So it poured today. I went out during my lunch to move the car, and I needed to grab an item in the trunk. I opened it up, and the rain droplets on the trunk lid rolled down to the trough around the front of the trunk opening, and race down the sides of the trunk to above the tail lamps, where the water drops on the that black trunk sill plate. In the corners, water seems to be seeping into the inside of the car and running down under the carpet.

Is this a common leak point? Should I take the tail lamps and sill plate out to seal things up? What would I even use to seal it?

It seems like water loves to sit here as you can see from the surface rust there. I'll have to clean it up, prime and paint it once I get the leak fixed.





Thanks,
Nick

 

Nice pics. Take off those plastic sill plate covers, you may not like what you see.
That all needs to be ground down to bare metal, before you clean, prime and paint.

And before that you need to find how it's getting there. Pull out the backing from that tail light and look for anything wet. There is a small rubber seal around the taillight (exterior) check that.

The leak is back there somewhere, the rust, which we tend to focus on, is the resting place for the water. Where and how its getting there is the mission.

I can tell you love your car, which means you'll find it.

After you pull the plate that holds the bulbs in place, pour water on the tail light, then look inside. You said it poured, so you may need a ton of water.

Keep us posted

 

Thanks, will do!

I had the tail lamps out a couple months ago to clean the built-up dirt and grime from the crevice between the body and the lamps. (I also drilled a couple drain holes on the bottom edge of the lamp assemblies to provide an exit for the water that was sloshing around inside) Everything was nice and clean there, no rust around the area where the lamps sit. I also took the plate off where the license plate lamps sit to replace the chrome stripping that was peeling off it. I cleaned everything up there too. Nothing stood out at me then. I originally thought the musty smell in the trunk was due to the dry-rotted antenna grommet. I guess water was getting in there, and around the still plate too. There's no rust or damage on the trunk floor, just some wet fabric from the jute backing on the carpet stuck to the paint on the floor.

I'll have a go at it, and share my findings.

Thanks,
Nick

 

awhile back,i was undertaking the small job of changing out the u joints on one of the halfshafts on mu 1991 sovvy,when it started to rain heavy.no biggie,im under the car mostly right?wrong.water started to shower me from the little triangular slots in the bottom of the trunk pan!wtf?so i opened the trunk and water was gushing in from the rear window area and pooling in the trunk.hmmmmm,could not find anything with the naked eye...hah? it was coming in from the lower corner of the window,under the rear window seal where the little hocky stick chrome trtim lives.i lifted the trim a little with a screwdriver and there was a hole rusted right thru the metal!this repair is gonna hurt!very soon its gonna be tank out,seats out,parcel shelf out,and try to get at the problem from the inside!so check this area carefully when searching for your leak!and good luck!

 

Wow, that's definitely what you don't want to find when investigating. I'll give it a close inspection, but hopefully it's only coming in from around the tail lamps. You've got me worried now! lol

Nick

 

Mine has rotted the corners of the floor out - I thought that the water was getting in that way, but I have since found that it's been coming in in the tail-light area, running along in a channel below the boot catch, and rusting everything in it's path. I have a new boot floor, but will also need to replace a fair bit of metal along between the lights. Still haven't bought the welder, though!
Best of luck with yours!

 

I know it's been a long while since I first mentioned the water leak, but after a day of fair weather, I decided to wash the car and vacuum it. I decided to do a little digging and took pictures.

So this is what I found after taking the two side covers, and the bottom sill plate off. I was expecting worse, but I'm glad I checked it sooner than later.




After a quick cleaning up, the middle and left side appears to be perfect.




The right side is where there are issues. The rust on the vertical surface seems to just be surface rust. It appears it can be sanded, sealed with some rust inhibitor, and painted. The horizontal surfaces and the seam where they meet are where there's rust that's a little bit more severe. It's still nothing major though.




A close up:




A view of the right side from the inside of the trunk.




A view of the left side from the inside of the trunk. Perfect!




Now I'm not sure if this is the absolute cause, but take a look at what I found...

This is the left side tail lamp finisher piece, which is in perfect shape:




And here's the right side finisher trim piece. See that crack on the bottom? Perhaps the water was getting under the sill plate through that crack? Seems very possible...



That'll definitely be on my shopping list!

Now I've just go to figure out how to deal with the rust...

Nick