My '64 Dart has a lot of water in it, but I haven't figure out how it's getting in. Everything in the trunk is damp, and there's a great deal of condensation on the inside of the trunk lid and "roofs" of the quarter panels, all the way forward and all the way back. I don't find puddles of standing water -- I shoved wads of paper towel down into the side gaps between the trunk floor and the quarter panels, but they didn't come back up soggy. However, the car is parked nose-down, and the left side of the carpet is soaked clear up past the front seat! There is always condensation on the inside of the glass, too...clearly there's a lot of water getting into the car.

The previous owner installed a new trunk weatherstrip, which appears to be intact, though I haven't dusted it with chalk or foot powder to make sure it's sealing (gotta do that). The previous owner also seems to have gone to great lengths trying to seal the backglass to the body. There's silicone at the gasket-to-glass and gasket-to-body junctions. And there are non-stock drain tubes running from the forward ceiling of the trunk compartment (below/forward of the backglass gasket) to the wheelwells. Clearly this car has had a difficult-to-trace water leak back there for quite some time.

I'm not seeing evidence of water leakage thru the taillamp gaskets or other obvious places. Plainly I've got some detective work to do. Anyone think of any obvious culprits I may be overlooking?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

My vote would be for the backglass. I have not been able to get mine to seal after having it out to paint the car. Very hard to tell exactly where on the gasket it's coming from, but I have ruled out everything else besides the glass gasket. One way to see is get in the trunk with a flashlight and have a friend hit the car with a hose in the leakable spots.

Happy hunting,

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I'd say the glass also. Could also be a pin hole around the body seams/welds in the rear.

Thanks - I may hunt up a new gasket and have the glass shop pretend it's a modern car (i.e., glue the glass to the gasket and the gasket to the car with urethane).

Fortunately for the car, it'll have a bunch of months to stand open in a dry garage, drying out.

Unfortunately for me, that's because our Seattle trip is ending in a couple of days. We do not wish to leave.

Fortunately, we'll be back in Springtime (and we're gonna do a slant-6 get-together, durnit!)

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

In both my a-bodies there are small leaks in the trunk that run down the uprights that meet the insides of the tubs?

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madam im adam

I had this problem with our 64 Dart and it was caused by rust holes along the backglass lower gasket channel.
The channel is a low spot with no drain so it collects and holds water... then the spring clips that hold the SST trim start to rust, that rust moves to the surrounding sheetmetal where the hold down screw went-in.

If you lay-down in the trunk with a flashlight and inspect the bottom of the channel, you will see any problem spots... or better stated, "the problem spots". Usually all 63-66 darts have some rust in the outer corners of the backglass channel.

As an FYI, I was able to remove the SST trim, scrape and clean the area, (both sides) treat it with POR-15, then apply epoxy to seal-up the pin holes.
DD

Yep. Another vote for the backglass weatherstrip/rust holes. This is common in cars around here.

Also, another vote for a spring Seattle area slant six get-together.

Good info, thanks. Not looking forward to what I guess I'm sure to find in there!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Here's one for you. I have a similar leak. The culprit is the seam sealer along the rain channel. The sealer has separated from the roof and allows water to leak down the inside of the C pillar. Which in my case dumps a lot of water under the rear seat. I wouldn't have found it without ripping the headliner out, which by the way had gotten rather nasty smelling along with the particle board panels and rear seat.

I had the windshield guys at my house a few weeks ago and one of the guys thats been doing it for a few decades told me that sealing the windows with silicone will just trap moisture in between the silicone and metal, causing it to rust. Not sure if thats true or not but if it is, I'd have it redone with that black stuff so it doesn't come back to haunt you.

Bright sunny day today, so I opened the trunk and had a close look...Whoo dogie, someone's been here before! There are gobs of caulk(! Look like bathtub variety) goobered all over the underside of the backglass channel. It's not working; there's a great deal of water up there, too. Looks like time for some bodywork

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I found it's always the body with water leaks. My '73 rusted out at the lower portion of the back glass... underneath the chrome striping.. which with a few wiggles popped right out. So I left it out, made a new formed channel with some bondo. Also rust took over right towards the back of the trunk lid.... water poured in, and ate away at the gutters towards the back... making some fine holes on either side.

I bought mine with massive clear silicone caulking around the windshield... which I know never fixed the previous owners problem. As usual with A-bodies.... it was the wiper blade in-body bushings that were basically extinct and had vanished.

Hope that takes care of any dart owners water leaks lol..

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Owner of a 1973 Dodge Dart /6 Swinger

I had a similar problem with a 1967 Mercury Cougar...it had a shallow angle sloping rear glass package that pooled water at the lower corners of the rear window. Eventually the water found its way into the trunk. I removed the glass when I painted the car...fixed every spot I could and painted, then sealed and reinstalled the rear glass. Six years later the leaks were back....sigh. You may find it difficult to overcome the design limits of the car and Mother Nature's ability to get water in the trunk...

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Slanted D150