Water in the trunk (again) pics inside.

[Joylove]

Well my boot (trunk) is like the local swimming baths. Yet today was bright and I took to opening the roof. As usual with any leak you are looking for the high and dry place.

To find the source of the leak you need to see dry and wet areas and trace the water up to the leak. Obviously humidity and driving can cause water to move about quite a lot too.

My boot was always so very wet that the leak had to be major. After some heavy rain it got this bad.



*glub, glub, glub!*

Anyway I changed the boot opening rubber seal and bought new light seals. When lowering the roof today I noticed significant amounts of water in the roof stowage area (not unexpected, the rest of the boot is sopping wet but the drain holes are cleared and checked)

But I also found *dust*! Lovely dry dust! I'd found somewhere water wasn't getting in and could compare it to other areas.

So the water is coming in at the corners of the roof stowage area.

The adjusters are already at their lowest on on side.

A new rubber seal (51718132674) (£57) and I should be home and dry

[morzada]

I had water coming in through the hatch on my Mazda. After a pretty exhaustive attempt to figure out where the leak was coming from - including having my 5 year old sit back there with everything out while I drenched the car with a hose, I had an inspiration (5-yr old's attention span wasn't working out for me...).

I got some washable markers (my original though was chalk, but it didn't adhere too well) and traced a line around all the gaskets, closed it up and took a hose to it. After a thorough flushing I found where the water was coming in by observing where the marker was washed away.

In my case it turned out that water was getting behind the door seal on the outside, running down the slope of the hatch where it hit a metal seam, then jumped to the other side. A surprising amount of water got in that way. At one point I had an inch in the spare well.

Hope this helps.

EJT

[Joylove]

Thanks, I'd originally hope to use chalk dust but was waiting for the car to dry out in summer before starting. Washable markers is a good idea, much easier to clean up.

[rebel.ranter]

Hi,
are you parking on a hill by any chance? I found that when I had parked on a hill nose pointing upwards that the car was more suseptible to water flooding in the trunk (boot). There are two drain channels that run from the folding top compartment (area where the soft top folds into).
These drains can get blocked at either end. Clear any debris from the very corners of the drain holes inside the folding top compartment. The drains are identifiable by the little rubber "grit guards", basically they are rubber grommets with little upward facing rubber legs to prevent bits of debris getting into the drain channel.
The drain holes can also get blocked from the other end. The drains are visible underneath the car, you have to look at it closely to see them, they are not rubber tubing or anything, they look like two little bends in the metal about 4mm in diameter, one at each side of the car about 10cm in from the side of the car. They are directly below the back seat.
To test that these channels are clear you need to pour some water in at the top (from inside the folding top compartment). If nothing comes out at the bottom then that's you problem. Mine were full of mud at the bottom, I cleared them out with a piece of metal hanger as I poured water in from the top.

[Joylove]

Yep done the drain holes, and posted photos, and put the link in my signature. I was concerned by just how much water was in the back of the roof stowage area, even though it was draining at the front. The stowage area isn't flat and it had little pools 1/2inch deep from just one night of rain.

The ideal is to have no water getting in at all, so the drain holes have nothing to do.

I think the tonneau catches are supposed to have free-to-rotate round plastic bobbins around the horizontal bar that fits in the escapement. Mine have worn away. This means the tonneau isn't pulled in as tightly as it was when new.

[rebel.ranter]

The only other thing I can think of is the seals on the rear lights. I had an e34 that I fitted red/white rear lights to but the seals were poor (they were Depo aftermarketunits) & I had the same issue as you have. Ihink you will have to go the route of using chlk or talcum powder to trace where the flow is coming from.

[morzada]

I should've mentioned... when I replaced the gasket where the leak was on my car, I put a bead of silicone on the metal edge that the gasket crimps to. Just squeezing it on didn't solve the problem. The silicone did.

[Joylove]

Seal replaced, adjusters adjusted, leak sorted.