Trunk leaks causing spare tire area to fill with rainwater

- If you have a sunroof, there is a drain tube that runs through the top and into the trunk behind the panels and drains out the bottom. It is small and can get clogged. - Where it exits bottom there is a flap (or something I don't recall exactly) that can get plugged. The flap (?) can be removed and the tube can exit the trunk directly. - You might have to put some air or water pressure on the tube -- or run something through the tube to clear it. - Then run water on the sunroof to flush out the tube. Not sure if there are one or two tubes.

I too had the same issue. I was able to repair it by having a brand new trunk gasket put on. The area that crimps onto the body must have lots of gasket cement put on. I mean lots more than the tech thinks ..It took the dealer 2 times on my STS ..but with alot of the cement no more leaks. It leaks over time because the crimps on the old gasket rust and no longer hold well to the body of the car.

Mine was leaking, too. Sealing gaskets did not seem to help. Gave up and pulled out the drainage plug in the center of the spare tire well. does not flood anymore and stays dry.

I had this exact problem, but it was on a Mazda RX-7. It was a simple matter of cleaning out the drain holes designed into the gap where the trunk door meets the car's body. It's work checking before go in for a new gasket.

just drill a hole under spare tire to let the water drain

My 2002 Sevillle SLS had the same problem. After a rain the spare tire well would be full of water. No mwet carpet though I just remove the plug in the bottom of the spare tire well to solve the problem.

all of those cars have that problem,after doing a lot of things on mine finally found out that is coming in from tail lights so i sprayed the inside with anti rust tar.problem solved

I have the same problem with my 2003 Hyundai Sonata. Dealer said it was the tail light gaskets causing the leak. Hyundai wont replace so I just haven't fixed yet. Have been trying to find the part but not having luck!

The seal at the tail lights and the license plate light leaks and water will find its way in. When you have to replace the tail light bulbs there are white spacers that acts as a sealer as well. They must be raplaced when you take the tail lights out, otherwise it will leak. There is a very narrow sealant at the rear license plate light that can get miss aligned when you replace the tail ights. It took me 4 tries with running the car through the carwash to figure this out. Not easy, but it can be done. I purchased a couple of rubber pieces at the plumbing section of a hardware store, cut them up into small squares to match the size of the white spacer sealer, punched a hole in the center with a phillips screwdriver and placed it between the old white sealer and the body and tightend the tail light to the body. also used house door sealer trim and glued it to the license plate light trim after I removed the old one. you can use a 1/8" round door sealer, cut it to length and sylicone it in place or glue it in place before re-installing them. pay attention to the corners or cut them at the corners and use silycone sealant to complete the corner seal. it is tricky to get the license plate light out, because they are located in the trunk lid and you have to remove the entire carpet cover from the trunk lid to get at it. These are the most drastic fix I had to go through myself, you can try part of what I had to do to figure out your fix.

I had the same issue. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from either. About a year later and a lovely rust problem that developed I finally figured it out. I figured out that the original problem began with the rubber sealer around the rear window. After time those sealers tent to wear out. When this happens, the water that runs through lands in the grooves where the trunk and rear side panels meet. This is where the water was building up and eventually overflowing into my trunk and down into the spare tire compartment. Once I figured this out, the rust already developed at the trunk lid grooves and it had created a rust hole. This then allowed the water to fall directly into my trunk without any build up. If you notice areas of concer in the same areas and not just the trunk, I would highly reccomend checking the rear window frame rubber sealer. It probably need replaced.