How to fix 230 boot leaks (new version)

[Chris Eleazar]

HI all,
thanks for all the data. I know its a few years since. Can anyone tell me has the seal held up over time. I am about to start working on my boot lid leak issue, boot lid lock stiff, PSE pump not operating the central locking.
As an extra, i am considering making a rubber / silicon boot for the PSE pump protecting it from water should any leaks occur in the future.

 

[LostKiwi]

HI all,
thanks for all the data. I know its a few years since. Can anyone tell me has the seal held up over time. I am about to start working on my boot lid leak issue, boot lid lock stiff, PSE pump not operating the central locking.
As an extra, i am considering making a rubber / silicon boot for the PSE pump protecting it from water should any leaks occur in the future.

I have Malcolm's car he originally did. The boot is still bone dry.

 

[flowrider]

I followed Malcolm's guide almost 4 years ago and my boot seal is still water tight.

 

[Zapruder's next movie]

Greetings from Melbourne Australia
****************************

I assume you take members from the antipodes. That would only be fair; we took enough of your convict rabble in the nineteenth century.

Wow - what a post! There's nothing this comprehensive on the other two big forums. It's lockdown here so I tackled my water ingress to the boot.

Got the seal off in one piece. I did it with the roof open - there's plenty of access to the seal. Just raise the roof up with the button in the boot.

I'm shocked at the rust on the steel panel that holds the screen.

Is this a common find? I'm going to clean it all up and apply rust converter then paint over it.

My seal had sealer only on the two ends where the two studs are. No sealer anywhere else. I wonder if this was a factory fit or an earlier dealer bodge?

Interestingly my seal on the screen and two C-pillar seals appear to be in perfect nick. No distortion. Perhaps a result of the car being garaged all its life.

I won't get a chance to check them until the screen seal is back and dry. Here's hoping they're OK.

Comments gratefully received

Tom

 

[Graham Tricker]

I have just repaired the leak in my 2009 350SL with 20K miles on the clock and all the rubber seals were in excellent condition. They looked new in fact.

Being an engineer I have looked into this problem and I cannot understate how important these two pieces of pipe are to effect this repair. What also happens is over time the adhesive holding the rubber seals in place starts to degrade and allows the C-Pillar seals to sag. This allows water to ingress in and also puts out the alignment of the C-Pillar seals with the boot seals, or possibly deforming the seals. This is where the two pieces of pipe come in, and after the Loctite is applied the pipes force the rubbers into their correct position, as in lifting the C-Pillar seals upwards into their correct position. If you leave these in situ, they will hold everything perfectly in place. I used a slightly different design which supports the seals all along the base of the C-Pillar. Incidentally, my rear screen seal was OK. It was the C-Pillar seals that were the problem.

 

[Oldcodger]

I have just repaired the leak in my 2009 350SL with 20K miles on the clock and all the rubber seals were in excellent condition. They looked new in fact.

Being an engineer I have looked into this problem and I cannot understate how important these two pieces of pipe are to effect this repair. What also happens is over time the adhesive holding the rubber seals in place starts to degrade and allows the C-Pillar seals to sag. This allows water to ingress in and also puts out the alignment of the C-Pillar seals with the boot seals, or possibly deforming the seals. This is where the two pieces of pipe come in, and after the Loctite is applied the pipes force the rubbers into their correct position, as in lifting the C-Pillar seals upwards into their correct position. If you leave these in situ, they will hold everything perfectly in place. I used a slightly different design which supports the seals all along the base of the C-Pillar. Incidentally, my rear screen seal was OK. It was the C-Pillar seals that were the problem.

Sounds good - be nice to see a few pics

 

[dscam]

This thread on the ‘other forum’ is worth a read ref the issues discussed here:

https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/threads/r230-boot-seal-leaks.264696/

 

[Graham Tricker]

I used a new seal rubber kit from MB. It cost about £120 but this did not fix my leak. My leak was from the two C Pillar seals and sealing these and the use of the 2 hose tools left in place fixed the problem. The tool helps to keep the C Pillar seals in place as the rubber softens and sags allowing the water to get in and past the seal. The hose tool helps to push the seal up in place and prevent the leak. I used this after using a small amount of Loctite sealant around the base of the seal. Note: read the Loctite data sheet - its super flexible sealant but take 7 days to cure!

Here is my tool for the C-Pillar:

This is the hose tool I used. This one has got compressed so I will look for a stiffer reinforced pipe that won't compress so easily.

Here is the hose tool installed pushing the rubber seal upwards. It is important to check the position of the seal flaps to make sure they are in the correct position and will overlap to make a good water tight seal.

 

[roadster198]

I used a new seal rubber kit from MB. It cost about £120 but this did not fix my leak. My leak was from the two C Pillar seals and sealing these and the use of the 2 hose tools left in place fixed the problem. The tool helps to keep the C Pillar seals in place as the rubber softens and sags allowing the water to get in and past the seal. The hose tool helps to push the seal up in place and prevent the leak. I used this after using a small amount of Loctite sealant around the base of the seal. Note: read the Loctite data sheet - its super flexible sealant but take 7 days to cure!

Here is my tool for the C-Pillar:

This is the hose tool I used. This one has got compressed so I will look for a stiffer reinforced pipe that won't compress so easily.


Here is the hose tool installed pushing the rubber seal upwards. It is important to check the position of the seal flaps to make sure they are in the correct position and will overlap to make a good water tight seal.

Sorry for the dumb question did you leave the pieces of hose in there and put the roof up? Or was this just until the loctite cured?

There is a chance this might actually sort my current leak although I'm not sure. Area Water is coming in shown below. I think it's the window seal DIY fix which is needed here.

 

[Graham Tricker]

I have left the two hoses in place. Some stiffer reinforced hose is coming tomorrow. I'll confirm the diameter and the type so people can use this and not have to bother with the tape. I would tackle the rear window seal first. Get the kit from MB and only use the sealant if you have too. If that doesn't fix the problem then attack the C Pillars.

To me from the image above, it looks like the C Pillar seals are suspect, as the gap between the lower boot seal and the top seal isn't large enough, indicating the C Pillar seals adhesive could have loosened and the seal dropped.

 

[roadster198]

Can anyone confirm the part number for the rear window seal for my 2009 SL350? Is it A2307903198?

Thanks

 

[roadster198]

I have left the two hoses in place. Some stiffer reinforced hose is coming tomorrow. I'll confirm the diameter and the type so people can use this and not have to bother with the tape. I would tackle the rear window seal first. Get the kit from MB and only use the sealant if you have too. If that doesn't fix the problem then attack the C Pillars.

To me from the image above, it looks like the C Pillar seals are suspect, as the gap between the lower boot seal and the top seal isn't large enough, indicating the C Pillar seals adhesive could have loosened and the seal dropped.

Thanks. I've a feeling I'll need to do both.

When you say MB kit do you mean the butyl strips and the window seal itself?

 

[Graham Tricker]

Thanks. I've a feeling I'll need to do both.

When you say MB kit do you mean the butyl strips and the window seal itself?

Yes. I bought a new seal (£120) when I did mine and in the kit you get the butyl seal plus a small roll of neoprene seal.
Note: in the MB video they say cut 2 x 11cm strips. I would suggest cutting 2 x 13.5cm scrips and when fitted trim to size. I found 11cm was too short.

 

[roadster198]

So I've cleaned all my seals today and used the Mercedes krytox stuff on everything.

Graham your hunch looks to be correct about the C-Pillar. Those seals are full of rubbish and moss which is now cleaned. Left hand side one worse than the left.

I've tried the hose trick but I'm not sure it's doing what I need it to. It doesn't seem to be pushing up on the C-pillar seals.

I've got some 3M black weather sealer which I'll use tomorrow on these and I think I'll use tape to pull up the seals.

The pipes I made became disformed quite quickly. I think I may be pushing them to far into the channel I'm not sure.

I've also bought a new rear window seal and as the weather here is better on Sunday I'm going to try to replace it then.

The first photo. Does anyone know if I should put sealer under that? If was filthy underneath.

Thanks

 

[roadster198]

So I've managed to get the rear roof seal on using all the tips from this forum. Thank you. Sorry no pics

I've made a bit of a mess with the c pillar though so I'm not hopefully this has solved my problem.just need to wait and see.

Thanks to all posters the pics on this thread have helped a great deal.

If you can afford to buy a new rear window seal do it (£126 MB main dealer). It saved me a ton of time in the long run. It also has a new butyl strip on it.

WD40 took off silcone residue that was left on the metal part of the window. I then used Alcohol rub to make sure no WD40 was left.

Before I fitted the new seal I used fine grit sand paper to scuff the full length of the rubber seal

I used 3M. 08008 Black Weatherstrip Seal Adhesive bought from ebay.

I applied two thin beads to the metal part of the window. Once I fitted the new seal I left it for around 40 mins then applied another bead of sealant just under the edge of the window. This was reasonably easy though quite messy.

I used a wallpaper seam roller to press it altogether.

I've left the pieces of pipe in the drain channels in the hope this might help keep the water out.

It's to rain here tomorrow so I guess I'll soon find out if it has sorted the leaks.

 

[dscam]

Well done roadster!

It’s a satisfying job to do if not a bit messy at times and frustrating - the link I posted to the other MB Club thread was my own - so I feel well and truly invested in the process having effectively done it twice!

Ref the hosepipe; the first stuff I used got squashed very easily so I put reinforced pipe in but even that didn’t entirely retain it’s shape. I know what you mean about not knowing how far to push it into the channel - too far and I think it is less effective in applying the upward pressure on the seal. Trial and error I guess.

Look forward to hearing how you get on.

 

[roadster198]

Sigh..... Still got a leak.

However it's shifted to the right hand side now under the rear window seal and the side I didn't do the c pillar seal as it looked ok.

prior to this I had leaks from three areas so I suppose I seem to have resolved two of them so it's not all doom and gloom.

remarkably the mess I've made of the LHS c pillar seems to have fixed the issue.

I'm keeping towels in the boot just in case and a bin bag over the hydraulic pump.

 

[dscam]

That’s frustrating!

Persevere with it if you can - you’ve done the painful bit already and know what to do second time around

 

[roadster198]

Ok so small update.

It's been torrential rain today and I've also had the car out in it and not just stationary on the drive. I've checked and the paper towels have nothing on them. So hopefully a result here. I think when I first checked my fix a small amount of water may have run off the boot and gave me a false negative at the time.

I've checked not only today actually but the past few days when it's been raining I've checked and each time the same.
The towels have been in the car for some time and are actually damp so it's probably best I get fresh ones. However there has been no wetness on the paper towels which I've placed all over the key areas.

I really hope I've cracked it. My c-pillar isn't very pretty but if it's doing the job then I don't care. Also I've left the hose pipes in the channels so maybe this is also helping/helped reshape the seals.

Again thank you all this is hopefully a result.

Also I was a bit nervous about doing this as I'm in no way a car DIY person I took my time (just not with the c-pillars ) so if anyone else is unsure about trying it I urge you to give it a go. The help on here was really very helpful and I studied it to the point I could see the pictures when I slept

It may also have helped buying a brand new rear window seal but I can't say for sure.

 

[roadster198]

So I've just twigged about how to sort the inside part of the C-pillar. Tonight is the first time I've looked and it wasn't pretty. The RHS is the worst.

Now I tried to use some sealant on this area after a good clean. However it refused to stick. I think I might actually buy the butyl tape and try the repair shown in the youtube video.

Can anyone recommend an alternative glue than the Mercedes one?