i took off the old high rise spoiler i had on my car and put in some rubber washers with screws to seal it up. next thing i know there is a puddle of water in my trunk. i thought it was because i didn't seal it up tight enough, but i checked all around and it isn't coming from there. then i noticed a bunch of water on the rubber seals for the hatch. i figure what happened is because the wing was on there for so long that seal got compressed and now that the weight isn't on there it's letting water in. i know i need to replace the seals but my main question is should i pull up all the trunk carpet to make sure there's no rust or can i just dry it out w/o pulling everything out?

Pull the carpet, and dry it out good. Last thing you want is mold in the car, and it will stink to high hell. Been there unfortunatly.

i agree with the doc. pull the carpet to dry it out cause mold is nasty. also can you adjust the hatch at all. it has the rubber stoppers at the ends. you may be able to adjust them

i'll try to adjust them and i'll pull the carpet out tomorrow to dry it out. believe me, i know about the smell, i just thought i had some old shoes or something hiding in there.

Another thing to try, is go toa pet store or hardware store and get clear silicone. Cover the bolt threads with it and then screw them down, the silicone will squish up and seal. That's what I did on mine.

There seems to be a problem with 3rd-gens and the rear hatch leaking. Water wicks past on the black plastic peice that transitions the seal surface from the glass hatch to the metal filler panel. I even tried installing a brand new GM hatch seal on my 84 T/A and it still leaked. I put a thin layer of silicone grease(for O-rings and high vacuum equipment) where it was leaking and that fixed the problem. The only downside is that it attracts dirt.