...that will drain the water out. FYI, just leave that tab straight and it should leak enough to never let water build up again. Of course, you monkeys want a picture...

 

 

This was covered about a year ago. And, the car featured in the above picture is for sale...cheap...in excellent condition...check out the for sale section!

[patgizz]

after the flood i drilled drain holes in the spare tire well, and i just left them(painted the bare metal edges of course)

[Guest Anonymous]

sounds like the tailights. When i got my car last year the passender taillight leaked heavily, now both do. Sometimes its damp in my trunk but I dont have any accumulationss as of yet.

[Givemebreak]

I Drilled a couple small holes at the lowest points...then Rubberized Undercoated the trunk.

 

It comes in from the Tail lights, Spoilers....hell I think the rear window too.

 

Not many Wbodies that don't leak

I had tried numerous things to stop it from leaking...never got it....one

of my reasons its gone now...can only have your stereo eq. get wet so many times...lol

 

[Prospeeder]

Im assuming mine used to leak, i bought it with leaves and water stains, it doesnt leak at all, so im good

[Psych0matt]

I just drilled a hole. I figure in mine it leaked more than some since that back window isnt exactly the best seal in the world (convertible) never had problems with rust, but it hasnt seen salt since, either

[1990lumina]

can only have your stereo eq. get wet so many times

 

My trunk lid builds up an EXTREME amount of frost on the under side of it, and this week it warmed up so that all melted off....my amp had water dripping from it as well :?

[z34_nut]

In the current Z, my trunk doesn't leak, in my last one...it leaked, but because it was almost rotted away, and I didn't give a shit.

[mcbfarm]

I have a 93 olds convertible, and I had a lake in the spare tire well. First defense is to drill some small holes -- say 1/4" '-- in the rubber plug at the bottom of the wheel well, so any future water escapes. The convertible when open rests in a sort of vinyl bag itself, and has a little drain tube that threads through the trunk and exits at a hole on the right side of the trunk floor, under the carpeting and liner. That was broken, and fixing it solved my problem If you don't have this, you have to do some diagnosis. Take the carpet and liner out, get a trusted friend, a water hose, and a flashlight. Climb into the trunk (remote door/trunk lock/unlock device helps here), making sure to give the keys to your friend. You take the flashlight, close yourself in, and your friend soaks all the edges of the trunk and rear windows while you look for where the water comes in. Fix whatever leaks. Once this is done you can use naval jelly on the rust in the wheel well, sand or steel wool, wash & dry, then spray paint with some rustoleum rusty metal primer. Just make sure your friend has no grudge against you -- wives and girlfriends are to be avoided holding a water hose much less having the option of keeping you locked in the trunk. I also did the naval jelly -- steel wool -- primer treatment on the spare tire rim. The jack was a loss, so I got another for about $6 at a Pick-n-Pull.

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

Wow old topic!

 

Last month we had a brand new G6 GPT sitting on the lot... guess a salesman was showing customer and discovered about 3inchs of ice in the back

 

We let the car sit inside overnight and shop-vacced the water out, and dried it all up. Then Leak-Pro came and fixed it. I guess it was something with the tail light or something.

[Psych0matt]

I still have the same hole, not plugged or anything, and it works just fine (although my trunk doesnt really leak anyways, as long as I have the drain thing for the top propped so the water actually drains, instead of leak into the trunk)

[slick]

Come kensington fest time, if you haven't drilled a hole in your spare tire well, I'll do it for ya.

[luminal67]

my car leaks, just not in large amounts. I figured it was either the weather stripping across the back or the seal around the key hole. I took the weather stripping and found that the metal lip where it mounts to was bent in towards the trunk, so i straightened it out. The trunk sounds like it seals better when you slam it down. Not really a bunch of water after that. But i may try to fix the key hole seal.

[1990lumina]

Mine is leak free...I siliconed absolutely everything I could find in the trunk...all the factory body sealant I resiliconed....and sealed the weather striping, and also redid these two joints in the body along this "valley" by the weatherstripping.....the paint had cracked and water leaking in.....siliconed it and 100% no leaks now. IMO draining a hole in the trunk isn't solving the problem, and that trunk liner can only get wet so many times before mold and mildew set in