5 door R8 water in boot

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ashy90
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Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:47 pm

5 door R8 water in boot

Post by ashy90 »

When I first got my 216 GTI the boot was full of water. Most of the water was coming in due to a bent and seized tailgate hinge causing the tailgate to sit high. I've replaced and sealed both hinges and adjusted the tailgate (as best as I could at the time).

Water is still getting in. It is NOT the rear lights or the vents as people keep suggesting. The water is running from higher up and collects either side (below the vents).

Are there any known leak points on these cars such as rear quarter windows or rear screen itself?
MatthewL
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Posts: 214
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2021 9:08 am
Location: Leeds

Re: 5 door R8 water in boot

Post by MatthewL »

Hi there. I’ve got a tourer but have been plagued with multiple concurrent boot leaks. Your issues may be different with it being a hatch but in summary I had the following:

1) Leaking tail light - I added fresh closed cell foam tape and refitted
2) Leaking from boot seal running in along the seams either side of the boot catch - fitted a new seal
3) Water running down inside of new seal from the top right hand side where metal joined - got some Silaflex and bonded in the new boot seal all around
4) Leaks from both boot vents (the vents where air escapes when you put on the fan. Water runs behind the bumper and gets through both the rivet holes and around the plastic - took bumper off and sikaflexed around the edges and over rivet tops
5) Water in wheelwell traced to holes where tow bar wiring went through body - with bumper off I fitted bungs and covered in Sikaflex
6) Leak from roof - found corroded hole behind roof hinge and chopped out, welded up
7) Further leaking from roof from hinge on driver side - lifted hinge and sealed in with Sikaflex
8) Additional leaking from roof, this time the rubber bung through which the rear washer pipe passes - pulled out, added sikaflex, refitted
9) Still leaking from near roof and pooling on top of metal above rear lights - slid off roof channels, added sikaflex to all seams which could possibly allow water in, even by osmosis
10) Still leaking down back pillar at driver side - gummed in leaking seal where wires to tailgate exit bodywork

Sunroof drain pipes - these weren’t leaking but I cleaned them all out in case and made sure when the bumper was off they were clear (using pressured air)

So it’s still leaking on the passenger side but a fraction of the lake that used to get in and it’s only one side now. It’s coming from the roof again from somewhere high up. My last idea is to gum in the roof aerial which I thought was ok but might be the issue.

I’ve had the carpets out for a long time and used talcum powder sprayed all over the trace the runs - it works quite well.

Truth be told I’m a bit fed up so my friend who has a disco dry ice machine is coming round. We hope it’ll help us find the final leak(s).

Good luck and stick at it mate!

Matthew
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Plodder
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Location: South West

Re: 5 door R8 water in boot

Post by Plodder »

Does the inside of the tailgate seal shows signs of water where the seal it is pushed on to the bodywork flange?
I have a 400 and it leaked via the boot seal , actually rusted the flange through at the bottom.
I actually found that part of the flange that the boot seal seats on was bent , only slightly but just enough to allow the moisture to track down between the seal and the bodywork flange . Gently straighten it out reduced the leak considerably.
Still get a little moisture in the boot when it rains hard so I think the air vents behind the bumper need to be done.
Rover Boot Flange
Rover Boot Flange
1991 Rover 416 GTi Auto - Flame Red - Owned since Aug 97 :)
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Johnny 216GSi
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Location: Birmingham - the home of Rover!

Re: 5 door R8 water in boot

Post by Johnny 216GSi »

ashy90 wrote: Sun Dec 11, 2022 9:37 am When I first got my 216 GTI the boot was full of water. Most of the water was coming in due to a bent and seized tailgate hinge causing the tailgate to sit high. I've replaced and sealed both hinges and adjusted the tailgate (as best as I could at the time).

Water is still getting in. It is NOT the rear lights or the vents as people keep suggesting. The water is running from higher up and collects either side (below the vents).

Are there any known leak points on these cars such as rear quarter windows or rear screen itself?

Yes, it could be the glass bonding on the rear screen or rear quarters, or both. It's not unreasonable to expect the bonds to start failing as they've held up for 30 years or more, so they've done pretty well.

My only other suggestion depends on whether you get water in whilst the car is standing still / parked or whether you associate it with driving in wet weather?

Check the seam sealer in the location as shown by the arrow in the photograph below. Here, one panel overlaps the others and there's about 3mm of the panel underneath that shows in a side-on view.

The full length of this seam needs to be convincingly sealed from top to bottom. On my car originally, the top panel was slightly lifted so I could get a screwdriver blade in between the panels. Water ingress whilst driving had occurred over several years. There was a rust spot right where the slider bolt for the bumper fits (quite large) and then it has rusted through the inner panel and there was a tiny hole hidden behind a brace on the drivers / offside of the boot. When I took all the trim out, I couldn't see anything. But when I made a sort of "half bucket" out of plasticine, stuck it to the outside of the car and filled it with water so there was water permanently at the seam, I saw it running into the boot.

Image

The fix looks good in the photo I suppose. My handy work. I painted the whole section on the outside right to the wheel arch edge with EM121 (Epoxy mastic 1-2-1 from Rustbusters). A few coats. Then sanded it down and primed, top-coated and lacquered over the top with a spot blender applied around the edges. Em121 is ridiculously strong (more like an epoxy filler when dry rather than a paint) so it's sealed the whole 2-panel seam edge, filled the rust-through spot on the outside, etc. and cured the water ingress problem.
Rover 216GSi K reg. Flame Red over Tempest Grey

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