My 94 Maxima got wet on the top of the rear seat and the floorboards, front and back after a big rain. To my dismay, the trunk floor was wet, and the spare tire well was half full of nice and rusty water. I think I must have parked with the nose down and all of the water flooded through the gap between the backseat vertical seatback and the horizontal seat. Any ideas where a trunk leak can originate? There aren't many water stains to help me figure it out. There was a glob of leaves stuck next to the rubber seal on the base of the rear window/trunk lid area-could that have caused the water to collect? Any other common leak areas-trunk seals, tail lights, power antenna, sunroof, etc? Any good way to remove water stains and odor-febreeze-or do i need to find some new carpet. Oh, and the water rusted the spare tire hold down rod pretty tight-took some big pliars to twist it off-not something you'd like to find out with a flat tire. Thanks for any ideas.

 

Take the plug out so the water won't accumulate. It's under the spare

 

Dude, my 94 did the same thing but i think my rear deck lid (trunk) was bent from an accident by the previous owner. Sucked i had to take a turkey baster and suck all that crap out. then i just stuck a box fan in there for half a day and it was all dried up. Took a 1/4 inch of plywood, cut it to match the tainted carpet and covered it with some black speaker box carpet i bought at walmart. As far as fixing the problem (the leak) ... have no clue i sold the car

Wish i would of known about the plug

 

My 90 had the same problem. Check the rubber seal around the edge of the trunk to make sure it isnt cracked, torn, or coming off. Also, it would probably be a good idea to pull out all of the carpeting and material from the trunk and check for rust holes. My old max had the driver side quarter panel rusted out at the bottom. I could see the ground easily from in the trunk.

 

yep, that or the taillights aren't sealed -had the same dealie

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the cause for the pool in your trunk is actually the driver side, rear seatbelt mount. Take the driver side trunk cover out and look up near the trunk hinge - I bet you see a hole, or..... in the worst case (like mine was) the seatbelt is no longer mounted at all, and there is a huge hole that goes directly into the wheel well, behind the fuel filler neck (that's why this was a recall for our cars...). Good luck.

 

my 93 also had the same problem. i finally found out the problem for the water in the rear seat was from the sunroof. the drain hose was disconnected with sunroof. It is just located at the right rear corner of the interior roof. but u have to open the ceiling first ( with a screwdriver???) and join it.
the water under the spare tire for my max was from the trail light. go to get some waterproof glue and smear around the light.

 

Just had the exact same issue! There was a large accumulation of debris between the rubber stripping and quarter panel on exact same place both sides, which had stopped water from natural drainage bad design but I noticed back floorboards were wet opened trunk and Damn!! Water standing, ran behind seats then under them hence wet seats and carpet, took out all seats except drivers removed carpet soaked with laundry detergent high pressure wash drained as much water as possible put fan pointing over dried and put back in, seats in then baking soda several boxes left for about 2 days vacuum and done!! Well back up put seats back in then done! Lol sorry but wore slap out from cleaning up this freaking mess!!! I'm out!!

 

Bringing a 14 year old thread back. Nice. Glad to see you found your leak and got it resolved.