Ldiggity
Tail lens fixes
How to fix leaking taillights in an 88-91 civic hatchback. I did a lot of looking around and no one had really written a comprehensive what to do about this problem despite how common it is.
If you own one, after 15 years on the road for your car, you've noticed that hard rains result in one of two things: Some amount of water builds up in your tail lenses, or a bit in your trunk under the floorboard/spare tire well, or both. The culprit can be your sunroof drain tube coming disconnected from the bumper outlet, or, as in most cases, it involves the taillight assembly in one of three ways. Remove your taillights, by loosening the 5 bolts accessible through the light-replacement panels in the hatch (the middle one on the top row is difficult) and unclipping the off-white wiring harness. Look at your taillights carefully. My tail lights had every problem possible in the scenario: 1)My gaskets had dried and become porous and water was passing through and around them, 2)where the colored plastic of the lens met its edge seams and the seam with the black plastic body of the tail light assembly, the plastic itself had separated allowing water to run into the top of the lenses, and 3)the bolts holding the taillights on had loosened allowing water around the gaskets and into the lens and trunk.
Here is what to do after removing the lenses. In my case I cleaned the inside of the lenses with a skinny dish cleaning tool through the light bulb ports to remove the dirt from water that had run in off the outside of the car - then set them to dry thoroughly. The next day I silicon caulked all of the seams where the plastic had separated. Be careful to apply it smoothly and not blob it too thick or it will look like a fourth grader made your tail lights. Let this cure for a day. Buy new bulbs while waiting for everything to dry. Now, put NEW bulbs in and clip the off-white harness pack into the lens assembly with the red clip provided. Put the gasket on gently making sure not to tear or enlarge any of the holes that the bolt posts pass through. Bolt them on and be careful not to way over-tighten. Being a little overzealous I did this and broke off one of my bolt posts. You don't want that to happen or you'll have to replace the assembly. Back up approximately 5 feet and admire the work you've done!
Now when it rains you should have a nice dry trunk and dry tail lenses!
If you did have water leaking into your trunk, check for rust and mildew or mold - make sure it is dry. If you have either, consider replacing your fiberboard trunk floor panel and lysol the carpet really well AFTER you have fixed the leak problem - this will kill the mildew.
Enjoy!
Important Postscript: Check your hatch alignment. If it is even slightly off, water will run in through the hatch seal and pool into the lights too! Any bodyshop will do that for free most likely. It's a 5 or 10 minute job.
Tail lens fixes
How to fix leaking taillights in an 88-91 civic hatchback. I did a lot of looking around and no one had really written a comprehensive what to do about this problem despite how common it is.
If you own one, after 15 years on the road for your car, you've noticed that hard rains result in one of two things: Some amount of water builds up in your tail lenses, or a bit in your trunk under the floorboard/spare tire well, or both. The culprit can be your sunroof drain tube coming disconnected from the bumper outlet, or, as in most cases, it involves the taillight assembly in one of three ways. Remove your taillights, by loosening the 5 bolts accessible through the light-replacement panels in the hatch (the middle one on the top row is difficult) and unclipping the off-white wiring harness. Look at your taillights carefully. My tail lights had every problem possible in the scenario: 1)My gaskets had dried and become porous and water was passing through and around them, 2)where the colored plastic of the lens met its edge seams and the seam with the black plastic body of the tail light assembly, the plastic itself had separated allowing water to run into the top of the lenses, and 3)the bolts holding the taillights on had loosened allowing water around the gaskets and into the lens and trunk.
Here is what to do after removing the lenses. In my case I cleaned the inside of the lenses with a skinny dish cleaning tool through the light bulb ports to remove the dirt from water that had run in off the outside of the car - then set them to dry thoroughly. The next day I silicon caulked all of the seams where the plastic had separated. Be careful to apply it smoothly and not blob it too thick or it will look like a fourth grader made your tail lights. Let this cure for a day. Buy new bulbs while waiting for everything to dry. Now, put NEW bulbs in and clip the off-white harness pack into the lens assembly with the red clip provided. Put the gasket on gently making sure not to tear or enlarge any of the holes that the bolt posts pass through. Bolt them on and be careful not to way over-tighten. Being a little overzealous I did this and broke off one of my bolt posts. You don't want that to happen or you'll have to replace the assembly. Back up approximately 5 feet and admire the work you've done!
Now when it rains you should have a nice dry trunk and dry tail lenses!
If you did have water leaking into your trunk, check for rust and mildew or mold - make sure it is dry. If you have either, consider replacing your fiberboard trunk floor panel and lysol the carpet really well AFTER you have fixed the leak problem - this will kill the mildew.
Enjoy!
Important Postscript: Check your hatch alignment. If it is even slightly off, water will run in through the hatch seal and pool into the lights too! Any bodyshop will do that for free most likely. It's a 5 or 10 minute job.