2008 Sport

Flat tire today.

Open up the spare tire compartment to find rust everywhere. Rusted jack. Rusted jack handle. Half of the spare is covered with rust. I mean, the tire itself was covered with rust. The outside half - after mounting it - was all rust colored.

Do I just paint the compartment with rustoleum??

Thanks....

 

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WOW you never smelled the water in there? i had a leak in my crx i could never pin down, so i just drilled a small hole at the lowest point and i have never had standing water since (same crx in my sig)
i'd personally take out everything and prep everything with scotchbrite and spray it with a quality spray paint (mask a barrier so you don't get overspray in the rest of the car)
buy a new (used) jack from a wrecking yard (just match it up) cuz ours is $98 (pn#89310-S5A-013) or you could just order one from honda for a 2009 CRV it's only $32 (pn# 89310-S3V-A04)
hope this helps

 

Bet you have the very common leak at the seams near the roof problem. Search for threads on "water in my hatch" for the solution.

 

radiolandog: here was my final post after discovering a hairline crack at the top of the hatch, above the hatch hinge, leading underneath the black, rubber, roof rail strip. If you reach under the plastic hatch liner at the very bottom where the two plastic pieces snap together, you will feel a little piece of foam. That should be wet from the water running down from the top of the hatch, all the way around the side, past the light and down to the exit point by that plastic snap, until the water runs into your wheel well undetected. This is how is happened on mine. I had no obvious leak (ie: no headliner stain, no wet carpet in the hatch area); It simply came in via a hairline crack and worked its way under the hard plastic interior liner. Here was my final post on the issue:

well all, two rain storms down and no water coming from the bottom black snap at the back of the hatch before it slopes down into the wheel well. Putting some silicone on the hairline crack I found starting under the rear rubber roof strip and going two inches down near the hatch hinge seems to have solved the water issue. If anyone has completely sealed the rubber hatch gasket and the hinges, I recommend taking a look under the two rubber roof rail seals to see if you also have a hairline crack. thanks again to all of you who led me to the discovery.

 

My leak comes here, the path is highlighted in yellow. It seems to be what you describe.



When you say you had a hailine crack, was is a crack in the body, or the hatch gasket? I'm having a hard time finding where the water is getting in.

This is my hinge.



What do you mean by "the black, rubber, roof rail strip" and the "two rubber roof rail seals?"

Thanks!

 

Actually, that all looks like rust staining, not actual metal corrosion. You even have it on the rubber of your spare. It seems it was the jack that rusted then the rust filled water stained the whole trunk. I would give it a thorough cleaning and you should be good to go.

Ditch that cissor jack and get a bottle jack. The lowest rating I've found was 2 tons which is waaaay enough for an emergency application and they go for less than 30$. Plus, they are much easier to use than a cissor jack and are at least equally stable if not more than the stock jack. The whole underside of my spare is covered in a clear plastic sheet. Dunno if its my dealer or the guy that does my rustproofing that did that. My spare is bolted right into that plastic sheet.

 

radiolandog: excellent pictures. I wish I knew how to do that. I think it requires posting to a separate photo account which I'd rather not sign up for so I'll just keep audibal-izing.
First, the picture of where your water is coming in is correct. Where the two black plastic panels come together, undo that snap. It will give you a couple of inches of free play. Then reach underneath with your fingers. You will feel the small foam rubber piece which keeps the plastic from banging against the metal body of the car. That will be wet. For now, take a junk towel and shove it up so that it keeps that foam rubber piece dry. Let the rest of the towel run down into the wheel well to absorb any other water that may run down. My water runoff was a mere trickle since it was coming in from the hairline crack. Go ahead and wash out all the staining in your wheel well with some Mr. Clean or Lysol. Now for the crack.
The rubber roof rail strips are the two black strips that run the entire length of your roof on each side. They are held down by only a very small metal post at each end believe it or not. The rest of the entire strip just lays in the channel and is mainly held in by the sun baking the rubber and expanding it to "stick" in the channel. To remove the rubber strips and clean out the channel (which will be filled with years of dirt and pollen), simply push each end of the strip with your finger to "buckle up" the strip. You will release the strip from the small metal post and see the silver clip on the bottom of the rubber strip that engages the post. Once your rubber strips are up and out of the way, look at each small metal post. The one closest to the hatch hinge on the passenger side is the one I want you to focus on; especially the very far right side of the hatch hinge picture you posted where you see all the solder marks in the corner. After you clean all the pollen away down to the bare metal, you are likely to find a hairline crack leading from that small metal post, down towards your hatch hinge. In my case, that hairline crack was allowing water to run inside, following the contour of the hatch, and exiting by the black plastic snap you show in your picture. Apparently my case is not unique. Other's have reported similar hairline cracks, with water exiting exactly where you show in your picture. Not only did I seal up the crack with silicone, but I also resealed the entire outer area of the hatch seal. How did I know it was the hairline crack? Because I sealed the entire hatch seal first and the water drip kept wetting my towel. Once I sealed the hairline crack and ran it through 3 severe thunderstorms, no more leak.
After you fully clean your two rubber roof rail strips, simply attach one silver clip to a metal post at a time. When you lay the rubber back in the channel, you will notice that the warm, clean rubber grabs the warm metal of the car and conforms back into place. You may have to redo it a couple of times because getting the strip to line up with the two metal posts properly is a little tricky, but any easy job nonetheless.
Let us know if that is where your leak originated from.

 

Thanks, BurntZ - your description really helps.

I removed the right roof rail strip. Mine wasn't very dirty, but I cleaned it anyway.

Upon inspection of the area, I think that I may have identified a hairline crack.



Closer:


Is that where yours was?

I will attempt to seal it and see if it helps.

It shouldn't take too long to find out of that's it. It has rianed here every day for the past 16 days!

Thanks for your help.

-dog

 

That seam is usually the culprit. With your dark car grab a tube of black silicone sealer and caulk that seam and you should be good.

 

Yep, that is where the crack is. Somehow the water gets in the crack and runs down the inside of the c pillar without causing a headliner stain. It then exits down at the base of the hatch where the two plastic panels come together at the plastic snap. I encourage every GD owner to look under their spare tire to see if there is evidence of water seepage. If there is, a 3-4 inch crack running from the small metal post underneath the roof rail strip down into the hatch should be the first thing anyone should examine.