I have discovered a design flaw that allows water to enter the right side of the trunk of Cavaliers and Sunfires. On the right side of the trunk, behind the carpet there is a Air Pressure Relief Valve. This valve has two small rubber flaps that flip out when the trunk lid or a door is closed. The valve is sensitive enough it will open by blowing on it.
From the outside, this valve is located directly behind the rear right wheel. The turbulence created when driving is enough to open this valve allowing water and road grime into the trunk of the car.
Evidence of this can be found by lifting the carpet in the trunk after driving in the rain at highway speeds. You will see a collection of silt, water and other road grime.
Concerns, other that rust. If water and road grime can enter than so can carbon monoxide.
Here is a link I have founnd with more details on this
http://www.coheadquarters.com/COMotoVeh/coMotoVeh1.htm
well, seeing as i never smell any CO in my trunk, i dont keep anyone in my trunk to breathe it in, and the muffler tip exit is AFTER the relief valve, i dont see this as an issue. if you're rolling, the exhaust is gonna go outwards, not upwards. only when the car is standing still could it go upwards (but not likely since the muffler points outside the rear of the car), there wouldn't be any turbulence to cause the flap to open. so as far as i know, no problem for me. more than likely that guy has a different problem and blamed it to be on that.
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
You guys are good! I had my Sunfire a year before I found this out. Any fix for this? I'm getting tired of having a wet trunk. I guess there's alway duct tape
Me and my buddy both had trunk leak problems. His leaked in rain, mine leaked in the carwash. We both fried amps as a result of water gettin in.
I didnt do any investigation and just assumed it was coming in the top. So I pull off the rubber seal and put some silcone glue under it, then added some storm-door weather stripping on the trunk lid itself where it would meet the factory seal. Hasn't leaked since.
-- The The One One --
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I'm just learning about this now. And it does explain how water gets into the trunk of my Sunfire, and the Cavalier I had before it.
I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
just got my fire 3 months ago and I just took a look and it looks like my trunk has been wet before to...never noticed it though, so I guess just tape it up or something. air pres. valve in a trunk? bull*^%#
what year sunfires have this prob? i haven't had any probs w/my o2 retaining water...i used to have a 95 escort that did that, couldn't keep anything in the trunk b/c the spare tire well was almost always full of water, the cardboard over the spare was warped and the carpet got moldey....ewwww
tape only works so long, i took out the relief valve and tape lasted aboot a year and a half, soon to be a freshly welded plate in its place.
good luck with your own methods of correcting problems.
My car was letting water in right behind the taillights.... I siliconed them in- no problems since...
I also drilled a 3/8" hole in my trunk to let the water drain out should any get in there...
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