Well, like it sasys, my trunk is leaking, and pretty bad.. I did a search on the neon part of the forums, and couldnt find anything, so i hope i didn't miss any previous talks about this topic. I own a 1995 DOHC Neon, and where the spare tire goes in the trunk, if you take the cover off... It's soaking wet, and it seems like it's only after a rain too.. hmm. My car is painted NYG (NitroYellowGreen) and there are always these green chips of paint where the water is standing in the bottom of the trunk. last time this happened after a pretty good ice and melt, i took spare tire out, let it sit for a week, vacuumed out the green chips, and everything was fine. But now after the big storm we had earlier today and last night, it is standing in water yet again. I have no clue what to do, besides taking the spare tire out and let it dry up again. Thanks for any input..

 

I had the same problem with my Neon. It has only happened once. Aparently the trunk seals on these cars are not the best. I've been told that you should check all around the trunk to make sure that the seal is good. Someone also said that there are seals on the taillights that have gone which may cause problems. Hope this helps.

 

NOPE, trunk seals are not the culprit. Replace both your rear taillamps assemblies. The moisture leaks around the where the lens is molded to the housing and fills the trunk. Youre lucky, I usually get them when the trunk has filled and spilled into the passenger compartment and got the driver feet wet. 2 new taillamps and a wet/dry vaccum should fix it up.

 

u shouldnt have to replace the tailamps unless their is moisture inside the lens, alot of neons have or still have the same problem, the water drains behind the tailight into the trunk because the factory tailight seals aren't good, so put silicone on the tailight seal around its edges and if you do it right it should fix it .

 

Alright, thanks guys. I was planning on buying some altezza's or something at a later date, so an hour ago i put on some clear silicone around where the black edge of the taillight does NOT touch the metal part of the body. (on the interior more than the exterior) hope i made that clear, doesn't even make sense to me . but anyway I shall let that sit for a day or so, and then spray around the lights real good with water, or does someone have any other ideas on how to test if the silicone fixed it? Thanks.

 

Alright, we just got a huge storm the other day, so the next day i opened the trunk, and guess what i find... BONE DRY CARPET. YAY, no more wet trunk. All i did was silicone around the taillight assemblies, and it fixed it. I used clear silicone, but black might also work. Thanks for the ideas.

 

I'm so happy I finally found someone else with this problem - But mine get's worse - I took my car to the dealer b/c I smelled mildew - I kept checking for wetness but the trunk was dry so I didn't bother checking the spare tire wheel well. I had water sitting there for over a year and now the ENTIRE car, including anything I leave inside it STINKS. I have deep cleaned it, used professional washes, left the windows and doors open on sunny day and now it won't go away - i'm getting sick from it. HELP! I can't afford all new apholstery! I just use this car to commute to work. It's the dealers fault if they knew that leaking lights are a recurring problem but they won't take the blame.

 

febreze?

 

The rear light assemblies have stand-offs to prevent over compressing the gaskets. Problem is the gaskets shrink/flatten over time and you can't simply tighten the nuts to restore the seal because of the stand-offs. Silicone works well, but believe the light assemblies have to be removed in order to apply the caulk between the gaskets and body for a longer term fix - obviously not a concern if you're planning to replace them anyway.

It takes a while for the flow to get started, so it can shed lots of water before the leaks show up. I ran about a gallon over each light at 5 or 10 minute intervals; it started leaking somewhere after the 3rd gallon.

 

lonewulf: febreze did get rid of my horrible smell i had, that and this cleaner my mom had for our carpets. it got rid of dog smells REAL well, it's Oxiclean or something.

other than that, i siliconed onthe exterior, where the taillight assembly is supposed to touch the body, mine didnt. so i filled that hole in, and havent had any leaks yet. but ... Crunch: i have no idea how i would go about fixing your problem other than to prevent any more leakage by siliconing. JB emailed me the other day, said he replaced his gaskets AND siliconed, and fixed it. so choose between the two. and good luck.