So I thought I had seen it all, but I guess not. In addition to all the actual mechanical problems, over the last month - since about April - I have had what I thought was a new, mystery leak causing flooding in the trunk. I had previously dealt with both the vent thing and the tail lights/seals around them both leaking and fixed both of them permanently. So they were the first place I looked, but most of the water was on the driver's (left) side of the trunk so I figured it had to be coming from either the new tires kicking up water and getting in from the wheel well, OR that it was from the main seal/weatherstripping. So I took out the completely drenched dripping wet padding/liner things (both halves) and then waited to see what happened with both a lot of rain (without driving) and then driving on wet roads (without rain). There was no connection or conclusion and seemed to be no relationship that I could determine. So until I could figure it out, I just was gonna have to keep the padding and almost everything else out of there because it was - still - intermittently wet in there. So it was easier to just grab a rag every day and wipe it up instead of dealing with trying to dry out the soggy padding.

Well finally after getting a lot of rain over the last several weeks almost every day - I have had a stretch of 7 whole days with no rain at all so no water coming from the top and no wet roads at all - perfectly dry all the time. I go to open the trunk yesterday - and there again is water all over the floor of the trunk and pretty much on everything and everywhere. Needless to say, I was like, "WTF". A closer examination - and the only possible conclusion is that for some new reason that hasn't happened in the previous 17+ years of owning the car under the exact same conditions - I am now getting this EXTREME condensation on the interior of all parts of the trunk - the top, bottom, sides, wheel wells, spare tire area, etc....and it all drips down into the tire area and forms a pool there.

So my questions are - has anyone else ever experienced this? And is there a solution or fix because I am stumped.

So it rained overnight - came out after checking last evening with the trunk bone dry - and I have a flooded trunk again. So I guess I have to different problems leading to the same result. It sure seems like my trunk is really hot just above the muffler compared to the way it used to be, but I can't tell if that is my imagination or not - I thought that if something had caused the exhaust and muffler to actually be way hotter - that might explain the condensation. But this morning it is obvious that water is no doubt coming in from somewhere on top. The weird thing is that the water drops all appear to be way forward of where the trunk meets the body at the bottom of the rear window - and that is really confusing me because the section the drops are below is directly under the interior dash (where the speakers are sitting) so I am more stumped than ever. And because I have all the stuff out, I can't really lay inside with a flashlight when it is raining since the spare tire is uncovered and soaking wet sitting in an inch of water.

*IF* it turns out to be the weatherstripping that goes around the entire trunk (I have closely i inspected that and it appears to be as good as new with no tears), is there a way to repair/fix that other than buying a brand new one?

You can treat the weatherstrip with Honda, Shin-Etsu Silicone grease #0879-9013. Great stuff for seals, weatherstripping, run channels,,, anything rubber. It goes a long ways too. You just use a small dab and spread it over the piece.

Grab a bunch of towels to put in the wheel well. Then get in the trunk while someone soaks the car with a water hose (unless more hard rains are coming you way). You should be able to find where it is coming in. I know it won't be comfortable, but that really is about the easiest way I know of to find leaks. I had some leaks on my coupe and found them all by sitting in the car during a heavy rain.

Good luck

I forgot to mention I have a rear spoiler on the trunk. I suppose it is possible the water is leaking from around those bolts. I hate to mess around with it but it looks like all the bolts on the bottom side of that trunk lid are recessed and rusted. To make it even harder - any water that leaks in would fall onto and drip down a bunch of different surfaces before they ever dripped onto the floor of the trunk so where it started doesn't seem to predict at all where it ends.

*ugh*