Just felt a wee update on Becky's incontinence problem (wet boot floor) might be of interest?
Sanity has returned to our house with the departure of my daughter, her husband and children after their long weekend with us so they could take in Edinburgh festival events before it all finished. Our other grandchildren and their mums and dads were in and out like yo-yos too. All this activity has required transport and Becky is absolutely ideal for nipping in and out of the insanity that is Edinburgh traffic at festival time consequently she has racked up a few miles. There was just time last night, after returning our youngest grandchild home, for a quick check over before dinner.
It's not been long since I did a major service and renewed the timing belt (Inc water pump) so it was pleasing to find that everything, coolant level, oil level, tyre pressures, etc, etc were all absolutely spot on. Less pleasing to find a wee puddle in the boot though.
Got up this morning to a beautiful sunny day. Mrs Jock decided to do a big wash (yes I did help strip the beds!) So decided to do a bit of detective work on Becky's leak. Started off having a look round the joint between the hatch and rubber seal. It's definitely touching all the way round but compressing it more at the top than the bottom. Next I removed the rear door (hatch) seal and blew all round the sealing "slot" with my air hose. My compressor runs 130psi so this cleared out all the moisture and most of the fragments of putty - yes it was glazier's putty - from "whoever's" previous effort. I then played the old hair dryer I have along it to be sure and dried the flange edge on the car. Reinstalled the seal. Rigged up the garden hose by cable tying it to the aerial. Gently turned the hose on. Climbed into the back of the car with my led work light and nothing seemed to happen except that no leak appeared! However after about 5 minutes, just as I was about to call it a day, one wee drop of water appeared at the lock, ran down the inside of the panel and dripped on the boot floor. Considering there has never been more than about an eggcup full of water when I've previously checked, perhaps this is it! The long suffering Mrs Jock was having a quiet cuppa whilst she waited for the washing machine to finish so I got her to come out and play the water all over the back of the car whilst I kept watch inside. I paid particular attention to the rear light fittings (thanks Koalar) but all seemed dry. Oops! There's another drip at the lock! Looked very closely at this. The water is not appearing between the seal and hatch but is coming out between the seal and body.
So, pulled of the seal up to about the level of the back window, both sides, and again, as I originally reported in earlier post, there's wetness, inside the "U" section, from that seam joint on the OS down to the lock. Nothing on the NS or higher up. The water's got to be getting past the inside of the seal, at that seam and running along. The "U" of the seal is completely dry higher up so, with the bottom two thirds of the seal pulled off already, I repeated the cleaning and drying up to the level of the back window and injected bathroom silicon (left over from recent reseal on the bath) into the "U" section of the seal and pushed it very firmly back onto its flange. Surprisingly I seem to have used just the right amount of sealant as it "squished" out just a little but not too much and with Becky being white it blends beautifully!
As I was inspecting my handiwork I noticed the air flap valve which is on the rear panel of the boot, just above floor level. I ran my finger around it and it came away wet! I think this is almost certain to be water that has run down from the seal above it but, as this fitting proved easy to remove (four little plastic clips) I did so, cleaned it all up and sparingly applied a little of the sealant to the foam seal around it's perimeter before refitting it.
Finally, just as I was about to walk away, I remembered that I had noticed the seal was not being compressed quite so much at the bottom than at the roofline. Winkled out my trusty 10mm socket and "T" handle, slackened off the hatch striking plate and adjusted it inwards slightly until the hatch, when closed, is compressing the seal evenly all the way round. Gently fully tightened the two striking plate nuts. The immediate and unexpected result of this is that the hatch, which previously closed with a bit of a rattle, now closes with a quality whump and no rattle!
So now I suppose it's a case of standing by, with fingers crossed, and waiting for the next rain storm (sure I won't have to wait long). Feeling quite confident though that I've probably "got it". Oh please let it be! I really don't want to have to clear off a whole lot of solidified silicon sealant! Hopefully I'll be able to report a happy outcome, within the next week or so, to close this thread.
