Water Leak in the boot / trunk. Help!

C

cmb

Member
Hello

Wonder if anybody might be able to help me solve a problem? ( I have searched the forum on this topic and following others suggestions... can't see any gaps around the rear lights, no cracks in the 3rd brakelight, no obvious signs of deterioration to the seal around the boot )

A few days ago my stereo speakers stopped working. The cd and radio buttons all still work and you can hear the cd changer loading and changing cds and the cd starting to spin in the cd player but no sound comes from the speakers. So i thought i would check the fuses etc. Went into the boot/trunk to get my little bmw tool kit to find the carpets are absolutely soaked through - (the map i keep in the boot/trunk was dripping wet through) - so i removed the carpet and base board from the boot to find the battery well half way full with water! Managed to get all the water out and now the rest of the boot/trunk space is drying out.
It seems to be the wettest on the passenger side of the boot/trunk - i could literally wring the water out of the foam lining!

Where might the water have entered the boot/trunk? The car ineterior is dry - it is just the boot/trunk. I am assuming with all that water the speakers must have had an electrical shortage or something?



Any help/advice greatly appreciated!!

BILD1465.jpg
 
Welcome to the forum :thumbsup:

Haven't got time to search now, but other people here have had this, do a search, I'll look later if noone else gets there first :D

Your picture is kinda dark - can't tell what it is pointing at :oops:
 
Thanks

I have searched the forum on this topic and following others suggestions... can't see any gaps around the rear lights, no cracks in the 3rd brakelight, no obvious signs of deterioration to the seal around the boot

The arrow points at black box that sits in front of battery
 
yep - read that post - still a mystery as to where the water is getting though......

looks like i might need to fork out £££ for a new amp too then!
 
cmb, dunno how much I can help but my car had the same problem abou two weeks before I was due to purchase it privately.

Car was basically dead, would not start and previous owner called in breakdown services who went to inspect the battery and found the entire battery compartment flooded, a major shock to the owner as you can imagine. Car went straight to BMW, rear of the car was stripped (except hood) and they pinpointed the problem or so they thought, suspect cracked 3rd brake light which was replaced along with....

DSP AMP
Battery harness
Battery
Control unit
Audio loom
Parking sensors & one or two other electrical bits and bobs.

Total bill (cover your ears), almost 3.5K inc lab+vat but the owner managed to get it sorted on Insurance so only excess to pay, it took two goes as the assessor would not budge first time around.

Anyway, car came back and two days later it had water in the boot, this time it was noted by the RAC inspection guy who I had booked. Wasn't as bad but proably would be if left over time.

Back to BMW again, this time they stripped the hood off (and, apparently the rear wing?) and found one of the seals on the nearside had perrished and had to relace it. I'm not sure exactly which seal or it's exact location as this was before I bought the car but I could ask again for you? Car is now with me, totally dry (except the Scottish weather) and happy with BMW's work except for a missing CD changer cable.

Did alot of reading on this and passed as much information as I could find (alot of it here, thanks guys!) so the previous owner could look for himself...

Blocked door sills and drainage holes underneith the car, these can foul up and the drain holes on either side of the hood cannot, well drain? Water goes straight into the boot area.
Cracked lights, check seals etc
Tighten up the rear light mounts, you'd be surprised how much water can get in that way! Run your finger over the plastic screw covers/retainers inside the boot for the light clusters, if finger damp, tighten the screws! You may need to run a hose over the back of the car to spot this one.

Anything else I may have forgotten I'll post up later on.

Good luck...
 
Thanks

just been looking again and have noticed something on third brakelight - looks more like a scratch than a crack but intend to take it out and have a look this weekend.
 
So i gave up and decided to take the car to get looked at....

They couldn't find the leak either. They have suggested it might be coming up through the shock absorbers during motion - anyone else heard of this problem?
 
cmb said:
They have suggested it might be coming up through the shock absorbers during motion - anyone else heard of this problem?
Click to expand...

Err, nope! Seals (perrished or incorrectly fitted trim/lights), drian holes and cracked lenses are the most popular causes. Mines was fixed by BMW taking the hood off and one of the rear wings, took them two goes and all in all, ten days!

Who looked at it for you?
 
im having this same issue. except only the side pockets of the trunk get water and not the battery compartment (thank god!).

i checked the drains for clogging and everything was clear. even used an air compressor to blow whatever was in there out, a pipe cleaner, and a wet vac to suck anything out. nothing came out.

when i got water in the trunk again, i felt up by the shock towers and it was wet. so at this point im thinking maybe the weather stripping that wraps along the body right below the rear window glass (where the top would rest against when it's up), is not sealing correctly thus makign it leak. i am going to test it and see if that could be it
 
Zed said:
Back to BMW again, this time they stripped the hood off (and, apparently the rear wing?) and found one of the seals on the nearside had perrished and had to relace it. I'm not sure exactly which seal or it's exact location as this was before I bought the car but I could ask again for you?
Click to expand...


would you be able find out which seal/seals were replaced?
 
nickpapa, I'm sure your problem is down to the rear lights, especially where you describe the water to be. There's a Torx head (black) screw holding the light trim to where the wing meets the boot (near the boot lifter) and the screw retainer (white plastic) sits inside the boot, directly over the side pockets. It may be damp if you run your finger over it, mines was and there was some water collected next to the rear light and boot lifter mechanism, water was getting under the trim and dripping through the plastic plug onto the side pockets.

Incline of the car may explain the wet carpet around the struts?

Try tightening up these screws right up before looking at seals but yes, I can ask if this doesn't fix the problem m8, no worries.
 
i appreciate the thought but im still not convinced that the water is coming from the tailights as the top of the shock tower is wet.

the car sat for about 2 days on an incline (front of the car facing upwards) and the shock towers were wet so thats why i think it's not the tailights. I also didnt drive within those 2 days and noticed the water before i drove the car.

im going to remove the rear tray and mechanism that holds the tray and see if i can get a better look at where the water is coming from.
 
No harm in checking and tightening if required though.

Good luck with the investigation and post the results :thumbsup:
 
ok well i took out the mechanism that holds the rear tray and i still have no idea where the water is coming from.

i had a friend poor water on the top and see if it leaks anywhere and the water drained (at the drains) just like its supposed to with no other leaking in site. i have no idea where to go from here. also went to the car wash and no water from that either.

this is making me crazy :headbang:
 
so... it turns out that the water was leaking in on the passenger side of the boot. The mechanic took the car apart to check the drains and they were working okay. But, he did find that there are little gutters that run around the the edge of the soft top where it joins the bodywork and they were full up with 'gunk' - much like house guttering would be. When he poured water down over them they were overflowing and draining straight into the boot. When all the 'gunk' was cleared out they drained away perfectly through the drains.

hope this helps anyone else who might be having the same problem!
 
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