Water in my trunk and on my floor!!

[The1Luna]

I have a 2004 Mazda 3, it has less than 50k miles on it and it seems its probably had the problem since I bought it a few months ago.

My carpet is totally soaked, last time it was really bad I pulled it all out to let it dry and figured I had just driven through too deep of a puddle (it had been raining really badly around that time). But now I just don't understand where the water is coming in.

Its accumulating in the spare tire well and splashing all over the back seats / carpet when I brake...

If I wouldn't get totally wrecked on a trade in this car would be gone...

 

[skylar2ups]

Did you buy it new?

 

[07nhbpsi]

I have a 2004 Mazda 3, it has less than 50k miles on it and it seems its probably had the problem since I bought it a few months ago.

My carpet is totally soaked, last time it was really bad I pulled it all out to let it dry and figured I had just driven through too deep of a puddle (it had been raining really badly around that time). But now I just don't understand where the water is coming in.

Its accumulating in the spare tire well and splashing all over the back seats / carpet when I brake...

If I wouldn't get totally wrecked on a trade in this car would be gone...

If it's under warranty take it in.........otherwise you may want to go to a glass shop, you probably need the rear window resealed not that big of a deal....really(cheers)

 

[skylar2ups]

I don't think the glass would cause water to collect in the trunk. If you open the truck you can see that water is meant to go around it, you can see it's dirty from ran and what not... it sounds like there is a problem with that.

 

[flash75]

There is a seal on the trunk lid to keep water out. Check the seal condition and make sure it is contacting the trunk edges. I haven't looked in my Mazda 3 spare tire well, but most cars have a removable plug for ease of draining. Look closely at your car for some evidence of shoddy accident repair work. You shouldn't have leaks from running through puddles on the road. If you don't see anything obvious, clean and dry everything and use a hose to run water in different places to try finding the source of the leak. Sometimes, it's best checked from inside the trunk, if you try that be certain the trunk is easy to open and make sure your outside friend is a good friend, you don't want to get trapped, or rig up an inside the trunk release.

Clifton

 

[tsunami]

hatch or sedan is probably the first question to ask... but i agree with flash here check the plugs in your spare tire well as well as the window (hatch) and trunk (both) seals.

 

[The1Luna]

I didn't buy it new, I bought it from a carmax a couple months ago with about 30k miles on it. The car seemed like it was in immaculate condition. It is a sedan.

I gutted the whole interior out of the car on thursday to let the carpet dry out and try to track the leak down. I sprayed water all over the place and think I tracked it down, I'll be waiting a few more days before I put the interior back in though. Take it through a few car washes and stuff...

There is a small plastic screw mount behind each taillight that pops into the body and has a foam rubber gasket. The bumper is screwed into this mount behind the taillights.

The gasket on the passengers side mount was totally destroyed. Its certainly not a huge leak, but it seems that pretty much all the water that comes off the back of the car and rear window is routed directly over this bolt/mount that was leaking.

I pulled it out and siliconed the s*** out of it and I think it will be fine now. But we will see!!

 

[tsunami]

wow thats strange.... good luck

 

[ghettoracingkid]

do you have anything like a sat radio antenna or anything going up threw the car and out?

you could jsut have something holding the weather stripping open.

i had that problem becuase of my xm antenna wire on my protege5.

when i used the radio i jsut popped the plug out the bottom of the spare tire well and it let what ever water came in during heavy rain right out of the car.

i have sicne then gotten rid of the XM since i got hte ipod hooked up now.

 

[The1Luna]

Ok, before putting the interior back in I took it through a car wash to make sure I got the leaks plugged up, but I definetely missed something else...

Water was still getting in... I could see it was coming in on the right side of the trunk at the very back but I couldn't see where... I pulled the weather stripping off and gently peeled the bumper back a little and saw my problem clear as day...

There are two plastic clips on either side of the rear bumper that hold it on (along with all the screws and snap clips) The part the clip snaps into that is on the car on the passengers side was completely missing!! There was essentially a 1x1 hole in my trunk behind the bumper!!

Its a plastic clip with a gasket that is missing completely.... So I took the bumper off (surprisingly VERY easy). There was no way I could get the part from a dealer at 5pm on a Sunday so I improvised.

I put a s*** ton of silicone on the bumper side clip and around the hole where the other side of the clip should have been and put it all back together. It seals up just fine now!

While I had the bumper off though I noticed something... the actual metal bumper welded to the unibody was all bent up... this car had been in an accident before I bought it. SUCK! Whoever fixed the rear bumper did a really really bad job.