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Leaking Trunk

My trunk has TONS of moisture on the inside of the trunk lid and it has produced a lot of mildew on plastics, carpeting is damp but not wet or drenched and my spare tire is covered in weird webbed white frost. It's ruined a lot of stuff in my trunk and I need help with finding and fixing the leak! :toilet:
1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe ~ STOCK

Leaking Trunk

Reply #1 –
What does the weather strip around the trunk seal look like? If it's ripped it can let water in.
88 Thunderbird LX: 306, Edelbrock Performer heads, Comp 266HR cam, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, bunch of other stuff.

Leaking Trunk

Reply #2 –
might be leaking around the rear window seal and running down into the trunk. take a piece of cardboard and lay down in there, and during the next rain, look at it to see where the drips are coming from.

Pull out you carpet and let the trunk floor get a good drying out, if possible.
'98 Explorer 5.0
'20 Malibu (I know, Chevy, but, 35MPG. Let's go brandon, eh)

Leaking Trunk

Reply #3 –
I'll do the cardboard idea right now. Finding a rainy day isn't hard in WA anyways ;) not good for the trunk though I suppose. I took Everything out except jumper cables and tool box. The weather strip isn't ripped, However I was able to lightly tug at it and it pulled straight off the lip. Could this cause it?
1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe ~ STOCK

Leaking Trunk

Reply #4 –
I do not think so

Do you have carpet back there ?

My trunk is striped and there might be a few places moister can get in but might not cause your problem if the panels are there

No rusted out spots ?

Leaking Trunk

Reply #5 –
I don't see any rusted out spots...there's rust in spots but nothing that has holes. Thought...pardon me if this is a stupid question, I'm a slowly learning car person. What if there's a leak in my rear window? Could this cause moisture in my trunk? When I get in my car I have to turn on my rear defroster on rainy days to get rid of the excessive moisture. Sometimes it's puddled up on the window and won't come off unless I wipe it off. Could a window leak also cause there to be moisture in the trunk?
1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe ~ STOCK
 

Leaking Trunk

Reply #6 –
Quote from: ThunderbirdSport302;407924
might be leaking around the rear  window seal and running down into the trunk. take a piece of cardboard  and lay down in there, and during the next rain, look at it to see where  the drips are coming from.
Pull out you carpet and let the trunk floor get a good drying out, if possible.

Quote from: BlueBird1987;407937
I don't see any rusted out spots...there's rust in spots but nothing that has holes. Thought...pardon me if this is a stupid question, I'm a slowly learning car person. What if there's a leak in my rear window? Could this cause moisture in my trunk? When I get in my car I have to turn on my rear defroster on rainy days to get rid of the excessive moisture. Sometimes it's puddled up on the window and won't come off unless I wipe it off. Could a window leak also cause there to be moisture in the trunk?

Ahem. LOL. ;)
'98 Explorer 5.0
'20 Malibu (I know, Chevy, but, 35MPG. Let's go brandon, eh)

Leaking Trunk

Reply #7 –
I think that was a possibility posted
 

Jump in the trunk and look stuff over lol

Nothing is impossible

Leaking Trunk

Reply #8 –
per my diy link below

and here it is ,,,,,http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?34827-Ever-get-water-in-your-trunk-for-no-reason&highlight=

Leaking Trunk

Reply #10 –
Quote from: BlueBird1987;407979
Here's where the water dripped last night. It looks like its coming from behind the trunk lid. So I suppose it's the leaky window then perhaps...
http://i739.photobucket.com/albums/xx39/levachemerde/photo1_zps8e2ac4a8.jpg

I don't know if that's window seal, although likely. The last time I washed my car, I had stuff in the trunk and found weeks later when I opened it that there was an inch of water in a trunk-stored tail light lens that I had upside down near the very back. I don't know how that much water got in at that spot, and I seal around the studs that come in from the lights that are actually on the car. It's not around where the rear emblem resides either. Leaks can be difficult to pinpoint (I expect mine to be easy on a warm day though).

Where in Washington are you located?
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Leaking Trunk

Reply #11 –
not sure if you looked at the link i posted or not but, i did notice that there is a manufacturing difference for the connection point i show on my 20th as compared to my son's 88bird.

is there any reason why you can not spray water and wait for it to start dripping?  you going to have to pull the seal off to see and there will be tale tale signs of rust or corrosion or an oxidation point along the area leaking.  you may have to get in the trunk and hunt down the drip but it may act different with you adding weight back there,, thats what i noticed to i got out and had to feel.
i just dried off the wet area of metal in the trunk, then added water to the rear window, then opened the trunk and felt around / looked around with newspaper laid out.

Leaking Trunk

Reply #12 –
Check your tail lights. The seal on the back of the tail lights tend to deteriorate with age. Mine was so bad at one time that in a hard rain, my spare tire well would be completely full of water. I ended up removing the tail lights and using silicon to seal things back up.

Took me awhile to find out where it was coming from.  I ended up crawling into my trunk with a flash light and then had my Dad pour water over the trunk.
'88 'bird, 10.9:1 306 w/TFS top end, forged rods/pistons, T-5 swap & bunch of other stuff, 1-family owned, had it since ‘98, 5.0tbrd88 on Instagram and YouTube

Leaking Trunk

Reply #13 –
Quote from: 50tbrd88;408041
Check your tail lights. The seal on the back of the tail lights tend to deteriorate with age. Mine was so bad at one time that in a hard rain, my spare tire well would be completely full of water. I ended up removing the tail lights and using silicon to seal things back up.

Took me awhile to find out where it was coming from.  I ended up crawling into my trunk with a flash light and then had my Dad pour water over the trunk.

wouldnt he have damps spots along his lights>?

Leaking Trunk

Reply #14 –
Quote from: jcassity;408044
wouldnt he have damps spots along his lights>?

Yes. I've had leaks from the rear lights at the bolts themselves but not the large gaskets. I've also had leaks at the weatherstripping. I wouldn't be surprised by any of the following either: rear window seal, body seams, mounting holes behind exterior trim/emblems, and the tail light gaskets. Obviously his leak is more forward so I'd be looking at window seal, seams, weatherstrip, and c-pillar emblem (this would likely run down the side though).
1988 Thunderbird Sport