Grease Monkey

So a few weeks ago, I discovered a leak in the trunk of my car. I wasn't quite sure where it was coming from and had to do some testing to figure it out. After tearing apart the back of my car several times (to coincide with rain showers and then only weekends where I wasn't out of town or wanted to be lazy), I finally found the source of the leak two weekends ago.

Basically, the rear lights sit over part of the bumper where there is a matchbox sized hole on both sides. I don't know why this is, but it appears to have been purposely made that way. Anyway, the interior neoprene stuff (not the exterior rubber weatherstriping) that is supposed to seal the hole between the plastic light cover and the interior of the car had partially torn away from where it was supposed to be. Thus, instead of creating a waterproof seal, dirt and muck from the puddles that I like to drive over were getting stuck in the gap, and water was seeping through into the trunk.

With a little help of the sales guy at Knecht's, I bought some neoprene weatherstripping stuff and a couple of bolts (to replace one that I had broke and one that I lost somewhere underneath the metal car body and cannot reach) and again dismantled the back end of my car on Sunday. Once again, I removed all the plastic paneling and put all the little screws and bolt and caps in a ziploc bag and fuddled around with the weatherstripping until I was happy with the fit. I even found use for the plastic model glue (that had been sitting in my desk for how ever many years since I last put a plastic model together) for some added bonding to the plastic parts. I replaced everything in its place, including the back seats that I've had to take apart, screwed and bolted the parts back together and my car almost looked normal again.

The Spring rains should help give the seal a good test. Hopefully, it won't leak anymore and I would feel a good sense of accomplishment that I fixed it all by myself. The only thing left to do is de-rust my car jack and replace it in the trunk. With a little luck, I can then tackle the fuse panel (needs a new cover) next, maybe the interior handle for popping the hood, or even the front bumper.... we'll see...