PSA: Found a pool of water under spare tire in trunk

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by H1C

I guess this is just something I will have to keep an eye on from time to time, especially after a heavy rain.

There ya go!


Now, you can get on with your life - until the next big rain -


humfrz

[H1C]

Originally Posted by humfrz

There ya go!


Now, you can get on with your life - until the next big rain -


humfrz

Yup, the area under the spare is easy to drain. I won't get concerned unless I start finding water in other parts of the interior. I've had it lucky so far: my buddy with a 2nd gen MR2 has to dry out his entire interior after every rain storm -- the sunroof leaks that badly.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by H1C

Yup, the area under the spare is easy to drain. I won't get concerned unless I start finding water in other parts of the interior. I've had it lucky so far: my buddy with a 2nd gen MR2 has to dry out his entire interior after every rain storm -- the sunroof leaks that badly.

Yep, and half of the miatas out there have wet interiors because they don't clear their car's top drains ..


humfrz

[jacjac3]

I guess I'm not alone here. It started with both my toms taillights getting filled with water.
Took the trunk lining out and saw a pool of water accumulate on both sides of the trunk and some in the middle, under the spare tire.
Since both ends of the trunk had at least 3" of water with no sign of a drain, I decided to just drill a hole on the body to drain out the water.
For the spare tire area, I just unplugged the rubber plugs to drain it out.


If you decide to do this, don't forget to dry out the area where u drilled and paint over the bare metal around the hole to prevent rust.

[H1C]

Originally Posted by jacjac3

I guess I'm not alone here....

Sorry to hear that this happened to you. I'm still getting a little bit of water under the spare towards the trunk lid after really heavy rains, which we've had a lot of this fall.

I'm still at a loss as to how it's getting there, except for my condensation theory I posited earlier. It's so humid here that I drive with the front defogger on probably 70% of the time, and the rear can stay fogged/frosted even after 20 minutes of driving with the rear defroster on.

I guess I'll just keep checking on it every now and then, to make sure no big pools of water are accumulating.

[EndlessAzure]

Check your tail light gaskets

[jacjac3]

Originally Posted by EndlessAzure

Check your tail light gaskets

Went with ninja gaskets after the OEM failed, as well as the toms gasket. I'm sure this is where the problems started. But if the gaskets fail, I got a drain. Fuck u rain!

[H1C]

Originally Posted by EndlessAzure

Check your tail light gaskets

Thanks for the suggestion, but I already did, twice. I hosed the crap out of the taillights and all around the trunk, up into the shock towers, under the bumper....not a drop got in.

[chaoskaze]

or don't park the car outside. :p

[H1C]

Originally Posted by chaoskaze

or don't park the car outside. :p

I wish that were an option -- my FR-S sits outside all the time, at home and at work.

[JD001]

Originally Posted by humfrz

I reckon the trunk monkey got bored and pealed them off -


humfrz

And then to add to the mix, the monkey pissed in the trunk!

[H1C]

This is how much has accumulated in the spare's well after several weeks of pretty steady rain. There was nothing in the side areas. Dried it off and will keep an eye on it.

[H1C]

Originally Posted by EndlessAzure

Check your tail light gaskets

You got me wondering, so I decided to order a pair of new OEM gaskets and take the lights off to see what was going on behind them.


There seem to have been two revisions to the gasket part numbers: the ones I got are SU003-05121, SU003-05122.


The old gaskets had a bunch of crud along their top edge where water and debris had poured over it for the past 4+ years I've had the car. But they held up: I never had any condensation in the lamps, and I don't believe water was getting past them and into the car.


But, I think I found how water's been pooling under the spare. There are three clips in the vicinity of each tail light that attach the bumper to the body. When I had the lights out, I could see that only one of the three (circled in green) has a gasket on it. The other two clips don't. I think these naked clips are how water has been seeping into the spare wheel well.


Compared to the gaskets that came on the car, the new ones seem to be slightly thicker and made of a denser, more memory-foam-like material. My lights also seem to have been lightly tightened down at the factory -- I could basically un-do the nuts by hand. After tightening the lights with the new gaskets to spec (39 lb-in), there is now a visible gap between the lower edge of the light and bumper. I don't think that was there before, but I could be wrong. It's a little annoying, but only noticeable if you look real close and from beneath the tail light.