Leaking boot

[Neil Menzies]

I have a 96 Chimaera, and ever since I''ve had it I get water leaking into the boot when it''s wet. Normally the car is garaged, and I don''t tend to go out much if its wet, so its not been too much of a problem. Last weekend I did a little investigating, and it would appear the water ingress is in two places; via two bolt holes on the lip of the boot, near the catch, and also behind the number plate, again where there are two bolts securing a fixing. In both cases the bolts are fairly rusty. Is there a recommended method for sealing these? I can''t get at the inside of the bolts without pulling away the lining on the inside of the boot either. Advice gratefully received... Neil

[fordy]

a dab of silicone sealant always does the trick. you can try an inverted 'V' above the screw hole so the water runs down either side of the hole and not into it. cheers Chris

[tricky2]

Neil, I had a similar problem and it turned out to be due to the drain holes on each side of the boot base. Bit of Vaseline seemed to sort it but fordy might be right with a silicone coating

[richb]

Had this on my Griffith, I ran a bit of "seek and Seal" into the hole. It's a runny sealent for old windscreen surrounds sold in Halfords - Rich...

[Neil Menzies]

Thanks for the info... One thing I found strange is that the space behind the number plate seems to be angled very carefully so that any water which gets in there will be kept there and won't flow out, unless it can find a way into the boot - what's the best way of arranging silicone stuff for that? Cheers, Neil

[fordy]

is yours the old style where the number plate is lit from behind, or the new style with a angle plate and lit from above ????

[Neil Menzies]

Lit from behind... It actually looks like the number plate is meant to be glued (sealed?) to the bodywork surrounding it, so water doesn't get in, but that's a long shot... Neil

[fordy]

You could try taking the plate off, and running a bead of silicone on the rear of the number plate (say 5mm in from the edge) - letting this dry, then re-screwing it to the car - your bead will have to be fairly even in height to seal - but at least then if you need to remove the plate, you can get it off - i would stick it to the car with silicone - you'll never get the blimmin thing off - not without damage!!!!