BTDT on boot leaks from the rear lights

[HPmuirt]

Greetings,

I noticed that my rear screen was taking a long time to demist and therefore suspect that there was water in the boot - making the screen very wet as it evapourated. Upon investigation, I discovered a small pond in my spare wheel well, which was about 2cm deep and contained several new species of lifeform, plus the ubiquitous pond skaters, so I thought I should share the pics that I took (only remembered the camera 1/2 way through so not many)

Having removed the spare wheel and the plastic foot that it sits on (under the carpet) I proceeded to removed all of the boot trim for drying in the airing cupboard. This is very simple to do. Lift up the main carpet and remove the left retaining bolt, if you only want to remove the wheel well carpet, or all 3 bolts to remove the entire floor carpet.

Next remove the rear valence carpet by lifting out the 4 plastic pins in the top of the plastic valance trim and pulling the carpet free. The valance carpet has thick absorbant sound proofing glued to the back, so if yours is wet, plan on it taking all night to dryout in the airing cupboard. I left the 2 inner wing carpet pieces in place and just dried the lower part with a fan heater, since that part has no sound deadening material on the back.

Now you can remove the bulb holder and light cluster. The bulb holder has 2 plastic knobs which are turned 90 degrees and it should fall away from the cluster. The cluster is held on with 6 x 8mm nuts. 4 of these are easy to spot (2 above and 2 below the bulb holder, but 2 are on the side of the cluster, therefore behind the inner wing carpet....(see the piccies below of the cluster).

I was expecting to have to carfully pry the cluster away from the body, but here I have a suprise...the cluster just fell away....there was no sealant...AT ALL No wonder my boot was leaking!

I then remembered the guy that owned it from new admitted under heavy interrogation that he had been nudged and a London based Main stealer had replaced the light cluster and realigned the bumper. Some muppet just bolted a new cluster straight onto the bodywork. If you look carefully, you can see where the old sealant had been, so they actually cleaned the old sealant off first, didn't even try and reuse it.
body.jpg
(so that is the real colour of my car eh? Must clean it some day to see if the reast is the same colour)

You can see at the top where all the crud runs down from the boot channel and pours over the cluster, so a good seal (or any seal for that matter) is kinda important.

as removed2.jpg
The light cluster, as removed, shows where all the dirty water runs down over the rear of the fitting as there was no seal. The channel that runs all the way around should have a bead of sealant in it.

More in part 2.........

[HPmuirt]

Sealant.jpg
The sealant itself is a flexible mastic type which never fully hardens. It comes in a roll and is simply laid into the channel. Start and finish at where the channel is double width, to make sure that you have a complete ring.

with sealant.jpg
The next picture shows the same cluster with the sealant positioned in the channel and the backing paper removed, ready to mount back on to the body. Once in the correct position, tighten the nuts evenly whilst pushing against the cluster from the outside, to clamp the cluster into position.

Once the carpet (and your CD auto changer) is dry, refit the carpet and Bob's your favourite auntie.

I tested mine by running a hose over the rear screen and found that the boot remained nice and dry Just gotta get the autochanger working now

Cheers n

Si

[Fat Audi 80]

Hate to say it - Great write up!

Well done!

How long did all that take roughly?

Cheers 'n'

Steve.

[HPmuirt]

Hate to say it - Great write up!

Well done!

Thanks...I think

How long did all that take roughly?

About 15 mins to write I guess, plus another 10 playing with the picture sizes

Cheers n

Si

P.S. Oh, the job itself...
- About 1/2 to remove clean and refit the cluster
- About 1/2 hour for carpet removal and replacement and fettling (assuming that they are dry.
- But, I would add another 1/2 hour at a guess for cleaning off the old sealant, if you were lucky enough to have some in the first place.

[MidnightBlueS2]

Nice one there Si !

Coupe owners owe you one !

( Me so happy I have a properly engineered watertight Avant )

David

[Keeper of The Kitten]

Good one Si - I know how you feel about leaking tail lights too!

Hope you get your changer unit sorted!!

__MDC__

[GirlRacer]

the BTDT,

[Rusty]

Cheers for the write up. That's the job I've got planned after fitting the Porsche brakes and when the weather gets a little warmer. A towel in the spare wheel well is doing a grand job at the mo!

[4WheelDrifter]

It's when you fix the rear lights, then find water is still pouring into your boot.

[newsh]

Nice one! I also put a little "washer" of the sealant stuff around where the screws hold the plastic trim on across the middle and on the lip of the "boot" as the water seems to seep through there too.

[HPmuirt]

Nice one! I also put a little "washer" of the sealant stuff around where the screws hold the plastic trim on across the middle and on the lip of the "boot" as the water seems to seep through there too.

That's not a bad idea

4 of the 6 bolts are inside the main ring of sealant, but the 2 around the corner are not and therefore may benefit from that added protection, beyond the ruber grommet that is on them.

Cheers n

Si

[Bowlerwell]

I have the problem with water in my spare tyre bit.
I did a test... I sat inside, with the carpets pulled away, and got mum to hose the car... no water came in at all!
But after the next night of rain, it was wet again

Any ideas???


Good write-up HPmuirt, but I think that if there was sealant on that cluster, you wouldn't have been able to take it of that way.
The sealant is quite adhesive, so you'd need to pry it away as much as you can.

To do this you'd need to take of the black trim that goes right across the top of the boot (4 bolts), and also the centre numberplate mount (nuts inside, and screw behind the numberplate)
From here, you can force a thin knife through the sealant across the top and down the side. This should be enough to be able to pry the cluster out.

[HPmuirt]

I have the problem with water in my spare tyre bit.
I did a test... I sat inside, with the carpets pulled away, and got mum to hose the car... no water came in at all!
But after the next night of rain, it was wet again

Any ideas???

Careflly examine the light cluster.

- From the outside...is there condensation on the inside of the various lenses?
- From the inside...is there dirt on the white plastic part of the cluster? Are the bulb holders showing signs of corrosion?

If you can answer 'no' to all of these, examine your hatch seal

Good write-up HPmuirt, but I think that if there was sealant on that cluster, you wouldn't have been able to take it of that way.
The sealant is quite adhesive, so you'd need to pry it away as much as you can.

To do this you'd need to take of the black trim that goes right across the top of the boot (4 bolts), and also the centre numberplate mount (nuts inside, and screw behind the numberplate)
From here, you can force a thin knife through the sealant across the top and down the side. This should be enough to be able to pry the cluster out.

Absolutely correct. I was expecting to have to work hard at removing the cluster without breaking it, due to the fact that the sealant remains soft and sticky. I have done this in the past on previous cars using either wooden or plastic spatulas for leverage and a scapel to break some of the seal just as you suggested

Hope you get to the bottom of yours soon.

Cheers n

Si

[Jas11n]

After resealing the rear clusters with the proper sealant, don't forget to retighten the fixing nuts on the inside after a couple of days as the sealer settles a bit.
BTDT that 5 times now
Never done a write up with pics tho , so nice one Si .

[dan_b]

Si are you going to the garage meet next month - do you fancy helping me do the same on my Coupe?!