Every e89 owner needs to read this... Boot/water ingress...

[Maniac]

Heavy rain overnight. No trace of water ingress on that seal today. It's done the trick.

[jamesbond]

well done ...

great info, many thanks

[abeardo83]

I took the screws out of mine today and have exactly the same thing; the sealant had turned to dust. I pulled the whole thing off, and lo and behold, all of the sealant inside the rubber had done the same.ive filled it up with silicone sealant, covered the right angled ends and the screw holes with sealant, fitted all back together and set the boot down.

I have noticed that all of the seals stop at the tail light. After that, everything is unsealed and the part where the metal runner ends, and the start of the tail light unit is open to the elements. I reckon that this gap is where water is getting in to the boot well from.

I noticed on mine too that there is water behind the black plastic plate where there is a little light for the boot. Does anyone know how to take this off?? The two bump stops that the boot lid rests on don't seem to unscrew.

[abeardo83]

So last night I put some kitchen towel under the black trim at the very back of the car (above the foam that the pump sits in). Came back to it tonight and it's soaked. Really want to get this off, so I can see where the water is coming from, but I haven't got a clue how to remove it. Does anyone have any thoughts?

[Maniac]

Can you post a picture where the seals aren't there? You mention something open to the elements?

[willc8]

Thanks Maniac, I haven't been on the forum for a while but just saw this thread by chance. Had a check and one of my seals is a bit flimsy. I'm taking the Zed in to the service shop for a leather repair, which I will make another thread about but I'll also get them to check this and see if they will sort it out under warranty. Will feed back later.

[abeardo83]

Can you post a picture where the seals aren't there? You mention something open to the elements?

Ok so here's the 'gap'... it's where the tail light ends, and the rain channel begins... If you were looking down at the tail light, this is the closes point to the front of the car...


Here's the watery towels...





and here's the plate (and bumpstop) in question that i can't remove... (ignore the drops on it, it's raining here again).

[Maniac]

Weather is too bad here to go out and take a look but that first pic has a tab on it that a seal should be clipped to, I take it you've removed that?

[abeardo83]

Yeah I removed that to clean it up. I put it back after I took the picture. That tissue was in all night and was dry when I loaded the boot this morning. It's soaked after today and driving home from work.
Could water get in to the boot whilst the car is moving?
...I'm wondering if these bumper vent seals have actually been replaced, you know?

[flybobbie]

My car has that gap. It looks part of the design to allow water from the channel to drain away. It has nowhere else to go.
It drains over the rear inside of the tail lamps. If their rubbers are not seated correctly, you will get water in the boot.

Worse still the right hand side has loads of electrics waiting to be drowned.

Have a look at this video I made,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHJa6z6 ... e=youtu.be
you will see the rubber seals.

If you look at the last few seconds of video you can see the dirt from drained water over one of the oval openings.
And there was lots of crud over the back of the lamp.

[abeardo83]

That's a great video - I'm amazed how quickly those lights can come out!

So, my theory about water ingress whilst moving has been proven correct - rememmber the towels from yesterday? So, i replaced them last night and checked them again this morning. The rain at one point last night was torrental... checked them this morning and they were dry.

Driven to work today, down the M6. Raining somewhat too. After 13miles, they're soaking wet again. I've replaced them at the car park this morning, and will see what they end up like when they've been sat stationary today.

[jimbo1958]

Great work Maniac......will be checking mine at first opportunity.

[Maniac]

I'm not sure its the moving part, though I'll check on mine too to work it all out. I think its when you open the boot lid, rain runs off it and long these channels. There's a sort of double seal approach, an inner seal set for the boot and an outer seal set when the boot is closed.

[abeardo83]

Fair point. Just been out to the car, poured water over it (the smokers thought i was some weirdo), opened the boot and let it drain. Will see what the towel is like when I get in the car tonight.

[Maniac]

Is the sump in the boot actually getting wet then? I assume so given the tissue saga. Mines dry and I can't quite work out where you think the water is getting in from the photos...