WATER LEAK IN TRUNK

[r44raven]

Hi Everyone!
Not sure if this is the place for this thread (redirect me if I'm wrong!).
On opening the trunk on my E500, I was somewhat concerned to see that the "well" on the left hand-side of the boot was almost 1/4 full of water! I normally keep a bag of tools, a can of spare fuel plus other "clutter" in this well, and not having the need to use any of these items recently, I'm not sure how long the water had been there. There doesn't appear to be any drain in this well, so any water ingress remains there.
Having removed all the trunk lining on that side of the boot, I discovered a "pressure-release" grill on the side panel of the boot. This pressure release grill has rubber flaps on the outside which are supposed to open when the boot is physically closed to allow air pressure out, but which are supposed to remain closed when any water is played on the outside to avoid any ingress of water.
However, when I played water down the outside of that side of the car, I discovered that water was leaking not only through the edges of the grill, but also around the rubber flaps which are meant to remain closed when water passes over them on the outside! I think over time the rubber has lost its "memory" to remain tightly shut.
I have now removed and resealed the grill (it has a rubber seal, which was "shot"), but this is only a temporary repair pending the arrival of a new grill, which hopefully will not leak water through the rubber flaps.
Not too desperate an item, but one which could have consequences if this "well" is not checked at frequent intervals to ensure there is no pool of water.
The pressure-release grill is only on the left-rear of the boot. There isn't one on the side of the battery, so hopefully no issues with the battery box becoming water logged!
P.S. On reflection, maybe this well should have a simple drain hole, and mine has become blocked with crud and unidentifiable over the years?

 

[Glen]

Curious. There should be a grill on both sides of the car as well as drains in the bottom of both the left side well and battery box. Perhaps your drains are plugged?

Here's a picture of my battery box:

 

[r44raven]

Curious. There should be a grill on both sides of the car as well as drains in the bottom of both the left side well and battery box. Perhaps your drains are plugged?

That's interesting! Certainly there is no drain facility on the left-hand "well", as witnessed by the build up of water.
My conclusion that there wasn't any pressure release grill on the battery box side of the car was taken from info I obtained from the official MB Owners Club website. I haven't actually removed the boot lining on that side to check.
It would seem sensible for there to be drains in the wells, but I certainly can't find any evidence of one on the left side. I assume they would be just small holes drilled down through the bottom of each well? - although knowing the thoroughness of MB maybe they are a bit more complicated than this?
I have little history of the car I have, and it may be that it was subject to a rear end shunt, which necessitated a rebuild of the boot area, at which time it was omitted to drill out drain holes?
It certainly would seem a good idea for me to remove the battery and inspect the condition of the right-hand well.

 

[Glen]

If possible, post a picture of your left well.

 

[r44raven]

Just tried to edit my last post -not sure if it worked! Anyhow, I wanted to say I only just got the pic of your battery box. I think I need to strip that side of the boot to check the pressure grill and also that there are drain holes in the battery well.
There certainly isn't anything like the drain hole featured in your battery box, in my left hand well. If i've seen your pic right, its a pretty big hole containing some kind of rubber "bung" with three holes in it?

 

[r44raven]

If possible, post a picture of your left well.

I'll try and do that tomorrow.

 

[nocfn]

I recently removed rear bumper for painting and confirm the air vent is present on both sides. Just for giggles, I use old rubber radiator hose cut about a 1/4 inch long, and I put 3 under the carpet in the well so that if anything heavy gets there, the drain won't plug if water gets in by means of broken sunroof drain, failure of hirchmann seal or trunk seal failure.

 

[r44raven]

If possible, post a picture of your left well.

Here are two pics of the left hand well, plus one of the battery well. These raise a number of questions.
On the left side, as you can see, no drain hole(s). I guess I should be installing one. From the pics, you can also see a pipe which ends just below the pressure grill. I wondered if this was the sunroof drain, but the pipe has in fact been flattened at the end to prevent anything coming out!
On the right side, in the battery well, there is again evidence of water coming through the pressure outlet grill. The well has a false bottom in the form of a flat metal plate on which the battery sits. At the moment I can't remove this as the fastenings are rusted (!), so I can't establish if there is any drain hole underneath it. Looking from the underside of the car, there is only one solid rubber plug - again no evidence of a drain hole. I guess its important I get the false bottom out so I can see what damage any water might have caused - and install a drain?
Any suggestions gratefully received!

 

[nocfn]

On the left, the silver tube crimped is the sunroof cable, leave it alone. The sunroof drain is black rubber and if you look up and under (follow the silver tube into the seat back) you will see the rubber hose. It looks like undercoating was sprayed in your trunk wells as I can barely see evidence of a covered over grommet. get under car, at left trunk well and look to see it a 10mm rubber bit is poking down and another that is flat. If they do not exist, I bet your finger can locate where they belong and you can push thru the coating from the inside.

 

[Glen]

Here are a couple pix I just took of my car from underneath. The protruding stumps are the drain tubes for the wells.

Left side:



Right side:

 

[r44raven]

I've got nothing like those protruding drain holes on either side of the car (and I can't even feel where they might have been)! The only hole I have is to the rear of the battery well, and this has a sold rubber bung in it!
All very odd.
But ........ I guess I'd better install some a.s.a.p.
Thanks for your input, guys!

 

[nocfn]

here are the PN for you the two are the long ones shown in the previous post by Glen. I ordered 3 as one goes in the spare tire well so if it is missing or ratty, replace it as well

 

[r44raven]

here are the PN for you the two are the long ones shown in the previous post by Glen. I ordered 3 as one goes in the spare tire well so if it is missing or ratty, replace it as well

That's great, thanks for that! I'll check out the spare wheel well before I order up the drain plugs in case I need both types.
Of course, all this leads to the question - why aren't there any drain holes? I haven't actually posted much information about the car (I must get round to that!), but I did buy it with a fairly "chequered" history, which may have included some rear end shunt. But what sort of bodywork repairer would have omitted to ensure the boot wells had sufficient drainage! Maybe best not to ask too many questions, and bring the car back to speck in my own time?
Thanks for all your help.

 

[mikeym]

Anyone has the part numbers for the vent flaps (my EPC laptop is down)? One of them is shot on my car and letting water in the trunk.