Leaking LXi (Trunk and Rear Seat)

Alright so my parents bought my LXi new in 1989, and as long as I can remember, the car has always smelled of mildew in the winter time. Since I recieved it in 2003, I have come to expect the smell and fogging windows during raining.

So yesterday I decided to look for a leak, I felt around, and found the passenger's side floor in the back was soaked. I then looked in the trunk, near the spare tire and found that my spare tire was sitting in about 5" of water. I was in my spare tire a week earlier due to a flat, and it was bone dry! I cleaned the drain in the spare tire compartment, and was baffled as to why the carpet in the trunk has always been DRY! I looked around on the forums and figured out my trunk problem was my tail lights, called honda and their parts department is CLOSED on weekends?!

MY QUESTION IS: Why is the floor in front of the rear seat wet?! I gutted the back of my car, the rear seat is out, carpet is pulled back, plastic in trunk is out, and i ran a sprinkler under my car, moved it around looking for water to show up in my car... IT DID, but only in one place, where the hook for the bottom of the back seat clips in the front, sure enough you can see straight through to the ground, however the drivers side is the same way and is not wet.

Does anyone have a solution to this? I was going to have my dad rig up some sort of flashing for under the car, if we can find the factory holes underneath, If this is my leak, it must have been going on since day 1, nothing is rusted, so I can only assume that it is just a horrible design!

Any Thoughts or other places to look?

Thanks!

sure its not your sun roof drain. if you got a sun roof?

I just cleaned my drains, and ran water through them just to be sure, I am 100% positive it is NOT coming from the sunroof drains, I forgot to add that.

I had this problem in my 3g. Water would show up in the spots you explained, but I found it was a leaky moonroof gasket. All I can suggest is you check all of your gaskets... sunroof, doors, trunk... and make sure they are in good condition. Clean your trunk gasket of debris, as it is common for it to collect there. You might clean all of your gaskets with soap and water to ensure they are sealing.

When your car is parked normally, is it on an incline? Which end is usually lower? The nose or the rear?

That's really strange, because I've had the same problem... infact I removed my backseats because of the mildew growing on em. The wooden piece in the trunkspace had also been eaten through, and collapsed in. I'm about 85% sure it's coming from my right taillight, which I got from an '88 when mine was smashed from a guy I raced. I park at an incline, nose up. What would the degree of the car be involved with?

Well I park in the garage, so when it is leaking, I'm not exactly sure where I am parked, I would say I usually park nose uphill though, and I am 100% sure my sunroof drains are clear, and my trunk seals are great, I am going to replace the tail light gaskets and use some "Peel&Seal" Duct sealing tape on the bottom of the vehicle to seal up the factory holes which allow water to shoot up through the seat hook holes, and we'll see if that fixes it.

I ran water all over the rear of the car with a hose, and the trunk seal doesn't leak a drip, only those darn tail lights! my dad said that he thinks he already replaced them once... Honda's parts department is closed on the weekend though... so we have to wait on that one...

Remove the rear window trim and look at the area under the trim, I found some corrosion that had rusted through.

The roof channel drains at the rear of the car has some covers, remove and inspect for corrosion.

Remove the trunk seal also under the seal I revealed corrosion.

Interior, relube the the door trim seals with heavy duty silicone (saturate) They have to be replaced if you continue experiencing leaks.

I also have an 89 Lxi that was bought new by my parents and then given to me in '03. Small world. My trunk leaks on the left and right sides closest to the rear. No moonroof. I have always thought it comes from water collecting on the top of the rear trunk channel and since it is flat, the water just pools up. I hadn't thought that it might be coming from below. It does seem to be worse if the car is parked on a decline (nose down). A few years ago I bought some weather stripping for boats and I put that on top of the existing seal around the top of the trunk. It seemed to help but now that has come off or been packed down in most places.

common for most models to have rear leaks. At this point due to age most likely seals are shot and/or there is a rot issue. As you found , the taillight gaskets always seem to be the go to for leaks. As far as the hatchbacks go, i know the seals are discontinued, not sure about coupe and sedans but i think they would have the same fate. In that instance i've had success ordering some closed cell foam from mcmastercarr and cut up the sheet or the hack way and silicone the living crap outta it. I would also suggest cleaning the drain plug where the spare tire sits so its not a fishbowl. if this did not resolve the issue completely you may have to look elsewhere. Early stages of wheel well rot can cause water to get thrown up into the rear area. also look around the interior areas where the rear moldings and window seals are.