2009 Cayman with wet carpet to driver side rear trunk area

I just recently noticed that the carpet in the driver side rear trunk of my 2009 Cayman is wet. It's been raining lately so I'm not sure if it's just from the rain or if the carpet gets wet even in dry weather. There's no puddle inside the trunk but it's bad enough that the glue is coming off from the rear trunk liner and causing the carpet to come off. Anybody else have this problem or notice this? I've read online that there's a coolant issue with Caymans but it's usually seen on the passenger side rear trunk. There's no odor from this area except for the glue that's come off. My weather seal in the trunk is good and it doesn't look like there's any water leaking into the trunk from taillight or the rear trunk hood. In fact, it seems like the moisture is coming from underneath the trunk liner.

Check the drain hole in the rain channel closest to the wet spot to make sure it isn't clogged. Do you have access to a water hose? It could be a leak from either the trunk window or the drivers side 3/4 window. Stuff toilet paper into the seams of where the glass meets the body and spray that side of the car with the hose. The toilet paper trick worked for me trying to determine exactly where I had a small leak with the bathroom plumbing. Any moisture would get sucked right up by it.

This comes up quite often. Do a search on wet carpet here and you'll see numerous threads. Hopefully your issue has been covered already. Good luck.

Just take it in, it would be covered under your warranty

I took it in yesterday and the dealership claims there's no leak coming into the car. They said that I spilled something in the trunk and the liquid got absorbed in the spongy material under the carpet and when the floor of the trunk gets hot, the carpet feels wet. I'm not sure what spilled there (? maybe a bit of coolant but it should have evaporated by now) but I guess I'll take their word for it. Ordering a new rear trunk liner and throwing the old one away. We'll see if the dealership's theory is right. Thanks for all the help.

finally figured out the source of the leak in my rear trunk...turns out there's a small leak coming through the ground wire located on the left side of the rear trunk...sealed it up and hopefully this works...don't want to spend another $300 for a rear trunk carpet liner...

HI, Is it possible for you to send a picture of where the leak was coming from ? You said it was the ground wire on the left hand side of the trunk. Can you let me know what you mean by left hand side (is that on the passenger side - I'm in the UK so the driver sits on the right) How do you access this point ? Many thanks Sam

You're question wasn't directed at me, but I was just toying in this area yesterday so I'll give you some color... If you remove the tail light covers in the trunk area, you'll be able to reach behind the side carpet pieces and pull them out. On LHD cars, there is a ground wire that is immediately apparent behind this carpeted piece on the driver's side of the car. If it's reversed on a RHD car, it should be no big deal as this is a 3 minute process.

Thanks for your reply. Ok, I'll do this today (if it stops raining !) and will pos come PICS if I can find it.

HI Apologies for the delay, here are the photos of my RHD Porsche Cayman Gen II boot, the water leakage is still there. I took this to Crispin in Wembley and he changed the seals on the rear spoiler, however it doesn't seem like this was the issue, I still get a lot of water ingress such that the whole carpet is wet.

Here are some more pics as I was limited to 6 per post. Just to make it clearer, I've also removed the carpets so try and find the leak, it's odd that I can't see where the water is coming from as it's a lot of water that comes in, the whole carpet becomes wet and it makes it dangerous driving the car as it keeps steaming up as a result of this. Your help would be very much appreciated.

Ok, this is unbelievable, however I think I resolved the issue after many hours of investigation and spending £400 with a porsche "specialist" in Wembley (Crispin) opposite Jaz SIAT Porsche (I wish I had used them) called 911 Body Shop - Porshe Specialist - Fabrication and Finishing They said the leak was coming from the spoiler as they claimed the seals had gone, however this was absolute rubbish and he charged me £400 without even giving me a quotation or indication of how much it would cost, I definitely won't be using them again. Anyway, as for the solution, I have attached two pictures. Both of these rubber grommets has NOT been fully screwed in, so when the boot is shut, it seems like these were blocking the drainage holes OR possible leaving a gap between the rubber seal and the bootlid, and therefore water was ONLY getting in when the boot was closed, so it was very difficult to identify this problem. Anyway, I have no idea why these were unscrewed, but I've now put both of them fully in and have included a picture of that as well. I hope this helps people in future, this has been doing my head in and the porsche "specialist" 911bodyshop also wanted me to change my rear lights as well which would have cost me £600, I hate it when people screw you because you have a porsche.

Good news you were able to solve the issue. I've seen folks screw those rubber stops out to tighten the fit of the trunk lid because of either rattling or creaking or some type of lid noise that annoys. Hopefully your discovery won't introduce lid noise but from all appearances, those bumpers were backed out way to far. I would imagine your lid was hard to close as well. :cheers:

Do you know what the purpose of these rubber stops is ? Is it to stop the boot vibrations ? I think the boot was hard to close and I'm certain that when I closed the boot the stoppers were squeezed and they must have been blocking the drainage holes, I believe this is the only explanation as I've not read about this problem anywhere in relation to the Cayman .

I assume the purpose is for a several reasons. One would be to cushion the closing of the lid so as to not have metal on metal contact and another would be to adjust the closing level so as to not have one or both sides higher than they should be after closing and a third would be to adjust how tight the lid is after closure in order to stop any movement/rattling/squeaking when under way on less than smooth roads. Based on where those "bumpers" were adjusted on your car I would imagine your lid to be hard to close and potentially sitting so high that the rubber seals didn't seal. All speculation of course since I'm not an expert, just someone who has owned automobiles for 53 years and a 2008 Cayman for 5 years and read just about everything there is to read on our cars.:cheers:

Hi, You are correct, I think the boot was difficult to close. I figured out the source of the leak when I used a hose pipe when the boot was closed, bizarrely the leak only happened when the boot lid was closed, if I used a hose pipe in the channels while the boot was open then obviously everything was flowing fine !! I am very annoyed at 911bodyshop.co.uk looking back at the bill, they charged me £600 to change the washers in the spoiler and actually it does not look like this was required as this did not solve the issue - the car leaked the week after as soon as it rained. Do you think I should go back to them and ask for some money back ? I hate it when garages rip people off and although this was on the high side in the first place I was semi-ok paying it if he had resolved the problem as I compared it to Porsche rates.

You should certainly try for a refund but don't hold your breath while waiting for it. I get the impression a whole lot of companies would rather lose an existing/potential customer and even put up with bad references than give a refund. For some reason, too many folks just can't admit they are/were wrong.....ever. Good luck.

Hi all, I'm a new member with a 2008 Cayman and I am currently resolving the 'wet boot' issue, I have traced this back to the screw in rubber 'stoppers' as outlined above. As per this example I noticed a wet patch in the boot so took all of the rear lining out to investigate to find a significant amount of water soaked into the boot insulation. Prior to finding this issue I did make a journey in pretty heavy rain and also cleaned the car using yet more water the following day (I believe this water issue also explains why my rear park assist stopped working for a day and then came back to life once it had dried out). Anyway my query is if anybody has managed to fully dry the boot liner out to reuse it or if they have just replaced it with a new one. The carpet obviously has pretty thick sound insulation directly below it and this is completely sodden with water (it is currently in my bath in an attempt to drain it). My next approach will probably be to leave it infront of a radiator - it is only the bottom liner that is significantly wet, the other carpet pieces that fit to the sides and to the engine bay are fine. Any guidance appreciated. Michael (UK)

I also have the same wet carpet problem and noticed that the stoppers were not twisted in all the way (driver side and a little on the passenger side - LHD car) along with sometimes having a hard time closing the rear. There was also some rattling sounds on random trips if that helps anyone. Hopefully, this fixes it for good.

Old threads sure can be helpful. I was looking at my hatch (boot?) earlier tonight for something else and noticed the rubber stoppers at the corners and how far out they were. Saw this thread and decided to check them out and sure enough they were in the "Before" position. Now they are in the "After" position. Do not notice any difference in the hatch closing. We get about eight days of rain here so I doubt I would have noticed wetness unless it was a lot. Do anyone know what position they should be in under normal circumstances? Maybe these are adjustable to allow the best fit possible for the hatch? Eddie

Adjustable for hatch tension/fitment. Someone with more experience with Porsche's can chime in, but typically you'll adjust in/out for the sweet spot somewhere in-between hard to close and loose to the point of possible rattles while driving. "Snug", but not too hard or too loose, and then check fitment to ensure the edges on either side and the rear align with the body panels. Our front boots/frunks have the same adjusters, but apparently with the 987 models the the leading edge is suppose to be slightly lower than the front bumpers adjacent edge. It's a tight fit regardless, at least it is for me, to find the point of "just right" between too hard close and "rattles while driving". On a side note in reference to seals, after washing and subsequent drying of my cars I always open every external hatch/door and slowly run a moist microfiber cloth along the length of each seal to clean them and inspect them. I highly recommend using a rubber re-conditioner/sealant every so often to prolong the life of seals and the like. Regards, Graeme

Hi all, I think I managed to cure the wet boot issue at least for the time being. Following advice on this thread I made some adjustments to the rubber stoppers and a few weeks ago the car went in for a major service so I mentioned it. The issue was investigated and traced back to a misaligned grommet, I believe underneath the spoiler mechanism. The garage took the carpets out to dry and told me to come back in a few days and to keep an eye out for any moisture in the boot whilst the carpets were not in situ. I checked and found some evidence of moisture which I dried out, and I believe this water may have been in the channels and travelled into the boot as I drove home - keeping an eye on it over a few days it seemed to be OK and the carpets are now refitted. The weather has since picked up and we have had much less rainfall but I have cleaned the car on multiple occasions and not noticed any moisture in the rear but I will keep a closer eye on this come winter.

An update for anyone searching for solutions. It was not the stoppers that were causing my problem. It was the foam gaskets of the two rear tail lights. They were no longer adhering to the plastic tail light assembly. It was a quick fix. I used some waterproof glue along the groove and let it set before putting it back in the car. After spraying a garden hose over the tail lights for 1 minute and a day of a lot of rain, it hasn't leaked anymore. I stuffed some microfiber clothes back there and they've been dry.