Why is my bathroom light fixture still filling with water after a plumbing repair?

Turn off the breaker to that bathroom right now. You’re essentially living with a bucket of water wired directly into your electrical system, and that is a massive fire risk. The yellowish tint is a dead giveaway that the water is either coming from a toilet or it’s soaking through the subfloor and pulling out old tannins and dirt from the wood joists. Either way, it’s not just "clean" water, and the issue is definatly not resolved. The timing is the biggest clue here. If it starts in the morning and stops by evening, it’s almost certainly tied to when the people upstairs are using their bathroom for their morning routines. Your landlord likely patched a visible pipe but didn't actualy find the source of the leak. This usually happens with a **failed wax ring** under a toilet or a leaking shower drain flange. When they take their morning showers or use the facilities before work, the water pools up and slowly drips down through your light's junction box.

You need to tell the landlord to stop guessing and actually test the fixtures. He should pull the toilet upstairs to inspect the wax seal and run the shower for twenty minutes while someone watches your ceiling with the light fixture removed. Just shrugging his shoulders isn't an option when there's an active electrical hazard and potential structural damage involved. If the water is still coming through, the "fix" he did last week was either a total band-aid or he was looking at the wrong pipe entirely.

Keep that light cover off and the power killed until a professional actually verifies the leak is gone. Water follows the path of least resistance, and right now, your wiring is that path. If the landlord keeps stalling, check your local housing codes becasue a leaking ceiling over electrical components makes a unit legally uninhabitable in most jurisdictions.

If the timing is that consistent, I wonder if the landlord checked the tub overflow pipe. I had a friend whose ceiling leaked only when her kids splashed too much or filled the bath realy high. If he only looked at the main drain, he might have missed the connection behind the wall.

Also, if that yellow liquid is actualy soaking through the wood joists like you said, does that mean the ceiling is basically rotting? I'm totally new to this, but I'd be terrified of the whole thing just caving in one morning if the wood is getting that saturated every single day.

Another thing to consider is a hairline crack in the shower pan or failing grout. If the upstairs neighbors are taking long showers in the morning, that water coud be seeping thru the floor before it even hits a pipe. Landlords often ignore the 'non-plumbing' stuff like caulk lines or tile integrity.

If the water stops by dinner, it's definitely usage-related. Have him check the seal where the tub meets the floor or the shower door tracks. Sometimes water just splashes out and finds the easiest hole, which unfortunately happens to be your light fixture.

Honestly, have him check the sink drain upstairs too. Everyone talks about the shower or toilet, but if they're doing a full morning routine—shaving, washing faces—that P-trap or the pop-up assembly could be the culprit.

If the yellow stuff is really gross, it might even be old gunk from a slow-draining sink pipe that’s finally let go. I've seen plenty of 'fixed' leaks start right back up beacuse the landlord used a cheap patch kit or some tape instead of acutally replacing the cracked section of pipe.

Check the shower arm behind the wall upstairs. If the plumber’s tape is shot or the arm isn't seated right, water can spray back into the wall cavity every time they turn the shower on. It follows the pipe, hits the subfloor, and drips right into your junction box. The landlord might've missed it if he only checked the drain. That yellow tint often comes from water soaking trough old fiberglass insulation or aged wood. Tell him to pull the escutcheon plate off the shower handle and arm to check for leaks inside the wall while the water is acutally running. If it's bone dry there, check the toilet supply line—those can weep just enugh to cause a mess without a puddle on the floor.