Trunk Taking on Water...Any Experience?

[Landerholm]

Couple issues with the trunk....

When I wash the car water pools in the spare tire well (a couple paper towels worth to dab up). After careful inspection it seems the water is trickling in from those trunk vents on each side (visible by removing the pull down covers, one is near the battery). This is just a guess, however, as I can't see the covers directly. From what I can tell the water is not coming in from the tail lights, even though the way the tail lights seal against the body looks very distorted. It never takes in water in the rain, just when I wash it.

The trunk is also taking on a fair amount of road dust....I can wipe everything down (like the battery, CD changer, etc) and it will get covered in dust again.

What will it take to make my trunk air tight? This is driving me -insane-

What is a good body sealant to use if I find holes? I'm also considering replacing those two vents and using gasket sealant to install them....Possibly I will get in the trunk with flashlight and have someone hose it down later in the summer.

Has anyone had similar issues? What was the fix?

[BKphoto]

i'm getting it through my passenger side tail light, its pissing me off...

[amancuso]

Well, if it's a taillight issue, buy a new tail light gasket from the dealer. This is especially the problem for pre-facelift models with upgrade tails or aftermarket tails.

[00BMW540i6]

Well, if it's a taillight issue, buy a new tail light gasket from the dealer. This is especially the problem for pre-facelift models with upgrade tails or aftermarket tails.

That's the problem I had when I went aftermarket tails. Lost my CD changer...:mad

A clear silicone "gasket" on the tails fixed it though.

[landcruisermike]

I get a very small amount, not enough to do anything about, through my tail lights.

[Landerholm]

I'm really shocked that my tail lights appear to be the only thing -not- leaking, as the fit of the gasket doesn't look good at all. The sheet metal they mold up against is very wavy and uneven.

What kind of silicone are you using to draw a gasket around the tail lights, and would this also be an appropriate solution for taking care of any other leaks I need to seal in the trunk?? I want to go out and buy something but not sure what to get....

[boomshakalaka]

Im having a little bit of leakage too. I discovered through this that I bought my car too hastily and it in fact had been in an accident. I really am retarded and should have caught this. Im pretty sure I woulda bought it anyways, but I wouldnt have paid as much. Oh well. Either way the trunk is a tiny bit misaligned, hard to even see it though unless you really look close. The lights are also aftermarket, as they are white and red, no orange. Next time its warm out Im going to inspect further and see if I can seal up the leak, hopefully its just from the tails and not from teh trunk being misaligned.

[00BMW540i6]

I'm really shocked that my tail lights appear to be the only thing -not- leaking, as the fit of the gasket doesn't look good at all. The sheet metal they mold up against is very wavy and uneven.

What kind of silicone are you using to draw a gasket around the tail lights, and would this also be an appropriate solution for taking care of any other leaks I need to seal in the trunk?? I want to go out and buy something but not sure what to get....

I just went and bought a tube of clear silicone at the hardware store and traced just inside where the water would run down the trunk and onto the lights...essentially just providing a better seal and a track that the water could follow without allowing it into the trunk. Haven't had a single problem since.

PM me if you need more info than that, I'm sure I could whip up a drawing of some kind.

[Landerholm]

Im having a little bit of leakage too. I discovered through this that I bought my car too hastily and it in fact had been in an accident. I really am retarded and should have caught this. Im pretty sure I woulda bought it anyways, but I wouldnt have paid as much. Oh well. Either way the trunk is a tiny bit misaligned, hard to even see it though unless you really look close. The lights are also aftermarket, as they are white and red, no orange. Next time its warm out Im going to inspect further and see if I can seal up the leak, hopefully its just from the tails and not from teh trunk being misaligned.

Trunk leaks are common across the board, unfortunately, I wouldn't feel bad about discovering an accident history -- most ~10 year old cars have had something. The sheet metal the tail lights mate to has so much varied curvature its easily distorted after an accident, especially since its fairly flimsy. You can make adjustments to it by hand.

I've seen many cases of trunk leaks developing on cars with absolutely no rear end bodywork (mine included) it seems to be more common on newer Mercedes.

I'm reading people are using 3M clear silicone perhaps I will try that.....Really surprised nobody has replaced those trunk vents on here.

[525iT_Feen]

Yea, I was getting it through the tails too. I was going to buy the gaskets but scored some new tails so I'm just waiting to throw them on. We'll see if that fixes the issue. I've had rear end work done though. :dunno

I would definitely switch those seals out. Aswell as make sure the trunk seal is on real good.

[ViolinARC]

Most likely coming from the tails...try a new seal and it should solve the problem. GL...

[LanceM]

Sunroof drain could be a problem also.

[amancuso]

Yea, I was getting it through the tails too. I was going to buy the gaskets but scored some new tails so I'm just waiting to throw them on. We'll see if that fixes the issue. I've had rear end work done though. :dunno

I would definitely switch those seals out. Aswell as make sure the trunk seal is on real good.

FYI if it's the Hella tails, the gasket didn't work. I had to use the original gaskets that were on the original lights with a small modification to make it work and get it water tight.

[tka1]

Mine is coming in on the passenger side well ahead of the tails. I've checked it out and I can see that it is actually coming in over the seal. I originally thought it was splashing up from the channel, but I think it's just rolling around the edge of the trunk. Before I order a whole new seal, I'm going to try to throw something in there to make the seal sit a bit higher. Now that it's raining again in the southeast, it's starting to aggrevate me. Glad to see I'm not the only one.

[Alpina540i]

Why is the trunk ventilated with those 5"x8" vents by the batt and CD Changer.

Why not just have it sealed?

I have a dust issue as well.

[White94RX]

drill a couple holes in the trunk floor where the water puddles.

drain holes = problem fixed

[amancuso]

Why is the trunk ventilated with those 5"x8" vents by the batt and CD Changer.

Why not just have it sealed?

I have a dust issue as well.

It's vented for pressure issues. it a car was truely "air tight" the windshield or rear window/sunroof would pop out any time a door closes.