2000 TL - Water in trunk
 

I am about to buy a 2000 TL which would be my first but I noticed that the car had some water in the trunk in the area where you keep the spare tire. Also, the surrounding carpet in the area was completely dry. Any ideas what maybe causing this. The car has a clean carfax report and it seems like a very nice car. The owners had bought it couple of months ago and are moving to Europe and having to sell it now.Any feedback would be helpful whether its a known issue and how big of a repair cost is it?

Thanks in advance.

Sounds VERY bad
Take it to a mechanic to check damage and call Acura Care with the VIN number
1-800-382-2238 x5 6am-5pm pacific time
They will know any warranty claims and other things about the car

Moving to Europe--a likely story for someone who bought a lemon and needs to off it fast

How much $- how many miles
The 2000s are running out of warranty time limit on the transmission
7years+ 9 months or 109k miles
not cheap to replace on your dime
Carfax only knows what its told by insurance co's and dealer service depts
Not an accurate record of the car by any means

Yikes, I think I had something like that also but my car has a title. Something smells fishy here. Those owners that you bought it from arent moving to Europe, they are moving onto an European car and left you a gigantic piece of Japanese Lemon :) Just kidding. I have no clue actually why there is water collecting near the spare either. I agree with 01tl04tl and that carfax is not uno hundred percent accurate :)

the only way to be certain you have a clear title is calling Acura Care
As the warranty center they know if a car was totaled,resold in another state, cleaned the title and suprise-no more salvage vehicle title!!!!
Until you go in for something and the computer pops up VOID VOID VOID

Guess where thousands of Katrina flood cars went? beside the states.
Brazil!! where they now require complete overhaul at well more than cars value

The car is a 2000 Model with 93.7K miles on it.
Asking price is 7,800. The current owner had bought it recently in August which was the same as what came up in Carfax report. The car was originally sold (for the first time) in Florida and then sold and bought again in Georgia. The current owners are 3rd Owners.

Getting it checked at a dealership, would that be sufficient? Do they have anything like that where they check a car thoroughly?

Also, one more thing to add to it, that it was sold in an auction in FL and bought by a large dealer in GA if that adds anything to help with the facts.

It could be as simple as tailight gaskets, or something huge as a rearend accident, not fixed properly. Check all the weather stripping. Best way is to actually sit in the trunk while someone runs a hose over the car so you can see where the water is coming in. Another common problem is the moonroof drain tube that runs back there.

Something doesn't smell right. :sniff: If you are moving to Europe in a couple of months, why would you buy a car you can't take with you? I think this story is a load of :bs:. If I were you, I'd keep looking. :detective: :toocool:

They had bought the car when they were not aware of the move. They were told recently that they have to start looking at wrapping up to get ready for the move.

I called the Acura Care Center and they do not see any salvage history and title drain and neither any warranty claims against the vehicle.

well I also have water in my trunk.. I noticed the water, when I was installing a sub. Did you ever find out where the water was coming from in your case, or did you not look any futher into the car?

I find water in my 2000 tl too...thats weird..its definitely coming from somewhere and its annoying because it makes the car smell like mildew

Check around the tail lights and the grommets in the floor. it may also be the moon roof drain

well it turns out I had water everywhere!?! I also had water under my back seat.. :ugh:
The first three pictures are of my back seat
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...r/DSC01318.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...r/DSC01319.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...r/DSC01320.jpg
The next two pictures are of my trunk area:
(I had water in my spare tire's rim)
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...r/DSC01321.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...r/DSC01323.jpg

^^that obviously means the water is coming from above AKA not condensation. it is probably your trunk lining, also be sure to check where your talights touch the body of your car and hide under your trunk, the rainwater usually drains from there. do the hose method

That is a lot of water in the trunk ....clean and try up and do the hose method
I would bet water is coming from the trunk lining !

as stated before, check and tighten your taillights. I recently also found a huge puddle in my spare tire area and under the rear seats. After tightening the taillights, I've been water free. hope everything works out fine.

First, find a friend to help. take your back seat and all the linings out. Dry the car out really well so you can see fresh water. And either use your hose or a car wash and start running it every where. Run it in the wheel wells, around the trunk seal, tail light area. While your friend is running water on the car with the back seat out crawl back there and look in the trunk to see if you can spot where its coming from. It will help if you can keep the water on one side at a time to help narrow it down.

thanks a lot for your help guys :thumb:

Thank you, I found this is the best and most accurate way to identify the source of water. I have a lot of fresh water (doesn't look dirty at all) in the left side of the trunk underneath the plastic storage space, I opened everything and cleaned the water but wasn't able to identify the source (no water in the middle or the right of the trunk) I will follow this method to test instead of assuming things.

Did you find where the water is coming from? I have the exact problem as you in my 2003 TL-S. Water in the tray area but dry in the spare tire well.

My 1999 TL before had water in the spare tire well which was fixed by replacing the tail light gaskets. Water from the lights drains to the spare tire area and can't go to where the plastic tray is as it's higher.

I had that in my 01 HERES WHAT THE ISSUE WAS: Its with the seals in the tail lights (probably cuz I upgraded to the 02/03 lights). It was the same issue, water by the spare tire but not on the "carpet" part where you load things into the trunk. If you take everything out including the trunk carpet and even take out the spare tire and do this. open your trunk and keep it open. Pour a cup or two of water in the middle of your rear window and let it fall down toward your drunk and with mine it would go on the 2 sides like it was supposed to but slip through behind the tail lights and trickle down to the bottom of the trunk. Only happened to me when it rained hard. Theres plugs at the bottom of the trunk you can pull out so it can drain, but the rest youll need to use a shamwow or something to soak the rest up. should be an easy fix, assuming it didnt already cause major damage

I also get water in my 99 tl trunk under spare tire not that much though. Still never found the problem out

Guess i will check my tail lights.

Fixed my problem :thumbsup:, Tail light gaskets again, execpt this time the leak was closer to the side fender so the water pooled in the tray area and not the spare tire well.

Have the same exact problem, changing out the gasket this weekend.

During the first rain spell this past fall, the trunk in my '99 TL got a ton of water in it! Didn't happen to pop the trunk for a while, & only discovered it after braking hard on the way home from work. At the house I started taking stuff out of the back seat & notice the carpet is soaked! Turns out when I jumped on the brakes, most of the water that had accumulated in the trunk rushed into the cabin beneath the rear seat cushion & unto the carpet. After drying everything thoroughly out, I did some leak tests. The culprit for me was the taillight gaskets. After pulling off the taillights, I couldn't believe my eyes how much dirt & pine needles there were! A good cleaning & drying have since kept the trunk water-free. This was also a very common problem on several EK Civic Hatchbacks I've owned in the past..

Hello to my acura tl friends...
Pulled my 2002 acura tl type s in my shop and ran water along left quarter and rear bumper and noticed water under the left storage pocket, Carpet dry as a bone. It's was my outlet pressure relief valve (maybe know as pressure vent ) was letting the water in. Just thought I would toss that out there.

What is that and where is it located exactly? Was it just a simple replacement that fixed your water problem?

To Victus1..it's a outlet valve (has flaps)located on the left lower quarter panel. It's behind the bumper. It relieves the air pressure from closing the trunk and doors. Held on by two screws. Left up ur left quarter trim and there it is. You have to remove your bumper cover to replace it. It's has a rubber seal to the body, replacement had a form type gasket. I installed in 20 minutes and used silicon around it outside and inside for peace of mind. It rained all day in Chicago and just checked it, seems like it worked. Going to do the tail gaskets too.

You can also add me to the "water in the trunk" list. Years ago i found water in my trunk where the spare tire is, it didn't do any damage and i cleaned it out. I never fixed anything but it never happened again. I should take a look just in case next time it rains. Its good to know that you guys found 2 solutions. Good team work guys!

Where did you get just the gasket? I've looked all over. Maybe I'm using the wrong search phrase or something.

"2000 Acura Tl Trunk Gasket"

Ebay might have one used for about 30-40 bucks.

anyone have a vendor for the rear tailight gasket?

found some - ty

I've always had success with a bead of silicon around the gasket area