I can't tell you all how happy I am to say that I finally have a Bone Dry Boot! I had attempted to find the leak a few years ago but gave up after not being able to locate it. The trunk was smelly, my umbrella and detail cloths were musty, old metal toolbox left a rust stain on the carpet, the carpet backing was soaked and black underneath, and sticking to surface rust on the trunk floor. A real mess!!

You can see the mess from the wet carpet backing:



First "fix" was a new boot lid weatherstripping when I replaced the front door seals. No luck, still leaked.

On the advice of my Jag indy, Jack, and after doing some thorough investigation and following the rust clues, I finally found 2 sources of water ingress into the trunk.

The smaller one was a trickle of water that would run down near the RH edge of the trunk opening, near the inboard edge of the RH taillamp. Jack advised me to remove the two "Trunk Side Finishers" and their 2 screws each, and the "Trunk Lid Aperture Finisher" and it's 4 screws. He told me to use clear silicone sealant in each plastic insert nut before putting the finishers back on. He told me this was a very common leak point. He also recommended checking behind the license plate to make sure all holes are either used or blanked.

The larger water leak was coming from an area that was disturbed close to 20 years ago due to a driveway parking accident. Great aunt's son backed his car into the RH rear quarter of the car. I could tell the water had to be somewhere in this area because there was quite a bit of rusting under where the trunk ventilator box sat:



With the trunk open, I hosed down the rear quarter of the car. Almost instantly, water started to appear under the ventilator box. With it removed, it was clear to see that the water was running down the quarter panel, falling on the bumper quarter trim, and then falling down onto the black plastic piece and leaking into the car through cracks.




The black plastic piece is riveted to the outside of the car and the scoops slide into matching openings on the ventilator box once installed. There is a foam piece with three cutouts for the scoops that seals between the metal and the ventilator box that I removed before taking this picture. The "scoop trim" was cracked in multiple places, so I used silicone to seal them all up on the inside, and also from the outside too. I had to remove the rear bumper to get good access. The two halves of the ventilator box were also loose, so I used used the silicone there too for a tight seal. The week after was the only time I ever remember wishing for rain! And when the rain gods didn't listen, I washed the car instead... Completely leak free!

After siliconing, I let everything cure for a few hours and used a RugDoctor on the trunk and cabin carpeting, then let that everything thoroughly.



The trunk molded carpeting panels will need a spray of 3M headliner/fabric adhesive (they needed it before the cleaning, and now definitely do) but I am very, very pleased with the results! Even treated myself to a new metal toolbox to celebrate the occasion.



The loose CD changer is there waiting to be dropped off to Jack as a gift for helping me out with this one. He was looking for a good working OE changer for his X300.

Nick

 

Nice write-up. too many forum members post their issues but don't close the loop by presenting the solutions. We are trying to build a repository of problems/solutions. Nice job. Ren

 

Nice job tracking that leak down. I'm going to do the same as you and see if that's where my leak is as well. By the time I realized mine was leaking, there was standing water in the back.

Also, that factory CD changer is awesome.

 

Thanks guys! That's my theory. Someone, at some point, will stumble across this thread, like all the others we've stumbled across to keep our cars going strong!

As for the CD changer, it is cool! Wonder how much the option was for my 1992, must've been a bit expensive. It mounts on a bracket against the bottom of the parcel shelf, and was taking up some room. I've replaced the headunit with a JVC, complete with Bluetooth (and microphone in overhead console) and a USB socket in the center console for my iPod. The CD changer became unnecessary.

Now I just need to find a proper Jaguar toolkit to mount where the CD changer went! :P

It bears repeating: It's SO nice to finally have a dry, fresh trunk, and to know that no further damage is happening!

Nick