Hello, I am new to this forum. I made friends with an Oldsmobile collector at the ''07 Harrison, OH Oldsmobile show last summer and he told me about this website. I recently sold my Z28 for something more practical and ended up purchasing a very clean 1993 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight Royale. The vehicle is plum with maroon cloth interior and only 96k on the clock. The original owners were an elderly couple that bought the car new in early ''93 and replaced it with a newer Buick.


Anyway, very recently the car has developed a serious problem with leaking water onto the back seat floors after it rains or gets washed. The weather stripping around the doors appears to be intact and in great condition. If you compare the back seat floors to a cereal bowl, there are no wet areas where water runs down the carpet to form the puddle. It is almost as if the water is coming from under the carpet? By accident I ran my hands between the back seats (back rest and seat) and both sides are soaked. I pulled the seat back out slightly and ran my hand behind the seat and sheet metal and that area is also saturated on both sides. There is also very little water on the driver side front after the car gets wet. I''m not sure if there is a leak or water is running up from the back seat floor to the front. I am preparing to remove the seats tomorrow and dig further into this mystery.. if anyone has had this problem with a similar model or knows what the problem may be, any help is appreciated. Thanks, Joe

 

Have you looked closely under the car to see if there are any rotted areas? Another question is: Has the glass ever been replaced?? If so, the cause of the leak might be a leak in the adhesive used to seal the weather stripping. If that is not done correctly it can be a source of leaks even if the weather stripping looks perfect.


Just my thoughts. Let me know how you make out with the problem.


Regards


Adam

 

Thanks Adam. Well my worst fears came true and after getting the car in the air and pulling both rear wheels off, ROT! Somehow only the rear passenger wheel well was almost completely rotted through. All other areas under the car (floor pans, trunk, body..) are rust free. My guess is that the car was likely driven through salt at some point in the past and parked for quite a long time. A friend helped remove the back seat and pull the carpet back where we sucked up about 2-3 gallons of water with the shop-vac. The interior is drying out at the moment. We fabricated some sheet metal and tacked it over the rusted areas of the wheel well, siliconed around the sheet metal and rust proofed everything. This should last for about a year or two but I don''t plan on keeping the car that long anyway. Kinda want a 90''s Olds 98.


It''s a shame this had to happen. The rest of the car is rust-free and looks brand new.