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2001 Accord 6th Gen Five Door - Various Water Leaks

Monzta

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Sherborne
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Accord Aerodeck
I've just bought my first 6th Gen, a 2001 2.0i SE Executive after having had four 3rd Gens, a 5th and a 7th Gen.

Mechanically all seems good, certainly nothing to worry about just yet but water ingress it seems is a major problem. My fault for buying in the dark on a wet night. :(

I've Googled and searched through posts here and gained a lot of useful info about problem areas and spent today working my way through them.

The driver's side carpet is sodden, utterly soaked. A quick root about under the front wheel arch soon found a totally corroded floorpan down near the jacking point and it's starting to go on the passenger side as well hence the small puddle under the carpet there too. That's beyond my skills so a trip to my friendly bodyshop is on the cards for some professional advice.

The next problem is the load area in the hatch. I took the spare wheel out and the wheel well was swimming with water. I could see the foam underneath the side panels was drenched so I removed all the trim panels in the boot. The left side was soaked, probably an inch deep at one point. I've now got all the water out and dried as much as I can see.

I'll remove and reseal the back lights in due course but the problem seems to be the sunroof drain tubes. I opened the sunroof and carefully poured water into each corner of the sunroof aperture being careful to not let any go anywhere else. The two front drains seem fine, delivering the water onto the road under the front arches with no obvious sign of any going into the interior.

The rear drain holes are a different matter with water dripping down onto the back seats on both side and into the left side of the load area where the deep water had collected earlier. The bulk of the water was though being dropped onto the floor under the rear arches as it should so the tubes aren't blocked.

OK, so any idea why water is leaking from the sunroof tray straight into the interior?


I hate sunroofs, I never use them but have spent so much time over the years firefighting the problems they create. :wacko:
 
OK, update time.

Today I stripped out the side panels and pulled down the rear of the headlining to access the rear drains of the sunroof. I opened the sunroof and gently poured water into the drainage area around the edge. Most of the water went straight down the drainage pipe to the road but quite a lot came out of the pipe where it attaches to the sunroof drain and trickled down onto the back seats. Closer examination showed that the plastic pipe no longer sits snuggly around the drainage nozzle allowing the water to trickle out between the nozzle and the pipe. I smeared the nozzle with plenty of silicone sealant and reattached the pipe and clamp then let it set for 20 mins.

It seems much better now. If I pour a small amount of water into the sunroof drainage area now it drains down to the road with no leakage into the car. But if I pour quite a lot of water in then it still gets into the interior but I think this is because too much water inundates the area and it overflows out of the drainage channel. I'm working on the theory that only a tiny amount of water will ever get into the channel in real world situations but I'll keep and eye on it for a few days before I put the headlining and interior trim back in place.
 
Sound s good keep us posted and let us know if you need any advice pics will help also

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I wasn't able to get any photos today but this image I borrowed from ebay of an Accord Mk6 sunroof cassette shows the rear drains quite well. Anything more than a trickle of water down the outer channel will overflow into the actual sunroof rail and then into the car.

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I'll douse my car in water tomorrow to replicate a good rain shower and see if there's any water getting in still.
 
Have you checked the bulkhead for rot? if your floorpan is gone, I suspect your bulkhead is to and that can let in water, shine a torch above the footwells and see.
 
OK, I sprayed the hose over the car for a few minutes but stopped as soon as I saw water dripping down on to the rear seats again. :(

Closer inspection showed that the water doesn't seem to be coming in via the rear sunroof drains so I'm tentatively hoping that my fix in that area has worked but I'll keep a close eye out until I'm more confident.

The water getting in now is coming from the rear of the roof as you can see from the photos. It's been happening for a while as you can see by the crusty metal in places.

Driver side rear roof...
P1060878.jpg


Passenger side ...
P1060879.jpg


I'm guessing the water could be getting in through the tailgate hinges or the aerial maybe? :unsure:



Shuthan said:
Have you checked the bulkhead for rot? if your floorpan is gone, I suspect your bulkhead is to and that can let in water, shine a torch above the footwells and see.
Thanks for the advice Shuthan. As for the rot at the front this is what I'm dealing with ...

Driver side floorpan, not pretty and right by a critical structural point ...
P1060871.jpg


Passenger side floorpan, not as bad ...
P1060874.jpg



As for the bulkhead, I'm guessing it's the really tight area between the suspension turrets and the firewall that's the problem. There was a lot of leaf matter stuck down there (perfect to hold wet against the metal) which I vacuumed out. This is what I can see from above. I couldn't actually feel any holes but will shine a very bright torch up under the dash tonight and look under the bonnet again and see if I can see any light coming through.

Driver side bulkhead ...
P1060876.jpg


And passenger side. It had a lot less rubbish down there and looks a bit better ...
P1060877.jpg
 
That looks quite bad, and I wouldn't even want to see the chassis legs behind the wings. I think it may have had its day unfortunately mate unless you are willing to put money and time into repairing it all but from the pictures, looks like its a long road. Issue is it seemed to never have been undersealed and its taken its toll now.
 
That's a shame as the car is mechanically so good with lots of service history. I had a funny feeling this one wasn't going to work out though. :(
 
Always the case, these cars never fail mechanically but rust takes over on them, it may be worth cutting your losses and buying another cleaner Accord and then take care of it from the start, or fix this one if you like it :)
 
Thanks for pics looks quite bad my 2003 accord has no leaks the only problem I have is slight underside rust no rot and o/s passenger door need some work at top

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It's such a shame to have to get rid of the car (and take the big financial hit in the process). Despite having regular servicing and all mechanical work seen to it looks like the previous owners have totally ignored the bodywork. So another low mileage and otherwise very nice Accord is destined for the scrapper. :(
 
Its sad, but you can get another Accord like yours for sub 1K and now you know to do all the checks and look after the next one, underseal is a MUST, and avoid winter roads too where salt is spread.

If you feel like a project, don't let anyone put you off doing it.
 
Thanks for all your advice gents, it's much appreciated.

Before I get rid of the car I will stop by my local body shop and just let him look at it and see what sort of figures he quotes to repair. He did a good job on my Aerodeck three years ago. Chances are it'll be astronomical numbers and the final decision will be to get rid of the car but it does drive so nicely it would be nice to save it if possible.
 
Shuthan said:
Saving it will be nice if possible but have a think about it anyways mate.
I'm almost certain it's the end of the road for the car but I'm just fascinated to see what my bodywork guy says.
 
Update time.

I decided to get my Accord fixed in the end. Dennis my bodyshop guy looked underneath and reckoned it was fixable. The driver's side was the worst (see photos in earlier post) and the passenger side didn't look too bad. In the end it was the other way around. The driver's side he had ground back and new metal welded in in no time. The passenger side though ended up a whole new can of worms. To cut a long story short, both sided were repaired and the various leaks in the roof traced and seam sealed,

I got the car back last week but Dennis said he wasn't 100% sure all the leaks were fixed until all the interior was removed and the whole car dried out and soak tested. I managed to get all the seats, carpet and sound deadening out this weekend. I left the carpet in the sun to dry and mopped up all the water inside then started spraying the car with a hose. Basically all the places I'd identified as a leak area were now dry but annoyingly a little puddle formed in both front footwells. Grrrr. :angry:

After a lot of dismantling and swearing I managed to clear a space up behind the driver's side of the dash and found some corrosion that was letting water in from the N/S/F wheelarch. Dennis should be able to fix this without too much problem (I hope). The leak on the passenger side though is high up behind the dash, I can just about get a fingertip on a crumbly area under the sound deadening but I can't see it. Welding will be impossible due to the risk of fire so I really need to get the dash off somehow but I can't find any guides to help me do this. If one exists can you please point me in the right direction?

I'll get some photos of where I'm up to in due course.
 
Monzta said:
Update time.

I decided to get my Accord fixed in the end. Dennis my bodyshop guy looked underneath and reckoned it was fixable. The driver's side was the worst (see photos in earlier post) and the passenger side didn't look too bad. In the end it was the other way around. The driver's side he had ground back and new metal welded in in no time. The passenger side though ended up a whole new can of worms. To cut a long story short, both sided were repaired and the various leaks in the roof traced and seam sealed,

I got the car back last week but Dennis said he wasn't 100% sure all the leaks were fixed until all the interior was removed and the whole car dried out and soak tested. I managed to get all the seats, carpet and sound deadening out this weekend. I left the carpet in the sun to dry and mopped up all the water inside then started spraying the car with a hose. Basically all the places I'd identified as a leak area were now dry but annoyingly a little puddle formed in both front footwells. Grrrr. :angry:

After a lot of dismantling and swearing I managed to clear a space up behind the driver's side of the dash and found some corrosion that was letting water in from the N/S/F wheelarch. Dennis should be able to fix this without too much problem (I hope). The leak on the passenger side though is high up behind the dash, I can just about get a fingertip on a crumbly area under the sound deadening but I can't see it. Welding will be impossible due to the risk of fire so I really need to get the dash off somehow but I can't find any guides to help me do this. If one exists can you please point me in the right direction?

I'll get some photos of where I'm up to in due course.
Good to see your fixing it despite being uneconomical.

For dashboard download the ESM here, everything is there: http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/topic/8526-accord-6th-gen-and-earlier-manuals/
 
freddofrog said:
A very interesting "project" , very brave too
Haha, not a 'project' I could be doing with right now. I just wanted a decent family car so I could spend my time and money on my Aerodeck instead. :(
 
The work progresses. It's very much two steps forward and one back at the moment ... but I'm getting there slowly.

The driver's side footwell rot has been cut out and plenty of new metal welded in. The car is going back to Dennis on Thursday to have this hole repaired higher up in the O/S/F wheelarch ...

P1070027.jpg


The same hole from underneath the dash ...

P1070039.jpg



The passenger side footwell seems to have stopped leaking strangely enough. It rained torrentially on Saturday night, I hosed the car down on Sunday (including spraying up under the wheelarch and on the bulkhead) and it's rained steadily all day today ... and not so much as a trickle has come in. I'll continue to watch that for now.

I did though remove the plastic cover under the wipers on Saturday afternoon and found a hell of a lot of leaf matter when I took it off ... enough to grow a decent crop of spuds. After clearing it out I found no sign of rust but wondered if the crud that was collected there could perhaps have been the cause of the water ingress on that side. :unsure:

P1070031.jpg



The spare wheel well was looking very scruffy with surface rust from the water that had been collecting there, so I rubbed it all down, treated it with Rust Remedy and gave it four good coats of Smoothrite.

P1070032.jpg


Both sides in the hatch area were soaking after the Saturday night downpour. Using a more scientific approach to spraying water over the rear of the car narrowed it down to two specific leaks ... one was coming past a grommit that had become brittle and a small one from the O/S/R light. A bit of silicon on the taillight and a new grommet soon sorted that side out.

P1070033.jpg



The passenger side though has been a bigger challenge. There were multiple leaks from grommets, the clips that retain the rear bumper and there was sizeable big leak from the sunroof drain tube. I took the bumper off on that side, cleaned it all up, siliconed it and put it back. After a good spray with the hose no more water was coming in.

P1070034.jpg



But no hose can really replicate proper rain so today after a day of steady rain I found yet another puddle on the left side of the load area. :(

After a lot of faffing about I finally noticed a thin line of water trickling down the seam beyond the sunroof drain. I have no idea where on earth it could be coming from as I can't see that far up. Any advice from anyone who's had the same issue would be really appreciated.

20170515_203255.jpg
20170515_180014.jpg
 
OK, the ongoing leaks continue.

I've been working to fix the leak into the N/S/R hatch area (see photos at the top) and had a potentially eureka moment. I'm about 80% sure that the C-pillar garnish is the culprit. I removed it but managed to break the bottom clip that holds it in. But any water getting past this trim would leak into the area that's been the issue.

In the meantime I've taped over the three holes ... now I wait for it to rain.

BTW, If anyone has an unbroken lower clip and are happy to sell it that would be great.

20170716_174835.jpg
20170716_174854.jpg
 
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