99 Mercury Mystique water leak from trunk fix

I resolved this issue on my 99 Mystique hopefully if you run into this it’ll help you as well.

Basically the problem on this car is that the rubber seal on top of the rear tail light fixture gets worn and
is leaky. The entire piece is a solid snap in assembly which makes it risky that the plastic will crack.

What you’ll notice at first is when you open the trunk that water will rain down on you coming from the
tail lights. What is happening is that water leaks into the area behind the tail light assembly and
will also go into the rear brake light plastic area’s. Normally when the trunk is closed, the water
just sits there.. typically the drain holes are plugged and in addition the drain hole is not low enough to
drain all the water (it is set up too high). Upon opening the trunk, the water now shifts and will pour
out of the area where the light bulb goes through. Surprise!

There are two ways to fix this… one is to disassemble the entire assembly and repair or seal the rubber
gasket to make it seal.

Now there’s another way.. more expensive and easy… not fancy.. but practical. I took silicon sealant
(note the clear brand, outdoor application). Just take a very thin bead with enough to seal the assembly.

Once it dries it’ll be transparent and waterproof.