Think I found the source of water in my boot!!!

Usually its the 3rd Brake Light but on this occasion it was the rear trim clips that were letting water in, they were removed last year to replace the rear windscreen and this must have caused the small rubber washers to fail, broke 3 getting them off and reinstalled the remainder with a bit of silicone. Whilst I was at it I added Silicone to the boot release screw mounts.

Ordered fresh clips from BMW and a new rear trim, also ordered a new 3rd Brake Light (went for smoked) to replace the original as it has warped slightly and when that arrives I think a small dab of silicone to be safe!

I think it comes in via the rear brakelight and runs down through those trim bits you're replacing.

How much was the trim out of interest?

does this water collect in the battery holder ??

One one of mine I've had a leaky boot twice. One was the famous third brake light, the other was the boot seal had been knocked off and then reinstalled, but not quite right.

Just today found the battery recess on my R53 carrying a load of water!

All the stuff I read thus far says to replace/remove the third, high level brake light is a big deal, as you have to remove the spoiler.

Can't see it being that difficult, but before I set-to with tools.....any advice? Please?!


Thanks.

First you dont need to remove the spoiler just the 2 screws that hold it in place and it will come out may need a little help as they do get stuck there, I then replaced the foam gasket I used double sided number plate tape peeled one side and left the other side on and stuck in on and cut to size, clean up the receased area and refit hopefully that has sorted it

Tomorrow I'll try drenching the upper brake light, see if that's where the leak is.

Where are the two screws that hold the spoiler in place?

(It's cold dark and wet, so I aint going out to inspect mine right now!)

The 2 screws hold the brake light in place no need to touch the spoiler they are on the inside of the hatch open up the hatch and look at the other side of the light unit, they if I remeber right are T20 torxs screws

Ok, so I poured a load of water over the third brake light and left it for a few mins.
Most of the water, of course, went on my feet.....

Now I can't see any ingress of water, but what I do notice is that on opening the tailgate, a lot of water pours out from somewhere, a lot of which ends up down in the boot space.

So if the tailgate isn't opened, and thereby emptying it, is the water getting into the tailgate and seeping into the boot space?

Richard
my battery box used to collect water and the the water runs out of two holes when you open tailgate at the top and does run down the sides
but when we fitted a JCW spoiler to mine with Tiger seal it squshed into the thrid brake light recess so after fitting and putting the little fins on had a good clean up of the tiger seal around the light , and since we fitted it no more water so i think it was coming in on the brake light somewhere but during the fitting it got sealed up .might be worth just going round the brake light on the outside and seeing if it stops .

Janet (Mrs Bandit 65)

Janet - what's 'Tiger Seal' and where do I buy it?

I will take a picture ,it's used by the trade for fixing mouldings on to cars etc shame your not nearer could have lent you some

But this is an adhesive not a sealant. A good sealant may be better we used it because we were sticking a spoiler on

Ok, as all indications are that the third brake light is the cause, I'll get to it with something once the weather's a little more conducive to such things.

Too cold now to play with wet carpets, wet cloths, cold tools and tiny torx screws!