Water leak in my trunk

I have a 2002 Sonata and I developed a water leak in my trunk. Being the original owner I know the car was never in serious accident, just some minor repair to the front bumper. The way I suspect the water is getting in, I believe is from the floor up. The trunk rug is damp to the touch from the top, yet when your lift the removable floor rug it is almost soaked underneath. Also the inner lining of the trunk lid and side walls of the trunk are dry. At first I thought water was coming from the drain plug in the wheel well…so I sealed the plug with silicone, but I’m still getting dampness under the rug. Does anyone have any experience with this…please advise.

there are drain plugs in the bottom of the spare tire well, also check to make sure your trunk weatherstripping or rear window weatherstripping is still good, or its torn, ripped or dry rotted...

Is there more than one drain pug in the in the spare tire well? As I mentioned above I did seal one, however I described it as a wheel well, but it was actually the spare tire well. Also, there is some kind of venting going on behind the rear tail lights inside the trunk? The tail lights seem to be enclosed with a breather type gray foam? Could water be getting in from there? Thanks for your reply.

Did you ever get this fixed? I have the same problem with my 2004 Hyundai Sonata. Any help would be awesome.

denni at peahproductions dot com

Hey all,

I had the same problem with my 2002 Elantra. The trunk would be dry, yet the bottom was full of water. I finally found out where it was coming from.....there are two small posts that hold the Hyundai "H" on the trunk lid, thats where it was coming from on mine. It was running down the inside of the trunk lid and directly into the bottom of the trunk. Once I sealed the two posts....no more water problems. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the help. I will try that. If anyone else has some ideas please post them!

Hey guys it’s been a while, but let me tell what I’ve done since then that seemed to help…but not completely. F Y I - the trunk floor deck in these Hyundai’s are loaded with manufactured punch holes in the sheet metal, (I’d say eight or so), which are covered up from the manufacture with a circular black sticker. These holes are about the size of a nickel. If you lift up the rug and inspect the sheet metal carefully, you can peel them away with your fingernail. Now, this is not in the wheel well area, where the rubber removable plug is…but rather on the flat floor deck under the rug. As these stickers, or taped over holes become exposed to the weather over time, they lose their water tightness. Why there put there I have no idea…but since then I’ve attempted to plug them. In doing so I’ve significantly reduced the amount of water that used to collect under the rug, to a very light dampness. It would interesting to know if your vehicles have these same punch holes.

I do not know if i have those punch holes. I will have to check that out. So far for solutions I have:

1. Seal the two holes that hold the "H" to the trunk door.
2. Look for and seal the nickel sized punch holes in the trunk floor.

Yeah, see if your Sonata has the two stems that hold it in place. I had a friend hold a stream of water on the "H" while I folded the rear seat down and held a flashlight on the area where the 2 tabs protrude....water was coming in like crazy. It was funny beacuse I took it back to the dealer....they said they couldnt figure out why it was leaking!

There is a TSB regarding this issue. # 05-80-002. It's the gasket on the backside of the taillight housing not being positioned correctly or not sealing properly. Hyundai's fix as long as the gasket isn't torn is to apply a thin bead of weatherstrip sealant on both sides of the gasket. Might want to look into that as well. I have only seen it on a couple cars in teh 5 years I've been here. Never seen it with any of the plugs in the floor.

I got it fixed. It is exactly what lowsonoma said. Here is the quote from the invoice:

"A cust states there is water leaking into the trunk, please advise.

Checked and found leak at tail lamp gaskets. Replaced both taillamp gaskets. Rechecked-OK."

Also, I have the 10 year 100,000 mile warrantee. It was covered. I paid zero. Thanks for the replies everyone!

I have a 2004 Sonata and am starting to have the same problem, a water leak around the passenger side tailight and wet carpet in the trunk. I have 102,000 miles on the car, so I called Hyundai Customer Support to see if they would fix it. I mentioned the TSB on this issue, and when they ran my VIN their response was "The TSB only covers cars built on certain days, but your car was built on 9/5/03, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with it." What a crock of poo! They used the same gaskets, workers, tools, and procedures on 9/5/03 as they did all the other days, and I'm having the exact same problem - DUH!

So I called my local Hyundai service guy and he said that they've seen this problem and they don't replace the gaskets, they just remove the taillight housing and put silicone sealant on the inside and outside edges to seal it. So I guess that's what I'll be doing this weekend.

I recently had water in my trunk also. I have a 2005 Sonata. Same thing, water was leaking behind both tail lights and they said it had to be re-sealed. Unfortunately, I have not been as lucky as you. I am still fighting the battle to get my money back as my dealership insist it was an adjustment. Hyundai headquarters has not been helpful either. Unreal.

My left tail light assy lost 2 of 4 ( i think) bolts, cracked off the plastic. I gorilla glued the bolts back and it solved my prob.

this links to the tsb with instructions including pictures on how to deal with the problem. http://www.myhyundaiforums.com/TSB/xml/05-80-002.swf

this worked for me. There are other areas water can leak thru the trunk, replace the black stickers with some silicone caulk. Caulk the drain plugs and push them back into place. There is a clip that holds the wiring for the tail light assembly that water can leak thru also, caulk around the base of that. Trunk is now dry.

Check if your drain tubes were clogged. Sometimes you'll see insects, dried leaves, pollens or anything that blocks and forces the water to go somewhere else like on the rug. Used to have this problem in my Sonata 06 with a considerable amount of standing water on my spare tire compartment. My mat was always damp then.