# Water leak...water in trunk.



## mcoomer (Jun 12, 2003)

I just finished cleaning out the sunroof drain at the doors but while I was vacuuming the inside of the car I noticed that the back seat was damp. I look in the trunk and there's probably an inch of water in the spare wheel well. It looks like the water is coming in from the drivers side somwhere in the trunk so I pulled out the drivers side trunk liner and rear seat on that side. 
What I found is a small pool of water under the CD player mount. In the middle of the pool of water is a green hose that looks like it might be 3/4" OD. It runs up and looks like it might go up into the pillar towards the roof but I can't see it very well because it runs behind some sheet metal on the way up. I'm betting that this is a drain hose but I'd like to know where it's going before I run my little snake up it. This worked well on the front but I knew where that hose was going.
Any help or ideas are appreciated. Car is 2001 Wolfsburg Jetta. I'm going to have to tell my wife to quit parking under the pine trees.
Thanks,
Mike

_Modified by mcoomer at 8:13 PM 11-8-2009_


_Modified by mcoomer at 9:01 PM 11-8-2009_


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## mcoomer (Jun 12, 2003)

*Re: Water leak...water in trunk. (mcoomer)*

OK...dug through the forum and the service manual and it looks like that tube is the rear sunroof drain. So, to check I pured water into all four corners of the sunroof and checked that the water came out through the drains. It's not the sunroof so I pulled the liner out of both sides of the trunk and I'll start looking for leaks.


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## gbovino (May 14, 2002)

*Re: Water leak...water in trunk. (mcoomer)*

Let us know what you find... I had the same issue a few weeks ago. I went on a business trip and when I came back, I found condensation on the inside of my windows as I walked towards my car. When I opened it up, it was like a blast from a steam sauna. I had puddles on the floor and my rear seats were wet... so I figured it came from the trunk area. My wife me it had been raining for 3 straight days... I'll let you know what I found out when I start investigating.


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## mcoomer (Jun 12, 2003)

It looks like the water is seeping in through the rubber plugs in the trunk. Yesterday I took the car to gas it up and checked the trunk. No water anywhere but on top of the rubber seals. I'm going to replace them all and check again.
Mike


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## mcoomer (Jun 12, 2003)

*Re: (mcoomer)*

It wasn't the rubber plugs in the spare wheel well after all. I used a hose and found that water was entering the trunk through a small opening just under the tail light assembly on the driver's side. I pulled the tail light but the gasket was in good shape and showed no signs of water past the wear marks so I assumed that was good. I took the bumper cover off and found that there is a seal that runs across the rear of the car just below the trunk opening. It looks like some sort of silicon that was applied to a seam and then painted over. Right below the tail light part of the seam was coming loose at the top so that bare metal was exposed. I poured a little water into that area and it went right into the trunk. Looking closely I found 4 places where the seal was coming loose or cracking. I found another place on the passenger side that was starting to come loose.
To fix it I mounted a hair dryer in a clamp and let it run for a couple of hours to make sure everything was dry. I cleaned the whole area with alcohol and used some black, non-hardening silicone to fill the gaps, and then I spread some material on the surface and smoothed it with a tongue depresser. After a few days I ran a hose over the trunk and had no leaks. I'm going to wait until it rains next to check that there are no more leaks then I'll put the trunk liner back in.
Mike


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