'97 Civic Hatchback - Rain Leaks into Trunk

Hi:

I purchased a used '97 Honda Civic Hatchback 6 months ago and all was well
until we had about 2 weeks of rainy weather. Then, passengers in ther rear
seat noticed it "felt wet", especially when the car was braking. Further
investigation revealed that there was about 3 inches of water in the tire
well! When the brakes were applied, the water "sloshed" from the tire well
and ended up under the rear seat!!

I took it to the dealer and they replaced the seal on both rear tail light
assemblies. Is this a common problem with Civics, or was mine the "lucky"
one?

Thanks,
Ron

 

It is a common problem on at least early 1990s Civics. One tipoff for me was
water appearing in the taillight assemblies.

If you're handy, next time you can buy the gaskets for the taillight assemblies
and maybe replace them yourself.

I removed mine and put a bead of silicone on all mating surfaces. Been holding
fine for over a year now.

The silicone will be annoying to clean off, though, next time I need to re-seal
the assemblies.

 

Watch out for the trunk seal as well. I had to replace mine on my '88
Civic. It would leak whenever it rained AND when I parked the car on a
slight downhill slope. Water would accumulate up in the corners of the rain
channel (just below the rear window) and then leak under the seal. Parking
the car on a slight uphill slope instead would prevent the water from
accumulating and also prevent it from getting into the trunk.

Eric