I wasn't sure really where to put this, as it's not a DIY as I didn't take any pics. I had leaky taillight gaskets on my 4 door, both of the outside ones. Where I live in Texas just went through two straight months of historic rainfall, so there seemed to always be rain in my trunk.
There seems to be some different opinions out there as to exactly how to fix it, so I just wanted to add what worked for me.
I went to the local Hobby Lobby out here and got 4 11 X 18 sheets of 2mm thick foam. These are big enough to do two gaskets apiece.
I removed my old taillights, removed their gaskets, then cleaned both the taillights and the surface on the car where the gaskets touch. The car was filthy in that area with lots of caked on dirt.
After that I transferred the old gaskets to the foam, traced out templates and cut them out.
I placed a thin bead of silicone RTV on the edge of the taillights and pressed down the gaskets, inspecting the whole perimeter to make sure of even coverage. After about 30 minutes I installed them back in the car, leaving all of the trim off until I could verify the fix.
I got to test my fix the next day as a heavy storm rolled through. I opened my trunk to see what I had and my trunk was bone dry. I checked everywhere with my flashlight on the trunk floor as well as all around the taillight openings. No water anywhere.
In other news my Camaro's trunk was leaking too!! Which is particularly worrisome, as the battery is in the trunk. Again, bad gaskets letting water in. There's little foam gaskets around the spoiler studs and a couple of those seemed to have failed. I used the same foam there, so hopefully it works out!
There seems to be some different opinions out there as to exactly how to fix it, so I just wanted to add what worked for me.
I went to the local Hobby Lobby out here and got 4 11 X 18 sheets of 2mm thick foam. These are big enough to do two gaskets apiece.
I removed my old taillights, removed their gaskets, then cleaned both the taillights and the surface on the car where the gaskets touch. The car was filthy in that area with lots of caked on dirt.
After that I transferred the old gaskets to the foam, traced out templates and cut them out.
I placed a thin bead of silicone RTV on the edge of the taillights and pressed down the gaskets, inspecting the whole perimeter to make sure of even coverage. After about 30 minutes I installed them back in the car, leaving all of the trim off until I could verify the fix.
I got to test my fix the next day as a heavy storm rolled through. I opened my trunk to see what I had and my trunk was bone dry. I checked everywhere with my flashlight on the trunk floor as well as all around the taillight openings. No water anywhere.
In other news my Camaro's trunk was leaking too!! Which is particularly worrisome, as the battery is in the trunk. Again, bad gaskets letting water in. There's little foam gaskets around the spoiler studs and a couple of those seemed to have failed. I used the same foam there, so hopefully it works out!
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