Water in Boot Storage Box

Firstly I am new to the Freelander so Hi to all.

I have just purchased a 2004 freelander td4 sport, all has been fine so far and I love the car. The only thing is I have noticed that the carpet in the boot storage box is wet. Does anyone know the cause of this and possible solution...

do a search on "water" and boot"
its been covered many times.

Oh - and good luck and welcome to the madhouse.

Thanks Mad Hat Man... Still finding my way round and only just found the search option..I'll check it out later and see if its just the cubby, hopefully it is so i'll be drilling some holes !!. Any major reliability problems with the TD4 I should know about ?

You should check sides of boot carpet to see where ingress of water is coming from.

The carpet in stowage box is water tight so damp is coming from above. The exhaust will heat the compartment a shade higher than ambient air temperature so any humidity in that area causes condenstion in the stowage compartment. Esp on the lid, which drips down eventually on to the carpet

Check leaky door/window seal, hard top on the 3dr

Thanks for the reply. Ive just checked the boot and all seems dry except the storage compartment. There is eveidence of water on the lid so Looks like it could be condensation. Ive left it open for now to see if it dries out. If thats the problem I will drill some holes in the lid and see if that sorts it

aidan said:

If thats the problem I will drill some holes in the lid and see if that sorts it

Click to expand...

I drilled two 35mm holes either side and stuck some fine mesh on the inner side to take the look off it. Its also covered with rubber matting which would prevent evapouration.

Check the front of the compartment where it runs beside door? if its damp then it will be your door seal. Lift the plastic trim along edge of boot floor(6 torx screws) to see if water is underneath

I had this but did not want to go to the hassle of replacing the rear seal. I found the water getting in somewhere on the left side. I mopped up most of the water from the boot box and then went around with the lid open where it eventually dried out. I have lifted the boot carpet up slightly from the left corner to allow any mositure that does get in to evaporate. The matting is rubber foamed backed, very hard to for mositure to pass through. Finally I park the car on my drive pointing slightly up hill which seems to help. Works for me.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is common on 'new' used FLs. When I complained about mine being soaked, it turned out that the dealer had wet-vac'd the boot when they bought it, and it had been sat on the forecourt for a month and regularly washed/cleaned. I ran about with it propped open until it dried out (bout a week), and have had no problems since.

Very common leak this one and can be a pain to fix.

Usual places for leaks are, tail door seal, tail door shedder, sunroof drain tubes disconnected, body seams not sealed properly, tail door out of alignment, leaks through the tail door trim clips, leaks between hard top and body, usually by the tail door seal area (3 door).

If the water seems to come via the seal a remedy could be to cut a hole in the front of the seal (the backside of the car that is) to allow that water getting into the seal can get out. On another forum some of the first Hippo owners did this and they fixed the problem by it.

Hi If this is a 5 door check your roof lining just above the rear window next time it rains. If that is wet then water is getting in through the roof grommets that the top rear window trim screws onto.

Thanks for the info Buzz36.

I too have this problem and yes, the rooflining is wet. Before I start breaking things, I presume you mean the two circular discs inside the vehicle at the top where the roof lining is wet? I've had a look at how this is attached and have drawn a blank. What exactly is the cure i.e. how do I remove the trim and what is done to stop it leaking? Is it a case of using a sealing mastic around the securing screws/clips (wherever they may be)?

All info gratefully received!!

Hi Jagman,
You need to remove the black trim around the top and sides of the outside of the rear window.(Three pieces in total) Be very careful as the clips will break, you'll probably need to buy new clips. Once the trim has been removed, remove the metal bracket which is held on to the back of the roof with five screws. Once this is off you'll notice the white plastic grommets, remove these, clean them and the back of the roof. I put 'o' rings around them and window mastic (it's black gooey stuff that stays soft so it seals really well) Once you've done that you can put it back together.
Hope this helps.
Buzz36

Thanks Buzz36 for the above will have a look right now (or maybe hold back until I get some spare clips!). Cheers!

Just looked in my storage box for the first time (only got car last week) and it had a bit of water in and smelt horrible!

I will run around with it open to dry off and when I have some time will try and find out where water is coming in - plenty of advice on here it seems!

Why oh why haven't They (L-R) ever sorted this out if it's so common?

'coz they had much bigger problems to ignore - yu worrit about ickle ones?

I got my 55 plate Freelander last November and it had a puddle in the storage box. I unscrewed the back plate at the rear door and lifted the carpet and dried off the area with sponge and micro cloth. Drove around for a couple of weeks with the storage box open to allow the area to breathe and put everything back. The problem has been resolved.