Water In The Boot

[Bantam]

Hello all,
Hope you can help....Well i purchased my first XM today,brought it home,fighting with steamed up windows all the way up the motoway.

When i got home and looked in the Boot it looked like new but smelt funny,i lifted te carpet and all the Soundproofing was wringing as far back as i could feel

I did the hose pipe test to see if the boot seals were leaking,they looked fine.

Is it a known problem that the XM leaks and boot become saturated ? If so how and where do i start ?

Thanks for now Paul

P.S i have a million questions to ask but for now i'm putting them in order of priority and dealing with them one at a time...Cheers

This post has been edited by Bantam on February 24, 2008 06:22 pm

[Ciaran]

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the club, and congrats on getting your first XM
Which one is it anyway?

Common leak points for the boot are the surround of the the lock barrell, the lights, and obviously the seals themselves.

Not so obvious though, may be a leak from the sunroof. Is your headlining wet at all?

Ciarán

[Bantam]

Thanks for the reply....Its a 1996 2.1TD VSX Manual Saloon/hatchback

I have not checked out anywhere yet but was looking for somewhere to start.

I will check all the area's youv'e asked and get back to the group.

Many thanks for now

This post has been edited by Bantam on February 24, 2008 07:22 pm

[Ciaran]

Just a thought on the boot seal, you said you'd checked it already, but look very carefully.

In a previous S1, I had a persistent boot leak and was convinced the seal was fine, but I couldn't find the water entry point anywhere. Then one day while lifting something out of the car, it touched the boot seal, causing it to flex, and revealing a tiny pin hole. It seems that when the boot was closed against it, it was enough to spread out and open this otherwise invisible hole.

Ciarán

This post has been edited by Ciaran on February 24, 2008 07:28 pm

[robert_e_smart]

Welcome Paul,

Your story sounds all too famniliar to me! I got my first Xm back in the summer and had the same problem. Wet carpets.

I would also reccomend checking the carpet in the back of the car under the mats if you have any, they may also be wet, ohh and the sound deadening material under the back seat.

I thought it was my boot seal. Did the hose test round the lights etc, no leak there.

Does your car have a sunroof? this was the cause of my problems.

I then checked the Sunroof drainage pipes, 1 was blocked, so cleared it out, reassembled the interior once it was dried, and lo and behold 6 months later, back to square one. Wet carpets again.

To cut a long stroy short I had to replace the drainage tubes from the sunroof drainage tray. (more details can be found in the How to section)

By the way where abouts are you Paul? I'm in N.Ireland like Ciaran.

Good luck with the XM, be patient with her it's well worth it once the wee niggles are sorted out.

Regards

Robert

[Bantam]

Thanks again you guys....Well i'll double check the seals.

The previous owner said the sunroof has never worked ? Is there a few clues here ?

Cheers so far.......

This post has been edited by Bantam on February 24, 2008 07:54 pm

[Ciaran]

The sunroof not working can be a few things. If it simply does absolutely nothing, most likely suspect is the switch, a very common problem.

It could also be the fuse, or the motor itself.

If however, when you press the button all you get is a lot of garaunching and scraping, then the problem is the drive cables, which is more of a pain. Just be careful (especially at this time of year) about getting it jammed open if you're testing it.

There's plenty of info on the forum about repair of the sunroof mechanism, and even the drainage issue. Robert posted a helpful guide on that just the other day actually.



Ciarán

[Bantam]

Cheers Ciarán,
To be fair the previous owner warned me about the roof and i instantly thought that would be a Summer job,but gratefull for your comments on the repair.

But the damp in the boot is causing the whole car to mist up on the Motoway so needs to be fixed as soon as...............


Thanks

[citroenxm]

Hi... I dont want to put a Downer on this, but would a wet boot steam the car up?

Consider also the heater matrix could be leaking... I hope its not for you, HOWEVER, XM heater matrix's ARE NOT a dash out job (Unlike Xantias), just a steering colum off job...

Keep an eye on the header tank level and carpets in the front to see if they are wet..

Good luck

Rgds

C

[Bantam]

Hello C,
Yes that was my first thoughts,but the carpets are dry as of tonight ?

My missus had one of the first Clio's known for a leaky boot and that always steamed up....All i have to work on so far is the boot being sodden ?

Cheer so far the grey matter is working hard

This post has been edited by Bantam on February 24, 2008 09:39 pm

[Ciaran]

When my original S1 leaked I just removed the boot carpet for a week because it was harbouring mousture and making the steam up problem worse, and making it difficult to see where the water was actually coming from.

If you leave it to dry out in the garage and clean up the water and see if you can get anywhere with it...

Ciarán

[Bantam]

Thanks Ciarán going to take the boot trim out next day off from work.....Hope you dont all mind but i'll keep you all informed.....

This post has been edited by Bantam on February 24, 2008 09:48 pm

[xmexclusive]

Hi Bantam

Check out that the rear screen washer jet is working. If it is not then the supply tube may be split or come apart at one of the joints. If broken this can put a few ltrs of water into the side/floor of the boot just by using the front washers as they all come off the same 5 ltr tank. The supply tube runs along the passenger side of the sun roof then into the boot.

Regards

XMexc

[Ciaran]

Course we don't mind, it helps work out what the problem is, and will make good troubleshooting steps if anyone else encounters this in future

Ciarán

[Bantam]

Thanks XMexc......Yes something new there although the the rear washer was working on the way home,but was it it pushing fluid in the the boot ?

Watch this space, a massive thanks so far.