Tearing my hair out!

[megah0]

I posted in another thread recently that I had fixed the water ingress into the boot of my W124, well, I was wrong!

Water has been leaking in through here:

Another view

I removed the rubber trim panel that sits on the bottom of the windscreen and found that the sealant had perished and in some places was entirely absent. In true manjob style I acquired some silicone and sealed around the whole of the bottom of the windscreen.

However it is still leaking, not as much as it was before, the amount of water is much reduced but it is still getting in somewhere. To start with you only had to exhale wetly on the car for water to waterfall in, now it only starts to dribble through after about 5 mins of hosepipe spray (gently over the whole back windscreen)

Should I have used a different type of sealant? Have I missed something? I am pretty sure that I have gotten all the gaps filled it, but maybe the sealant hasn't adhered properly somewhere.

Any suggestions very welcome.

 

[television]

Before you try and seal, it is best to leave the glass in the sun or warm it with a hair drier or warm air gun.

The corners can be the worst for water getting in, and I would go a few inches up the sides.

On our 230's and boot seals the best on is Loctite Super flex in black or transparent, it is flexible, this make it very suitable for things that expand at different rates.

Any surplus can be wiped off with petrol /lighter fuel.

Best applied by rubbing it into the seam with a finger .

 

[megah0]

Cheers Malcolm

Its been out in the sun a few hours this morning, I have been a bit more liberal with the caulking gun and have gone an inch or so over the lip of the screen (just inside where the rubber trim sits) and smoothed it to the glass.

I shall leave it to cure until this evening and give the leak testing another go.

 

[Dec]

I think you have the same problem that I have had and its nothing to do with the window seal, its old age droop, the rubber boot seal sags down over time, creating a tiny gap, water gets past the gap, clinging to the underside of the boot and then drops down inside.

Fitting (stick on from B8Q) a “P” shaped, door draught excluder cured the problem and proved how the water was entering the boot.

Dec

 

[turbopete]

also make sure where the seal attaches to the bodywork is adequately sealed. ive seen these fail many times and leak into the car/boot etc. mainly on lesser makes i admit, but it can still happen!

 

[megah0]

I think you have the same problem that I have had and its nothing to do with the window seal, its old age droop, the rubber boot seal sags down over time, creating a tiny gap, water gets past the gap, clinging to the underside of the boot and then drops down inside.

Fitting (stick on from B8Q) a “P” shaped, door draught excluder cured the problem and proved how the water was entering the boot.

Dec

If that was the case surely the water would not be entering from so far back inside the boot?

I might invest in an extra seal though, good idea.

I think I have got sealant everywhere now, guess I'll see in a couple of hours when it comes to testing time!

 

[Dec]

You can’t stop the leak where you think it is because there is no leak there. I still think it is the boot seal
There is evidence in your picture of water droplet at Yellow Arrows, if boot seal was doing its job then the water wouldn’t be on the inside edge of the boot seal.
There is a better illustration in picture of how the water can cling to the underside of the parcel shelf and work its way towards the front of the car.

To prove my point, completely seal the window seal with a tape of some kind so as you are absolutely sure there is no possibility of water entry at the glass seal and do another hose test again and check the underside of the parcel shelf for wetness.

Dec

 

[megah0]

Those droplets are from drips falling from the bootlid once I open it under gravity.

If this new round of sealing fails to solve the problem I'll look into it, however diagnosing the leak took the format of me sitting inside the closed boot with a torch whilst the car was sprayed with water, I'm fairly sure the rubber seal is intact.

 

[Dec]

Those droplets are from drips falling from the bootlid once I open it under gravity.

That’s exactly what I thought too, just couldn’t figure out how the boot floor was getting so wet, I checked every possibility, light clusters/boot lock/arial and window seal, it was only when I stuck on the “P” seal that the problem was completely cured.

Dec

 

[megah0]

Happy to report this problem has been solved, boot seals were absolutely fine, no leakage there.

The problem was the seals around the rear windscreen, the drainage channels had become blocked and water had managed to find a way in due to the blockage.

A quick clean up with some strimmer wire (thanks dad) and its all dry in there again.

Amazing how much gunk came out of the gaps.

 

[television]

Pleased its fixed,,I have sent you the water drain papers

 

[megah0]

Thanks Malcolm, you sent those to me earlier in the week though

 

[television]

Thanks Malcolm, you sent those to me earlier in the week though

Pass them on to some one else I forget,,its old age