Leak in trunk

[moonman]

Just bought a 318is with minor rear end damage. Opened the trunk today and after acouple of days of hard raining I found a swimming pool in the left trunk compartment storage area. The trunk lid sits a little higher on this side and I am betting on the seal not being met with the lid but just wanted to see if anyone else had any other leakage in the trunk from another source. Also is the lid adjustable? Seal looks fine.

Thanks in advance.

[moonman]

keep this one.

[FREE30]

Mine leaks on both sides. But there is damage under my left light that allows water in. NOW, on the right side, I found that I had water pooling. I did leakage tests and found that water was penetrating through screw holes that are used to mount the bumper trim....

[dashboardmonkey]

replace your tail light gaskets, they are like 10 a piece at the dealer

[ThreeTwentyFissel]

It could also be the gasket surrounding the rim of the truck, or maybe just the rubber height adjustment studs are not even!

[StereoInstaller1]

Oh yeah, the plastic grommets that hold the side trim (behind the window) on leak, too.

[moonman]

just took a look at everything and spotted some water on that plastic piece that connects to the side of the bumper? I will replace gaskets n stuff, thanks for the help..oh yeah I also freaked out and searched other places and found water under my driver seat! Any idea about that? I saw a thread where someone was fixing their water drains with a screw driver but don't know if it was here or e30tech. Thanks everyone.

[StereoInstaller1]

Pink screwdriver = e30tech

Manly screwdriver, obvious hammer useage: R3V

[craiggroves91]

Check your antenna grommet as well!

[moonman]

Sweet thanks.

[dashboardmonkey]

no problem

[moonman]

Tore some shit apart and found the culprit. There is the vent with a flap that pops into the rear and the gasket on that was shot. I did a quick fix and will be getting a new gasket for It this week. Feel a lot better knowing where it's coming from. Now I just gotta track down the water under my seat. Read some posts about door lining. I'll post pics soon.

[RicerX]

When you need to find where a leak is coming from like this, pull out as much stuff as you can (carpet, interior pieces (if in the cabin)/spare tire stuff (if in the trunk), etc). Have a buddy sit in the car while you go against every little opening of the car. Once you buddy see's water, stop and slowly go back over that area.

Hope it helps!

[moonman]

^ Thanks, that's what we did, yanked the carpet out on that side, and had a gallon of water and just poured it where I thought it could be coming from and sure enough this is what I found.

[moonman]

The reason why water was coming through there is because my bumper doesn't sit correctly on that side due to the mounting bar at the left rear of the bumper was pushed in a bit causing the bumper to pull down and away from the wheel well area, so there is a gap there and driving through the rain meant left tire kicking water right into that gap and into the failed gasket. Sucked.