Water in spare wheel well

[Boanerges]

We had a puncture a couple of weeks ago and when I went to get the spare I found that there was quite a bit of water in the boot.  I dried it all out but when I looked today the boot was decidedly wet again.

I've checked the tailgate rubber seal and can't find anything wrong.  Can anyone suggest where the water might be getting in?

Incidentally, when I tried to remove the alloy with the punctured tyre, it had corroded onto the hub and I had to lie on the ground and kick the tyre to free the wheel.  This morning while I was fitting new front brake pads I found that both front wheels had to be kicked off so I smeared some copper grease sparingly on the mating surfaces in the hope that it will prevent it happening again.

[DV]

Related topic: http://clubjazz.org/forum/index.php?topic=462.0, http://www.beardmorebros.co.uk/website%20pages/jazz_leak.html.

[guest1885]

Hi

Checked the spare tyre pressure on my Jazz at the weekend and noticed I had water in the wheel well. A quick check of the carpets on the back seats also confirmed some water ingress.

So I'm thinking i Have a combination of faulty door membranes for both rear doors and cracked sealant under the rubber roof strips.

 My local Honda dealer fixed the door membranes on the drivers side back in 2010 when the car was underwarranty.As they did the work under warranty they have said it would not be covered for more than a year. I understand the technical service bulletin for this sort of thing was up to 6 years. As I have an 04 Jazz I'm out of luck on that front and the Honda dealer have quoted about £120 to fix the issues.

I'm wondering how hard it is to remove the rubber strips on the roof rails, how they come off and how they fit back in? I don't want to the start the whole thing and not be able to get the strips back in place.

 I had considered putting a strip of duct tape over the rubber rails as a temporary fix but I'm guessing (if it were to hold) it would probably remove the paintwork when I came to take the tape off at a later date - has anyone done this?.

Can anyone give me the heads up on how easy it is to:

1. Get the rubber roof rails on and off
2. What sealant they would use underheat the roof rails.
3. And how easy it is to get the door panelling off to look at the door membranes (was thinking of sticking the edges of the door membrane with duct tape if i can at them?.

Any thoughts / ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Brapford

[Jem]

The rubber bits are easy to take off, you just have to slide it I think towards the back of the car (or it might be towards the front) try either direction.

you can just lift up the end of it and see if there are any cracks.

[guest1885]

Jem

Thanks for replying - so it sounds like it sort of sits in the channel and does' not clip in any place underneath - from what I understand the majority of cracks are usually located within the back 15cm odd of the channel.

Brapford

[chrisc]

Yes, you are 100% correct.  Make sure the surfaces are really clean (a steam gun works well) before you apply new sealant

[guest1885]

Chris

Is there any special type of sealant I should buy? given that its got to adhere to metal.

 Do you know if the roof strip just needs to be slid back into place once removed or just lined up over the channel in place and then pressed / compressed/clipped back into position?

Brapford

[guest3790]

there's some really useful photos of someone (not me) fixing their roof sealant leak here:
http://www.beardmorebros.co.uk/website%20pages/jazz_leak.html

It does look like its the last section before the tailgate that cracks - in his case anyway.

-Jim.

[guest1885]

Thanks JIMR

The pictures help to locate the areas which might need sealing.

I had a quick look at the rear of the car where the boot lid connects to the car and there is a visible crack on the right hand (drivers side) running down from below where  the rubber roof strip ends and into the rear  drainage channel that runs down the right hand side of the boot.

(Have not yet lifted the rubber roof seal)

What sealant would people suggest should be used to seal the area - just any normal exterior window sealant? or something better?



 
Brapford
 

[chrisc]

Chris

Is there any special type of sealant I should buy? given that its got to adhere to metal.

 Do you know if the roof strip just needs to be slid back into place once removed or just lined up over the channel in place and then pressed / compressed/clipped back into position?

Brapford

I don't really know, except that silicon is not it.  There are many different types of sealant about, and the windscreen one is often very dense, with the consistency of toffee.  Better ask a supplier who is genuinely appraised with the different characteristics of sealants.  I watched a motor glass guy injecting some black substance into a windscreen surround and he said it was not black silicon, but something that never set 100% hard and always retained some flexibility, given that, in sunshine, the glass will expand at a different rate from the steel shell.

[guest3906]

hi guys , what you need to do to solve the rear hatch lid leak is to remove the plastic upholstery and then remove the plastic sheeting , then use aluminum tape to seal the area previously covered with the plastic sheet. this will cause any water drip to be diverted to the bottom of the hatch lid where it drains out through the drain holes.

[guest1885]

Moon

Thanks for your reply, when you mention the plastic upholstery do you mean the rubber roof strips?or the membranes that fit in the doors?

I know that leaks in the foot wells can be as a result of the sealant going on the door membranes, is this what you are referring to when you mention replacing the plastic with aluminum tape? I know someone put aluminum tape behind the door membranes and used the tape to divert the water flow in the doors back into the channel for leaks in the rear seat foot wells?

I do have leaks in the foot Wells but I also have a leak in the rear boot and I know that cracks under the rubber roof rails can cause this particular leak into the rear wheel well - any advice is great fully received.

[culzean]

Get some Sikaflex polyurethane sealant,  it will stick to anything and much better than silicon,  comes in black as well - get it from builders merchants and screwfix

[chrisc]

If this stuff (Sikaflex polyurethane sealant) is what takes 2 weeks to remove from your fingers, then this will sort out your problem, as long as you can apply sufficient to fill any gaps and cracks

[guest1885]

Thanks Chrisc / Culzean - I know my local screwfix has this in stock and in grey which would match the car..ish I will have to get some.

I'm still at bit worried about removing the roof rails. Not sure exactly how they come out as such a check of a honda esm seemed to indicate there was a fastening on the rubber rook rails at each end but I cant see that on my jazz.

Just more concerned about getting the roof rails ff and back and on again and not being left "high n dry"..or more wet as would be the case.

Brapford