[RenegadeXR]

Originally Posted by tomlink

Sunday I finally got down to removing the lamp, and there was an inch of water in it. I can't say for sure, but I think the bulb connection at the back was loose.

So one thing I notice is that -- and I'm not sure if it's this way on all couple-style cars -- but GM designed the Camaro to have all water drain through two channels that go down the sides of the trunk's lip and then exit down through the tail lamp assembly through the bumper cover. You know those two plastic pieces that sit ontop of the tail lamps with 3 tree fasteners each? The water is channeled to rush down underneath that general area. You can observe it by dumping water down your rear windshield and opening your trunk right after, or after washing your car.

I guess for practical purposes there's no other way to have designed this, but yes, not having the round elbow connectors fastened to the back of the lamps can definitely cause water intrusion if enough water was rushing in at once.

The leftmost driver side one has a particularly weird angle because you need to start it at the 5 o-clock position, which basically hits the inner metal of the bumper, and turn it counter-clockwise to the 3 o-clock position. Anyway, to make life easier, I've found you can actually safely bend the metal that holds the tail lamps back a little. It will snap back to its original position as soon as you let go. You can bend it in or out using one had to tilt the tail lamps up or down a little and give yourself up to 1/2 an inch of extra space as you're screwing that elbow connector in for the lamp harness with the other hand, and that can be a life-saver if in close quarters or if the harness doesn't have much slack to complete the turning motion.

Another thing to be mindful of: If you have a sun roof, there are a couple tubes that run down into the trunk area and feed the water through the same exit point also out the rear bumper cover. If those tubes get disconnected from their grommets, you'll end up with standing water inside your actual trunk cargo space, and that can increase the humidity in the trunk and also cause water intrusion into the lamps even if they have a good seal.