Purple Haze

Hi, shortly after having my new roof installed by a Honda dealer, I washed my car and the trunk flooded. I brought my S2k in to them for the flooding and they charged me $350 to unclog the drain holes. I expressed concern that the problem was with the initial roof installation, but they said no.

Five months later, one of the next times I washed my car, the trunk is flooded again. The car is in for a diagnosis.

I have parked my car in the exact same spot for 10 years and the trunk has never flooded until the new roof was installed by the Honda dealer. My questions are:

1. Could the flooded trunk be caused by improper roof installation? If so, what exactly would be the cause?

2. Could an improper roof installation cause the drain holes to clog prematurely? I ask this in case the dealer tells me the drain holes are clogged again.

Thank you for any help, I could use it.

Chuck S

More dealer problems.

Can't answer specifics but bungled roof installations cause flooded trunks. Usually the result of guys doing this in their garage. There are several guys here who are specialists of a sort on roof installations who will hopefully respond. As I recall the threads the entire roof has to be removed and put back together properly.

-- Chuck

Midnightdennis

Do you mean the soft top or hardtop? Either way, you can check the drain holes yourself by removing the hardtop with a buddy or lowering the soft top about halfway.

I would have definitely pushed back on the $350 charge. You can always take the S to another dealer/mechanic. If you can get a mechanic to agree with you, that would give you more leverage.

If the only thing that changed was a new soft top then yes, it was improperly installed and caused your flooding issue.

jts09

I had a similar problem on the '06 S I purchased last fall. It had a new roof, but I was getting water in the trunk. It turned out that the rain rails were not installed correctly when the top was replaced. Once this was corrected, I haven't had issues.

AngryTurtle

I had this problem after an top install. The nuts that hold the rain on were not tight.

MrFunk

I'm sure whoever did the install at the dealership had never done it before. How many S2000 new roof installs do you think any particular dealership see's in a year? 0-1?

Fokker

From what you're describing, they either didn't reinstall the rain rail or installed it improperly. I ran across this with my first S, whoever put on the aftermarket top left the rain rail off entirely and after every wash I would get significant water intrusion into the trunk.

The rain rail is a v-shaped catch pocket that runs the length of the perimeter behind the top where it attaches to the body and directs water to the drains. Without it, the water just runs down into the trunk.

CMK

No kidding. I'm shocked any dealership would even attempt it. Why wouldn't they subcontract with an upholstery shop? Honda has made exactly ONE convertible available in the US market in the last 50 years.

Car Analogy

Wait, a dealership screwed something up, then charged you to correct their error? And didn't even actually fix anything, and the issue they caused is still there?

This will surprise exactly no one. Standard Dealer Operating Procedure.

2poor2mod

Possible causes:

• Rain rail not properly secured
• Rain rail not re-installed
• Clogged gutters overflowing into body of the car
• Worn out belt molding(this is the hard molding at the base of the top attached to the body.)
  • The belt molding has weather stripping that is attached to it and can get worn out shrunk and ineffectively keep out water