So ever since I bought my car, I noticed it had a musty smell. It never bothered me however, but some people thought it was bad. I never thought anything of it. So today, I was cleaning my car and I decided to pull up the trunk carpet because I saw a few little dots of moisture on the piece of metal that wasn't covered by the carpet. Oh my god.



There was 2 inches of standing water.






I feel like such an idiot for not noticing this before. I'm pretty meticulous with my cars but I never EVER looked under this carpet before. I cleaned it up pretty well after I took this picture but damn, I'm surprised this didn't rust all the way through. I mean I bought this car 3 years ago. Anyways, the carpet is thrown away, spare is thrown away, etc. I pulled up some more carpet inside the car and thankfully there's no rust. I thought for a second I bought a flood car.

 

Wow. That blows. Figure out where the water came from?

 

Wow is right, that is weird. Only way I can see that much water in there is if it were poured in there before you purchased, there must not be a hole etc if it were standing in there for that long.

 

I honestly have no idea, but I know it's been sitting in there for 3+ years. I bought the car from a small dealership in WI and I know he bought the car from auction from FL. So, I'm thinking it may have been in a small flood or someone left the trunk open by accident in real heavy rain. The smell was unbearable..The rust damage doesn't look too bad actually. Thank god.

 

Yea, I really couldn't believe my eyes when I pulled that carpet back. I didn't see any holes anywhere in that opening either.. It must have been heavy rain, you're right.

 

From the pics it looks like you can treat that rust, also pick up a new spare at a salvage yard. www.Car-part.com

 

The same ecact thing happened to my car...just not as much water but just as much rust....i suggest taking a scrubbing brush and bucket of water and get rid of as much rust as you can [should scrape away in layers] and spray paint t with rustoleum paint...then locate the leak...thats what i did..never found a leak tho and the water never came back

 

Surprised you never heard the water sloshing around all this time. (Or that you never checked the pressure in your spare. You should do that at least twice a year, if not more.)

But I like the photo. Gutsy.

 

Yup, thanks for the help. That's actually my plan. I cleaned it up temporarily and there is only some minor rust on the absolute bottom of the well. I did a leak test. Closed the trunk and sprayed the hose pretty heavily on the trunk area and no water came in. Definitely occurred during a rain storm or a flood or something.

 

Like I was telling my buddy, I heard sloshing from time to time but I always thought it was from the gas tank. Lmao!

Didn't know that about the spare! It was really flat too, along with a rusted *** rim. Haha. Thanks for the info!

 

99% of the time water in the trunk is from a poor tail light seal. Remove your tail lights and apply new butyl to ensure a good seal.

Time to buy a spare tire cover from me (see sig)

 

You can see that the water is coming from the passenger side. The tail light is a good possibility, but it could also be a small hole in a weld that joins 2 pieces of metal. Follow the track of the water marks to the area. It could also be leaking in the wheel well behind the rear wheel and spraying with a hose from above the car won't catch that.

 

dam that sucks, I had a water issue myself but I took out the drain plug under the spare and never had the problem again.

 

Same thing is happening to my Max. I will have to check the taillight seals. Didn't think of that... It definitely can accumulate that much water in one rainstorm though. I doubt its a flood car.

 

Lol, there's one way to 'fix' it. Find the root cause!

 

happened to me too. i found out it was a rubber plug from one of the spoiler holes believe it or not. GL on finding the cure!!

 

I saw your thread as I was searching around. However, I am going to build something up myself to cover up the area. Thanks though!

I did a leak test right after I got it cleaned up. I sprayed the hose heavily on the trunk lid, all the crevices and around both the tail lights. Nothing came in whatsoever. It's actually raining today so I'm going to take it out on a drive to see if water may be coming through the wheel well as you said. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

There are so many different causes it's ridiculous! I've ruled this out thankfully. Thanks man.

 

I skimmed the thread but I doubt that was the same water from 3+ years ago, itll evaporate eventually. I think more so it's been maintaining its level by regular refills...

 

Agreed. By the trail of rust, I'd check your right taillight area.

 

Yea, I think this is the case. I took it out in pretty heavy rain today and the water is back.

Yea, I just traced the rain water coming from that tail light. Thanks! It's weird because I was spraying the hose all over the back of the car heavily and there was no water coming in? Hmm.

 

Deff the tail light seal. Check around the mounting holes also.

 

water evaporates lol, it was not there for 3 years, probably just when it rained.

 

i had the same thing happen to me when i got my car. I noticed that crap right away though, but i think it happened because the trunk was left open by somebody before me.
the rusting issue did not happen for me though.

 

Wow!!!!!!

 

So this looks like where the water is coming from. Going to get it all sealed up today. Anyways, new carpet is on the way and I'm making a spare tire cover for it soon. Hopefully the 6th gen embroidered carpet fits decently. For the price, I don't care if it doesn't fit perfect, got it pretty cheap.

 

That shouldn't sit like that. It's usually flush.

Also, the 6th gen carpet won't fit great, but good luck.

 

Really? Dang. Aftermarket tail light maybe? I'll check.. I know that the car was in a small crash 3 years before I bought it, but it was minor and was a front end collision according to carfax.