Monday, December 13, 2010

Is Your Car Leak-Proof?

If you've got an older vehicle like I do, keeping your interior dry can be a challenge. Even newer vehicles are often plagued by leaks, but luckily it's not too hard to find these leaks and fix them. I've compiled a list of some obvious, and not-so-obvious reasons your car is filling up with water, and what to do about it.

Check your rain channels!
You have rain channels in your trunk, under your hood, and if you have a sunroof, check those too. Try cleaning these channels out, because they can easily get clogged with leaves or other debris that cause leaks. The easiest way is to take a non-abrasive brush and get your rain channels clean.

Check your vapor barriers / weather stripping
Check the bottom of your doors to see if there is excessive moisture. If there is, you probably need to replace the plastic seal in your door. Unscrew the screws holding the door card in, and inspect the seal. If there is any imperfections, remove it and replace with heavy-duty poly. Check the weather stripping for the door to make sure it's not cracked or too eroded.

Check your tail lights
 Depending on your vehicle, your tail lights may actually be allowing water to seep into your trunk. This is especially true for after-market tail-lights. A good way to check this is to put paper towel behind your lights, and check the paper towel after it rains to see if moisture is getting through. If it is, buy some sealant and re-do the lights. 

Check your windshield
Sometimes the windshield seal can go bad due to erosion. This occurs mostly on older vehicles, but you should take it to an auto-glass specialist for a cheap and easy fix.

Make sure these problems don't go unattended, because moisture causes mold! Ask me how I know.

25 comments:

  1. Sadly my car is not leak proof! :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nothing pissed me more than having and old car and being obligated to go to the garage once or twice a year for random problems. Bought a new car, no more problems! Until later...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I already found this out... too late :[

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ooooh, I'm getting a car soon. I will definitely refer back to this post. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I prefer having my car full of water.

    ReplyDelete
  6. my car's perfectly leak proof because I don't have one :(

    ReplyDelete
  7. i didnr even know i had rain channels damn

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow I honestly never even thought about this

    ReplyDelete
  9. This post gets bonus points in my book because you showed my favorite car that isn't a ridiculously expensive sports car - the Nissan 300zx :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I had a freind that had a nasty leak, his car smelled like rotten tuna. I'll forward this to him

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is leak proof but great tips for the future, you might never know when you need this info

    ReplyDelete
  12. that's my favorite channel too... it's so calming.

    ReplyDelete
  13. thanks so much for all this advice, it's been really wet here and these should save me some bills haha!

    ReplyDelete
  14. A two-fer - keeps in the bodily fuids of dead hooker corpses too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think my drivers side window is kind of screwed up -/

    ReplyDelete
  16. I didn't know about how to take care of car leaks! I'll tell my parents about this :D

    ReplyDelete
  17. yea i got an old car myself... thanks for the tips, i'll definitely go through a few

    ReplyDelete
  18. wow, i should check my vehicles!

    ReplyDelete
  19. My engine isn't leak proof...at least not when I drive through standing water. :(

    ReplyDelete