Rear boot carpet soaked and condensation on boot lid - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

This happens after lots of rain. The coolant level is always at full and never goes down. Last time I checked the interior carpets were dry. I'm thinking about stripping back all of the boot carpet, but is there anything I can check to find out where the rain water is getting in from?? thanks.

By boot I guess you mean what we call the trunk. The obvious intrusion points are the weatherstripping, the fit of the trunk onto the weatherstripping and the area around the rear tail lights where they mount to the body (a weatherstripping of foam is supposed to be compressed between the two but if not there would be an intrusion point). How was it parked...would the angle give a clue?

aha in future I will refer to it as the trunk. The car is always parked flat, but there appears to be MORE water on the lower carpet by the rear light cluster on the nearside. There is now condensation on the inside glass of each rear light cluster too! Can you give a step by step instruction guide on what to check / remove? the Porsche specialist is £60 per hour plus VAT! thanks

Mate, why not get in the trunk/boot and have someone put the hose on the rear taillight area. If that does not leak then try around the weather seal. Shouldn't be too hard to find. Also check where the grommets go through to the engine bay.

Take the carpet out of the rear boot and use it as a template. Get some sheets of brown butchers paper and using the carpet as a template cut several paper inserts. Install the paper, shut the boot, and spray the area with water. Wait a minute or two then check the paper and see if it's wet. From there you should be able to trace back to the source of the leak. My first guess is a faulty tail light gasket.

have you seen the size of the trunk? It's tiny !! A normal size human cannot fit in there !!

And obvious once you get your head in there. Don't be afraid of a Porsche. It is just a car in lots of aspects and replacing a tail light bulb is about 1 on a 10 scale of difficulty. Open the trunk/boot lid. Remove any lining. Unclip the lights and their electric circuit board. Now remove 3 nuts holding the tail light to the body. Examine the foam that compresses between the tail light and the body. Pictures Page 226 my owner's manual.

thank you for the suggestions - looks like I know what my job will be this weekend.

Thanks for raising this thread, I had the same problem the other day. Will follow these suggestions! Sam

Let me know how you get on SAM.

Hate to say it, but living in Australia its currently summer and 30-40C every day at the moment. Not a lot of chance of rain! (plus Im from near Melbourne where it hasnt flooded...) So I am kinda relying on you guys to find something to try and let me know before the weather turns bad here again Sam

and here I was relying on YOU Sam! Looks like it will have to be me then! I will strip back all of the carpet this weekend if it is dry.

99% sure the leak has been found. It is coming from the rear near side light cluster. Porsche originally used a cream silicon type sealant. On my car it has already been patched once with some blue sealant. This looks to have since degraded. I've uploaded a quick photo. I should also point out that there are a LOT of electronics behind the various pieces of carpet, and that if you do have a leak, get it seen to sooner rather than later to avoid costly bills !! I'm going to get the car patched soon.

replaced the light cluster surround foam gasket for a new one. Result: water is still coming into the boot. Any further ideas? I am now tempted just to take this to the garage for them to fix bah.

Is it possible that your coolant bottle is leaking, either from the (blue) screw coolant filler, pressure relief valve or the plastic bottle itself - these are common problems. The screw top part number should end in 04 which is the latest upgrade. A faulty cap usually causes condensation on the boot (er, sorry hood) lid. Pressure relief valve is under the plastic cover held in place by the oil filler and coolant filler caps - if leaking you will see resedue around the 5 or 6 securing bolts. To check the coolant expansion bottle, you must lift the carped and see if you have green or red coloured coolant laying around the bottom of the plastic bottle and under the carpet. You may not be able to see the crack in the expansion bottle as it usually breaks at the bottom and as soon as the cooling system pressures up, it forces coolant out. Repairs are not recommended - a new bottle must be purchased.

thanks for the reply. its definitely not the coolant leaking. Coolant remains on the max level so no loss. I can see the EXIT point of the water near the light cluster in the trunk on the opposite side of the collant tank. I do not know the ENTRY point of the water however. Also, after it rains, a towel is soaked through when left under the light cluster. the porsche specialist near me does not deal with leaks. bahhhhhh.