Hello all,
I thought I'd share my experience of water coming into my boot on a fiat 500 2012. I had three leaks and one was really hard to find, using a hose just wasn't the right technique.
One day, I found 1 to 2cm of water in the spare wheel area after leaving the car parked outside with 3 days of heavy rainfall, the main seal of the boot was completely dry.
The first leak was the rubber seal around the antenna on the roof. I never managed to confirm that leak 100% but taking the antenna off and applying some sealing silicon was a no-brainer. many videos about this on youtube.
The next step was to remove the boot lining and keep pouring buckets of water over the car. Collect the water in a tank and recycle. After a while (I mean 5 to 10 buckets) drops appeared around the lock area and back right side. See red circles and dots representing the drops on photos.
For the central leak, I removed the back boot liner, and I used kitchen roll to see if was coming from the rubber seal around the back wiper of the fiat emblem. Turned out to be the fiat emblem ... Fiat made two holes in the boot to insert rubber feet in which the external emblem is inserted. The rubber feet were letting water in (see attached video), so I took them out, dipped them in sealing silicon and stuck them back in position.
For the right side leak, where to start ? Lights, window, roof .... Just pour buckets of water and hope to see a drop (see video). Eventually you will find the suspect area, in my case the seal under the roof trim (see photo, I used flowable silicon to seal it up).
In short, some of these leaks will take time to track down and using a hose for a few minutes won't help. Take off the lining and applying a process of elimination does. Use a bucket and collect the water to recycle. Use coloured kitchen roll (drops become more visible) in key areas to track the water path and ingress point.
When searching for leaks it's important to remember where the car was, for example if you get a tiny drop every so often and you drive around there is a possibility that the dampness or accumulation disappears. Knowing that I left the car outside suggested that tiny rain drops were accumulating somewhere and spilling into the boot.
Good luck!
I thought I'd share my experience of water coming into my boot on a fiat 500 2012. I had three leaks and one was really hard to find, using a hose just wasn't the right technique.
One day, I found 1 to 2cm of water in the spare wheel area after leaving the car parked outside with 3 days of heavy rainfall, the main seal of the boot was completely dry.
The first leak was the rubber seal around the antenna on the roof. I never managed to confirm that leak 100% but taking the antenna off and applying some sealing silicon was a no-brainer. many videos about this on youtube.
The next step was to remove the boot lining and keep pouring buckets of water over the car. Collect the water in a tank and recycle. After a while (I mean 5 to 10 buckets) drops appeared around the lock area and back right side. See red circles and dots representing the drops on photos.
For the central leak, I removed the back boot liner, and I used kitchen roll to see if was coming from the rubber seal around the back wiper of the fiat emblem. Turned out to be the fiat emblem ... Fiat made two holes in the boot to insert rubber feet in which the external emblem is inserted. The rubber feet were letting water in (see attached video), so I took them out, dipped them in sealing silicon and stuck them back in position.
For the right side leak, where to start ? Lights, window, roof .... Just pour buckets of water and hope to see a drop (see video). Eventually you will find the suspect area, in my case the seal under the roof trim (see photo, I used flowable silicon to seal it up).
In short, some of these leaks will take time to track down and using a hose for a few minutes won't help. Take off the lining and applying a process of elimination does. Use a bucket and collect the water to recycle. Use coloured kitchen roll (drops become more visible) in key areas to track the water path and ingress point.
When searching for leaks it's important to remember where the car was, for example if you get a tiny drop every so often and you drive around there is a possibility that the dampness or accumulation disappears. Knowing that I left the car outside suggested that tiny rain drops were accumulating somewhere and spilling into the boot.
Good luck!
