Boot Leak - Solved!

Hi All, I have resolved the water in the spare wheel well problem on my 2004 Range Rover Vogue, I have only had the car for 2 months and noticed that there was a bit of rust on the rear tailgate flap bracket that sits just inside the boot when I was looking at buying the car, after asking the seller he said he did have a problem with water getting into the boot but his garage had resolved it (yes of course they did!). Anyway, I replaced the rear boot seal (around £90) as the old one had more mastic than rubber so this was binned and the lip cleaned up and new seal put on. Water was still getting into the spare wheel well and a couple of weeks ago I took the boot to bits to find the source of the leak. It looked like it was coming from the box section that goes across the rear of the car, essentially the rear panel is double skinned and water was runniing along the seam and just going to the lowest point then seeping out into the spare wheel well. As it's normally dusty in there you could see the water tracks. Long Story short - the leak was coming from the 8 bolts that run through the rear panel from the rear crash bar, 4 each side. I was amazed that there isn't a gasket of some description but mine certainly didn't have one.

To remedy the problem you need to strip out the boot as much as poss, quite easy really but in a nutshell - take out the spare wheel, take out the detachable (if fitted) tow ball and all the cubby box it sits in, then take off as much of the black plastic trim so you can to get to the 4 bolts (from memory I think they are 17mm). You will also need to take off the rear bumper skin (again easy to do, use the search function to find the guide), then you will see the rear crash bar that runs along the rear of the car. It is easy to get off once you can get to the bolts, I used a ratchet spanner which made it easier. Once removed I just used domestic bathroom clear sealant and pumped this into the holes that the bolts pass through and then applied a bead of this onto the crash bar mounting points, I then put the crash bar back onto the car (yes it was messy lol) but as the bolts go through the holes and the sealant they do drag the excess sealant through to the inside of the car but you can wipe this off but not completely, do the nuts back up and you will notice that the sealant has spread out from behind the washers to create anonther seal so wipe off the excess at this point. That should be it! refit the bumper and boot trim and all good - It has rained all day to day and I am happy to report that my boot is as dry as a Nun's nether regions - happy happy.

I hope that helps some of you guys with this problem as it seem fairly common and I have not see this solution online hence the post.

Darren

Thanks for the detailed description Darren, I had my '06 RR in bits today to fix the leak as the recent UK weather's been creating a swimming pool in my boot. Some minor points of note for others following this guide:

There's a 'bracing tube' that sits between the inner and outer skin of the body where the crash-bar studs go through - this is a split tube and any water that gets in to this tube will be able to drip through in to the boot. The reason I mention this is that there's little point in putting sealant on the nuts that mate-up to the inner skin. To prevent ingress of water I think you have to seal the outer flanges.

My car has a Westfalia tow bar fitted (visible in 2nd picture) and the brackets for this are sandwiched between the body and the crash bar brackets. It looks like there's a gasket between the body and the tow-bar bracket (white, in the 1st picture) but I applied liberal quantities of sealant around the outer edge of this bracket as most of the water from the roof channels runs over this bracket, on both sides of the tailgate. There was no gasket fitted between the tow-bar bracket and the crash bar, and these mating faces were wet when I removed the crash-bar (see 1st picture - tow-bar bracket). In addition, the crash-bar brackets are 'cupped' (visible in 2nd picture) and the insides of these 'cups' had signs of rusting. I suspect these 'cups' were sealed at the bottom edge but not at the top so were partly filling up. This would cause the lower studs to be submerged in water, allowing the water time to seep past the mating flanges and in to the bolt holes. Considering the amount of water that gets in to the boot, even when it's stationary, I get a feeling this is where the the leak was. As Darren suggested, I applied sealant all around each bolt hole and across the top of the bracket. Once I tightened the nuts, sealant squidged out at the sides so it should have sealed up nicely.

Tomorrow's forecast in Yorkshire is the usual 'bucketing down all day' so I should get to see if it has worked or not.

After i fitted the westfalia oem towbar i started having a problem of water collecting in the spare wheel well under the EAS compressor and even after replacing the flimsy gasket that comes with the towbar i was still getting a real load of water collecting after a night of rain. As a temporary measure, as i didn't want to remove the bumper skin again, i smeared a load of grease along the top of where the bracket bends over the top of the rear panel and the leaking stopped. It's where it says on the attached that water runs down and collects under this lip. That was even after i used some really thick mastic type sheet on both sides of where the bracket mounts to the back panel. When i fitted the design pack bumper i cleaned off all the grease and applied a really good coat of black body sealer along the top edge where the bracket bends over at 90 degrees meeting the rear panel and the boot is still dry. hopefully you are all sorted also. if the rain is anything like i have seen on the TV recently, you are going to need more Noah's boat !

Gents thank you for adding some detail and pics and diagrams - hopefully this will help anyone else with the same problem and (touch wood) my boot has been dry for the last 16 months or so.

Darren

Well, as predicted, we had some major overnight rain that ran all through the morning. I checked the boot this afternoon and, to quote Darren, it's as dry as a nun's nether regions. So I'm happy - thanks again.

Holidaychicken - thanks for the picture, this is very clear. I did suspect a leak on that gasket too and so plonked a load of sealant between that lip and the body. It's rather inaccessible as the tailgate overhangs it but I got plenty of goo in with a finger. I did consider taking the tow-bar off to have a look at the state of the gasket, but it would have involved undoing even more bolts and the tow-bar looks very heavy. Also, I'm not sure if there should be a further gasket between the tow-bar and the crash-bar as I definitely had water ingress there. I think, as you point out, it's important to seal both sides of the the tow-bar flange.

The gasket you get with a new towbar is really thin and you only get one per side. It is quite tricky to get to that lip but if you open the lower tailgate at around 45 degrees as you know you can get your finger in there or i think i used a paint brush with the sealer. You are correct about the weight of the towbar and the bolts to remove it are not easy to access on the left hand side

Hi Darren and thanks for this post, I think I have the same problem. On a regular basis, now looking at my second amp!

Just wanted to check if your problem remained solved? I am thinking about getting this work done by a specialist to prevent recurring leaks.

Thanks and regards

Dominic

If you amp is getting wet it isnt the rear panel it is more likely to be the boot seal or the rear side window. the RR solution to the satnav / audio getting wet was a RR plastic bag rather than sealing the rear side window or boot.
You need to identify where it is coming in ideally.
mine is still water tight

Hi al I know this is an old thread does anyone have a picture from inside the trunk when you remove the spare wheel I see along the trunk holes leading to the outer skin can I use spray foam and sea it this way or is there an inner seam I can seal couldn't locate the four bolts from inside the truck. Any pictures from th inside appreciated