'97 Civic Hatchback - Rain Leaks into Trunk

Hi:

I purchased a used '97 Honda Civic Hatchback 6 months ago and all was well
until we had about 2 weeks of rainy weather. Then, passengers in ther rear
seat noticed it "felt wet", especially when the car was braking. Further
investigation revealed that there was about 3 inches of water in the tire
well! When the brakes were applied, the water "sloshed" from the tire well
and ended up under the rear seat!!

I took it to the dealer and they replaced the seal on both rear tail light
assemblies. Is this a common problem with Civics, or was mine the "lucky"
one?

Thanks,
Ron

RLN wrote:
 >
 > Hi:
 >
 > I purchased a used '97 Honda Civic Hatchback 6 months ago and all was well
 > until we had about 2 weeks of rainy weather. Then, passengers in ther rear
 > seat noticed it "felt wet", especially when the car was braking. Further
 > investigation revealed that there was about 3 inches of water in the tire
 > well! When the brakes were applied, the water "sloshed" from the tire well
 > and ended up under the rear seat!!
 >
 > I took it to the dealer and they replaced the seal on both rear tail light
 > assemblies. Is this a common problem with Civics, or was mine the "lucky"
 > one?
 >

Watch out for the trunk seal as well. I had to replace mine on my '88
Civic. It would leak whenever it rained AND when I parked the car on a
slight downhill slope. Water would accumulate up in the corners of the rain
channel (just below the rear window) and then leak under the seal. Parking
the car on a slight uphill slope instead would prevent the water from
accumulating and also prevent it from getting into the trunk.

Eric<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->