aircraft engineer Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 After heavy rain it seems to fill up (somehow) No apparent reason - no apparent leaks but it fills up - a slight water trail across the drivers side from the tail light area into the well, but no other indication. No apparent window seal leakage but I haven't pulled the plastic interior trim yet. Seems to happen driving on wet roads but not sitting in the rain (might be wrong, though). I've thought about just drilling a 1/4 dia drain hole in the bottom of the tire well. Other than that I take out the rubber plug and bail the water into the hole to get it out. Used vehicle, just acquired, 97 impreza wagon L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 no sunroof correct? nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subaru360 Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 For water leaks I usually take off the inside trim run a hose over the area of the leak and sit inside and look for the leak. Usually it's easy enough to find them. On an older car with a leak you can't find it's not the end of the world to drill a drain hole. I've done it before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbrat Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 I had a similar thing with my 97 LOBW. it was the rubber seal for the hole where the wires go through for the rear wiper. the plug on the body side was out, and rain was just going down in the hole, and running down the inside of the body..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAWalker Posted January 25, 2008 Share Posted January 25, 2008 Most likely it is leaking in around the tail light. They use butyl (sp?) rubber to seal the tail lights. I usually end up getting a strip of it from a body shop when I need it. Seems to be hard stuff to come by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted January 26, 2008 Share Posted January 26, 2008 Before you go through too much trouble: I had success in a stopping a similar leak on my Impreza sedan by simply tightening the five nuts that hold in the taillights. A couple were very loose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircraft engineer Posted January 27, 2008 Author Share Posted January 27, 2008 thanks for the possibilities - will try 'em all and see what happens (the shotgun approach) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircraft engineer Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 pulled the inside plastic panel - looks like a leak from the tail light - very wet on the inside I suspected the taillight because the backup light was corroded into the connector bayonet. bolts don't look loose (might be though) somebody said 5 - I can only see 4 at the corners. the 5th?? long screws - need to use a deep socket to access (I only found 4) oh well, it's black silicone time... any way to drain the jack compartment? - it seems to have 2 inches or so of water inside and it won't drain. (brute force, of course - just drill a small hole from the outside...) Not like the mercedes diesels I'm familiar with at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 shop vac it out. another engineer, awesome. i'm aerospace. boeing or a contractor i presume? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dickensheets Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 If it aint a Boeing, I aint going. Drill a "pilot" hole. Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r_kirky Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Auto Glass shops always have it. Most likely it is leaking in around the tail light. They use butyl (sp?) rubber to seal the tail lights. I usually end up getting a strip of it from a body shop when I need it. Seems to be hard stuff to come by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted February 2, 2008 Share Posted February 2, 2008 Hmmm, maybe I've gotten used to the new-age Imprezas having five nuts. The fifth one being all the way out toward the side of the car. My Impreza (MY2000, but same floorplan) has a rubber bung under the spare wheel, that'll drain the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircraft engineer Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 So thanking the folks who responded - it was apparently the seal around the light bucket to the body. (poor design, by the way - in my estimation, anyway to seal it like that) The blonde (no, not joking) who she got it from had tried to remove the tail light assembly by taking out the nuts?? (4) and then sticking in a screwdriver and trying to pry the light bucket away from the body. ?? knows nothing about cars, I guess I guess she couldn't figure out that to change bad bulbs all you need to do is pop the access panel, reach in, turn the bulb socket and then take out the bulb. <- but I'm not exactly smiling since I had to pull the interior plastic trim panel to get access to all 4 of the nuts She had left the nuts so loose I turned them out with my fingers - nice and tight huh? HOWEVER - What she had managed to do was to break the seal between the plastic and the body rear and poke holes into the sealant ON THE TOP RIGHT WHERE THE WATER DRAINS DOWN THE HATCH SIDES. NO WONDER IT LEAKED!! ("Oh, I don't know about any leaks" - yeah... RIGHT - that's why the rubber plug was OUT in the spare tire well ) Soooo - went to a windshield place and they GAVE me a bit of butyl sealant (about 2.5 feet of 1/4 inch dia "round" - they said they don't use it any more so it was effectively junk to them and they would have to pay haz-mat to get rid of it anyway). I pulled the light assembly out and washed it out (evidently the water ran down the inside and into either the turn or backup light socket and filled the unit from the inside (which rusted the BULB BASE into the socket (which of course broke when I tried to pull it - wear leather gloves ) greased the new bulb for replacement and tightened the bulb socket a bit. Butyl is easy to work with at about 48 F. Doesn't stick to everything like it would "warmer". Put the sealant on (doubled the top layer for good measure to make it about 1/2 inch wide, not "deep"), bolted the unit back in - 5/16 inch deep socket - 1/4 drive with a screwdriver handle. Sucked up the water in the jack well and spare tire well with I/O shop vac and dried out the jack well with a towel. Then did the "downpour test" - turned the hose on it to see if it stays dry (it did) Now to wait and see if it STILL leaks (beats me why it would, though) The comment about "tighten the nuts" might have worked but I decided to overkill it. (I hope) Anyway - thanks for the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircraft engineer Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 oh, yes, Boeing, 28 years (PE license - state license "Prof Engineer" as well - so I are really a engineer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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