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The tailgate of my ?98 306 leaks, and it?s getting a bit annoying. I don?t know where the water enters, but it appears through the rear seatbelt strap hole where it pools next to the parcel shelf before proceeding to flow down into the boot (via the parcel shelf speaker plug). I?ve tried sealant inside the boot seal (by the roof), and also on the rubber gater for the wires from the roof to the tailgate, but no luck yet. Any ideas ?
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Rear light clusters?
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It's coming in at a height above the rear seat-belt straps and flowing inside the moulding(s) until it appears through the seat-belt strap hole. I just can't understand where it's coming from .. and it only appears to be on the N/S.
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Have you got a sunroof? The drains from this will run down in that location - you may have one blocked. You can clear them by blowing air up them, but you need to know where them come out - and I don't on a 306!!
To check the boot seal, carefully smear Vaseline on it then close the boot and reopen it. You will be able to see where the seal has contacted the metal and where it hasn't. Not sure what you do if you do find an area of non-contact though!
RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Buy some "seek & seal" from your local car accessory shop and drip it all over the seals around that area.
It's an almost liquid sealer, which will run over the seals and plug any holes - Takes ages to dry though!
Worked a treat on my old 205, around the door seal.
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Thanks for the suggestions. There is no sunroof, so I'll try the 'seek and seal' - I can't believe there are many places the water can get in (boot hinge bolts ?).
I had 205's previously, and the boots leaked on both of those - never got to the bottom of it, just replaced the insulation under the boot matt regularly (because of the smell).
Am I just unlucky ??
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Dan - have you tried pulling off the weatherstrip to check for gaps along the edge of the tailgate 'gutter' - you could seal that with PVC tape. Or is there any gap round the hinges or the tailgate strut pivots?
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I put some sealant inside the weatherstrip, but it hasn't appeared to make things better (I may have to look again). Hinges and tailgate strut pivots are the only other possibility I think. I'll have a look this weekend.
Thanks,
Dan.
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Dan - one other remote possibility occurs to me - the filled seam between roof and rear quarter panel just aft of the top edge of the doors (is yours a 5-door?) I recently traced a boot leak in a 205 (and reported it here as it seemed so peculiar): water was creeping through the seam (filled with mastic) just below the bottom corner of the hatch opening. I presume it was getting into the 'box-section' via the tail-lamp cluster. The point is that these mastic-filled seams may be imperfect!
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If the rear window washer nozzle is at the top edge of the screen, check to see if it is sealed to the bodywork properly.
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Or possibly a broken plastic feed pipe to the washer jet?
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my 306 (without sunroof) leaks from aroung the base of the aerial. it's only in really bad weather, and the water escapes from around the courtesy light, rather than making its way to the back of the car. But it might be worth a look.
I've not worked out how to reseal it though...
Cheers,
Ben.
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Ben - (if your roof aerial is similar to that on a 205) first unscrew the aerial stem if it is a long one. Then remove the courtesy lamp bits to get access to the base of the aerial, where you should find the end of a coax cable for the radio. Disconnect that, pull off a metal shield thing, and remove the nut holding the base piece to the roof. Apply some sealant and put everything together again.
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Thanks for that, Andrew.
I've had the courtesy lamp out, but the base of the aerial is pretty heavily recessed, so I've no idea how to get sealant up there.
Also, I want to check whether the roof's steel or aluminium first. Silicon sealant gives off citric acid as it cures, some of which would be trapped against the roof - wouldn't do steel any good. Although there must be other sealants around, I'm just not looked yet.
Cheers,
Ben.
ps. apologies for hijacking your thread, Dan.
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Don't worry about hijacking the thread, I struggled for years with leaky 205's. The path to sealing leaks is made up of highs (when you think you've found it and solved it), and lows (when it's been raining all night and there's a puddle in the car). Eventually you get there, and then you have to get rid of the smell of dampness !!
Dan.
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Ben - my earlier post may have seemed a bit confused. Aerial connection above lamp should have a small metal 'hat' over the nut securing cable. Pull this off, remove nut to release cable, then release base of aerial and lift off car. Then apply sealant. I would use a drying sealant, not a curing one - some sort of mastic.
Would be most surprised to find aluminium panels in a 306. But I think you mean acetic acid (not citric) as sealants commonly contain acetic anhydride.
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thanks, andrew.
it was the metal cap that I couldn't get at well enough to prise off (this was several months ago, so my memory's a little hazy). I'll have another go sometime.
you're right about your acids; sealants smell of vinegar not lemons! I'll make sure I get one that's neither anyhow, unless a magnet reveals an alloy roof. You're probably right that that's unlikely; I've never given it much thought.
Cheers,
Ben.
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