Has anyone had any experience chasing water leaks into the hatch area of their EA82 3-door coupes?  I have a feeling it's coming from the taillamps/trim panel, but I suppose it could be coming from the hatch itself too.

Anyone solve this problem?  I've got two coupes and they both enjoy collecting water in their smuggler's hatches.

I've had water leaks from the tail light seals and from the black plastic seals along the top of the rear trim on the outside. Siliconed the crap out of all of it, and so far so good.

I did have one more leak. It's was a very small rust hole under the back bumper on the body that developed when I washed my car with a garden hose and punched right through the thin layer of rust. 

 

I've also noticed that when you open the hatch on a rainy day, water likes to run off the corners of the rear glass, and drips right onto the plastic with the vent that protrudes in the trunk. That's another way those crevices like to fill with water. And from what I've seen on other cars, that's a notoriously bad spot for water to seep through the pinch welds and separate them.

Yeah, I think my leaks are coming from the taillamps and rear "uni-brow" trim.  I plan to replace the taillamps soon and when I do I'll run a nice bead of butyl rubber and hope is seals better than it does today.

@PigEqualsBakon Do you have any tips for getting rusty mangled hardware out of the middle "uni-brow" trim between the lamps?

5 hours ago, carfreak85 said:

@PigEqualsBakon Do you have any tips for getting rusty mangled hardware out of the middle "uni-brow" trim between the lamps?

I'm afraid not, I sealed it all from the outside, so I never had that plastic off the car. You could always get a small metal-bristle brush in there to knock all the rust loose though.

 

Slightly off topic but I'm going to post here anyways because this is a coupe thread. my coupe got rear ended, the back panel got caved in, the rust hole blew open completely, trunk lid un-damaged thankfully, one of the tail lights had a corner broken off. Frame might be bent a bit, body definitely is. Insurance totalled it and the repair is beyond my skills, nor do I have the space. Would you happen to need any coupe specific parts before I hand it to the insurance company? I know they're the least common of the 3rd gen L series. Mines an '86.

@PigEqualsBakon How much to buy the whole car from your insurance company?  Yes, there are many parts I can think of that I would need.

It's been a while since I did this, but it should be the scrap value, so it won't be much to buy the totaled car.

4 hours ago, carfreak85 said:

@PigEqualsBakon How much to buy the whole car from your insurance company?  Yes, there are many parts I can think of that I would need.

The insurance company is willing to give me 1008$ for the car outright, I don't know how much it would cost to buy it back. Theres also the problem of location. I'm in Vancouver BC and the car isn't running super great right now anyways so I don't know how far it would go.

The 1000 is for replacing it with a similar condition and aged operable car.  The scrap value is a lot lower, as it is no longer in the same condition due to the accident. 

But if they total it, the title is marked as such, and it isn't registerable , so driving it isn't an option legally.  Figure on hauling it on a trailer or flatbed.   That's how it works here, ymmv.

@PigEqualsBakon Well, let me know what you find out.  If it's too much hassle I can just put together a list of parts that I need.

@carfreak85

I'll call and see what I can do. I think, I can buy it back as a salvage title, but then we can tow it to where ever it needs to go. You could always just give me the amount I spent to buy it back.

I've also got a spare ea82 that was going to go in it eventually.

Let me know what you find out!

@carfreak85 So apparently I can get the car back as a "Dismantle Parts Only" status, so never driveable or insurable again, or as a salvage title, which can be rebuilt to "rebuilt" status which of course means a through inspection (not worth it tbh it has some really structurally critical rust).

 

I'm going to email my adjuster to see if I can keep it as a DPO status, but I don't have anywhere to put it if I do go this route, and my insurance expires on the 31st and I don't want to renew it. So, if you do want it, I'll see how much it will cost me to keep it, and I'll just ask that amount from you and PM you all the details, because I have derailed this thread.

Edited May 22, 20196 yr by PigEqualsBakon
Grammar

Sounds good, let me know the numbers before we commit to anything.