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I live in UK and winter season is wet to say the least - I just found a swimming pool in the back on my Cadillac in spare wheel compartment. It's not to close to the edge but not to far ether.

The way I see it my options are

  • Leave it. It might attract rust and overflow in to trunk where I sometimes keep my laptop and they don't go well with water. But if it does not in 2-3 months and weather becomes warmer and less rainy it might dry out by itself.

  • Take the tire out then get a cup and .... This will not solve underlying problem and might become a chore that I have to do from time to time. Still this is most straightforward solution with minimal possibility of doing more harm.

  • Drill a hole. This does sound like a permanent solution, but I am not sure what's 'under the ice', and what other bigger damage I could do. Other thing is - manufacturer could have done the holes and yet he didn't so there might be a reason for that.

What would be most appropriate situation?

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    Often there is a plugged hole at the bottom of the trunk for this reason, check if it's there. If it's not - first make sure that you find the way water gets in.
    – I have no idea what I'm doing
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 16:05

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I wouldn't recommend drilling the hole since you don't know what's under it. If the gas (petrol) tank is under the trunk, and you go to far, you could ding or puncture the tank. Not pretty, and expensive to fix. If the open road is under it, then spray from the road could end up entering the car that way.

Honestly the best solution is to find out where the water is coming from and eliminate that source. Check the carpet to see if it's wetness pattern tells you if it's seeping through there. Dry everything out and hit the trunk with a water hose and see if any water shows up inside, possibly through a leaky trunk (boot) gasket. With the volume of water you're seeing either you haven't looked in there for a very long time (I know I have not looked under my trunk (boot) deck in forever) or there is a pretty big leak. And if your spare is up to pressure and there are no bubbles coming from it as it sits under water, you found a great way to check your spare tire for leaks :-)

There are manual fluid transfer pumps available if you don't want to do the bucket brigade..

Hope that helps!

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    You can also get small fluid transfer pumps which hook up to a drill. This will drain it rather quickly. If a hole is drilled, ensure you put some POR15 or some other encapsulator on it to keep the rust at bay.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 17:46

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