Moisture in trunk ?!?!?!?!

[ci5ic]

So my girlfriend told me that one of her tail-lights was burnt out in the 4g4d I bought her, so I went and got some replacement bulbs. I popped her trunk only to find that there is ALOT of moisture/condensation all over the inside of the trunk. There was a pile of books she had in there, and they are all moldy and shit now. Plus, when I went to change the bulb, the base of the bulb was rusted into the socket, and when I tried to pull it out, only the glass part of the bulb came out, and I can't get the base out of the socket. So, now, she can't even driver her car because the wires sticking out of the base of the bulb are bare, and will blow a fuse if we turn on the lights (or hit the brakes).

Has anyone else had this problem and/or know how to fix it? I thought I might put a bunch of rice in some bowls in the trunk to absorb all the extra moisture, but I don't think that'll stop water from accumulating in there. The trunk weather seal looks fine, and I can't find any reason for the water. Just hope I can solve the problem because I have an amp and subs mounted in her trunk, and I don't want it to get all fucked up.

Plus, I've noticed that her windows fog up REALLY bad, even when running the defroster and such. what the hell is going on?!!???!?!

[amy@af]

how the the gasket thing that goes in between the tails and the car? how is the rubber seal for the trunk lid?

[ci5ic]

Originally Posted by LadyNRedSi

how the the gasket thing that goes in between the tails and the car? how is the rubber seal for the trunk lid?

Like I said, the trunk seal looks pretty good. I'm pretty sure it's brand new since they re-built the back end of the car pretty much before I bought it. I haven't checked the tail-light seals... I'll do that though. Thanks Ami.

[GScivic7]

You won't have to worry about the subs and the amp. My trunk got tons of condensation too because it was never aligned right after the guy before that had it got rear ended. The only way I could ever fix it was to take a blow dryer to the carpet and dry everything, including the spare wheel well. Not only was the trunk misaligned, there was a crack in the gutter, but some black chalk fixed that right up. I then placed towels where the leaks were and changed them out about once a week.

[CZ-R]

Definitely check the tail light gaskets/seals/whatever the foam things are that go between the tail lights & the body. I had the same problem a few years ago when I had the clear tails. Any time it would rain I'd have an inch of water in my spare tire well.

What I did is: take out the tails, cut some thick plastic pieces (from a heavy duty garbage bag) big enough to cover the holes in the body (that the tail light wires plug into the lights through) - but make sure you make the plastic pieces big enough that they'll recess into the trunk area a little bit. Take some silicone (I used black RTV) & seal the plastic pieces over the holes. Once the silicone/rtv is dry, put the tail lights back in & cut a slit in the plastic for the wire harness to go through.

Voila, no more water in the trunk. It worked for me & hopefully this idea helps you as well

[ci5ic]

Originally Posted by CZ-R

Definitely check the tail light gaskets/seals/whatever the foam things are that go between the tail lights & the body. I had the same problem a few years ago when I had the clear tails. Any time it would rain I'd have an inch of water in my spare tire well.

What I did is: take out the tails, cut some thick plastic pieces (from a heavy duty garbage bag) big enough to cover the holes in the body (that the tail light wires plug into the lights through) - but make sure you make the plastic pieces big enough that they'll recess into the trunk area a little bit. Take some silicone (I used black RTV) & seal the plastic pieces over the holes. Once the silicone/rtv is dry, put the tail lights back in & cut a slit in the plastic for the wire harness to go through.

Voila, no more water in the trunk. It worked for me & hopefully this idea helps you as well

Well, I took a brief look at the tail-light seals, and they looked okay... I didn't actually pull the tails out though... There was a bunch of water in the spare-tire well, and of course it's all frozen and shit. Dried everything out as best I could and put some rice in a short long box to help absorb some moisture. I'll probably take the tails out tomorrow or something and check them out better because the trunk seal looks to be in perfect working order, and I can't find any cracks or anything...

[l2ice rocketz]

Well.. about her windows fogging up. I think there may be just a leak in the car somewhere.. I have a friend who has the eternally fogged up camry windows. He got new windows and everything, and it still fogs up. I believe someone told me once that its the coils stuck to the window, that it may not absorb heat well anymore. You should get those checked at an Autozone or something I guess.

[sastanley]

Ah....the wonderful "water in the trunk of the sedan trick"...One of those nice "undocumented features" of the 4G 4D.

There are two issues to deal with. CZ-Rs fix is good, but too elaborate for my simple ass...so here's what I did.

Issue 1 - The reflector piece likes to leak (due to water collecting in back-up light grey shield things inside the trunk..when you open it, shit leaks into the trunk or flows down the inside when it overflows.)
Fix: Remove reflector and re-seal back-up light area and all bolt-holes. These seals (shitty black foam) are available at www.hondaautomotiveparts.com also. I think when I rebuild the car, I am going to seal the factory fresh seals I already have with RTV/silicone and be good to go.

Issue 2 - The taillights leak water too...hence the rusted socket..this comes on as the water flows down along the trunk channel and into the light assembly.
One solution - seal the top of the assembly to the trim pieces under the trunk lid with RTV/solicone (the area that isn't visible when the trunk is down) so passing water flows over the assembly/seal and not inside. Solution 2: (or in addition to) is to drill new drain holes in the bottom of the taillight assembly to facilitate draining...my guess is the original drain holes get clogged or don't exist. I've noticed Lots of Honda/Acuras of this vintage have this problem.

The 86-89 Accord has the same tail/brake light pigtail (socket) assembly as the 4G4D. Although some of the Accords leaked too, I found the majority were dry and in good shape at the scrap yard...just cut the pigtails and leave some wire to splice onto your wires...The tabs and shit all line up in our light assemblies. I suspect that the 90-93 Integras also have the same taillight pigtails but I have NOT confirmed this.

I did this about 8 years ago and have had no issues since with the taillight portion...my trunk lid still leaks a little (not enough to have standing water in the spare tire well tho), but I am holding out on removing the reflector again until I have the car in the garage all apart and then install the new seals...the RTV/silicone on the trunk lid lasts about 18-24 months per seal before leaking again...so I've done it about 3 times in 8 years

[alexdog69]

If your windows fog up when they shouldn't, then the heater core is usually bad.