It is a common problem on at least early 1990s Civics. One tipoff for me was
water appearing in the taillight assemblies.

If you're handy, next time you can buy the gaskets for the taillight assemblies
and maybe replace them yourself.

I removed mine and put a bead of silicone on all mating surfaces. Been holding
fine for over a year now.

The silicone will be annoying to clean off, though, next time I need to re-seal
the assemblies.

"RLN" <Rnakonec@shaw.ca> wrote
> Hi:
>
> I purchased a used '97 Honda Civic Hatchback 6 months ago and all was well
> until we had about 2 weeks of rainy weather. Then, passengers in ther rear
> seat noticed it "felt wet", especially when the car was braking. Further
> investigation revealed that there was about 3 inches of water in the tire
> well! When the brakes were applied, the water "sloshed" from the tire well
> and ended up under the rear seat!!
>
> I took it to the dealer and they replaced the seal on both rear tail light
> assemblies. Is this a common problem with Civics, or was mine the "lucky"
> one?
>
> Thanks,
> Ron