Hi there, I'm in desperate need of some help. I just bought a 99 Civic from a private party with every single cent of credit that I have. Everything looked great except I noticed a small amount of water in the trunk in the spare tire compartment. I figure, "eh, I can probably fix that. Besides, the car doesn't smell so it can't be that bad." It turns out the previous owners never let it get bad and would always keep it dry, which is good. (I just wish they had fixed it before selling.) Anyways, I opened the trunk today and there was about 1/2 inch of water at the bottom. I blotted it up with a rag and managed to pull out about 1/4 - 1/2 gallon of water. To make things worse, the low cushions in the back seat have slightly wet foam. I live in Oregon where it's anywhere from 30-50 degrees out currently. In other words, this is not going to evaporate. I am going to try to fix the leak this weekend (I can't now because of work and school), however, I need to figure out how to dry the seat cushions so they don't get moldy and smelly. I'm refering to the lower cushions; the top cushions are just fine.

Can anyone offer points on getting the cushions out so I can attempt to dry them? Is this even an easy ordeal? I'd like to not only take them out but leave them out until I fix this. Between work and school, I'm occupied from 7am to 9pm until this weekend, so I can't get a Chiltons / Haynes manual to figure this out myself... not until the weekend anyways...

Please, if someone can give me some advice, I would be so grateful. This has cost me virtually every single cent that I can afford...

THANK YOU!

 

Lift-up the front of each cushion and inspect underneath for the Spring-wire holding the cushion in place. Force the cushion toward the rear until the Spring-wire clears the notch and the seat will come forward and out.
Use a Shop-Vac to extract the moisture from the cushions.
Treat the cushions and the cars interior with Lysol Anti-fungal Spray Disinfectant.

You'll be better-off smelling the Lysol for a few days than having fungus and mold form making the car smell like a sewer.

Spray it!
if you don't ... you'll be sorry.

 

Haha, spray it, or you'll regret it! That's awesome. Thank you very much for the reply. Out of curiousity, are any tools needed to remove this? It sounds silly but my mom is borrowing my toolbox so all I have is a socket set. Another question, are there any particular areas in the 99 Civic's trunk that are known to leak? Once I have my seats out and drying, I'm not sure where to start in terms of repairing the leak...

Thanks a million once again!

 

well the actualy leak is either around the trunk weatherstriping is just old and doesnt hold atight fit anymore, for tha tjust buy some new OEM weatherstriping for it.... i believe it was about 20-30bucks at dealership when i bought mine to fix the leaky trunk lid!

as to the cusion drying.... just remove the seat and take it inside until its dry inside your house
its only one bolt holding the lower cushion on... the bolt is between the lower and top cushions on the drivers side simply use a socket wrench and remove that one bolt and pull the seat cushion out till its dry and giving you time to see if its still leaking as wel


and if its not leaking around the trunk lid seal then the other 2 posible leak areas is if its got a sunroof then the drain tubes MIGHT BE CLOGGED UP or the hoses came off in the trunk area drain along the sides. easy test there is get a cup of water and pour it on the sunroofs drain holes and pull the carpet back from the sides in the trunk. if thats clogged get a coat hanger or use a air gun to try and blow the dirt out thru the hoses...
and last posible leaking area is the rear window... unlikely but posible if the previous owner ever had it replaced by a cheap glass place.....

 

Thank you very very much. I managed to pull the cushion out and squeezed out as much as possible into a towel. I sprayed it with lysol since it already started developing a light smell and now have it placed in front of a fan. Hopefully that'll take care of that.

My car doesn't have a sun roof and the rear window is the OEM Honda window so I'm guessing it's the weather stripping on the trunk. While it does still look like it's in good shape, you think I should just replace it? Alternately, I could just sit in the trunk with a flashlight while someone drives through a carwash and keep an eye on where the water is coming from.

If I do replace the stripping, does that involve using sealants to adhere it to the trunk, or does it just snap in?

Again, many thanks!

 

the trunk seal simply pulls up and off, and the new one just gets pushed on...

with mine the striping was loose and what i believe was happening it was going up under the striping and around the lip and into the trunk. not between the top edge and lid.

to test yours alittle just pull up and down lightly on the seal all the way around it... mine was loose and not even held tightly on the lip... the new OEM seal held very tight and solved my leaking problem i had.

hopefully thats your only problem and thats a very quick fix with a new seal since its not even that much $$ for brand new OEM seal.

 

my 95 hatch leaks water into that area as well. I've seen it dripping from the hole that the rear seat belt comes from. How can I fix this?

 

rear seat belt hole? if its suposed to have a bolt there then put one there.LOL

or are you talking about a flapper vent? if its the flapper vent just buy a new one and pop the new one in. or if your to cheap just tape over it to seal it off.

 

I don't think you understand what I'm talking about. It leaks where the seat belt comes from, you know the interior panel? Taping it would mean that I couldn't use the rear seatbelt.

 

well if its leaking in that area up top its either your sunroof water tubes are clogged or busted or your rear window was replaced by a crappy shop and its leaking around the seal!

if its leaking around the window youd want to have it pulled and resealed by a good window guy! dont cheap out or youll posibly have a leaking window again later down the road....