Today, ChrisRs and I inspected the car pretty closely when detailing it. We stumbled across this on the inside of the tailgate, where the water runs down the channels at either side. Is this right?!

 

 

It looks as though it could be purposefully built like this, so that the water runs down this gap and out under the bumper...but it just seems so, so wrong!

 

Is this a bodge job, or is it the same for the rest of you mk3 folks?

 

Cheers in advance for looking!

Yep, mine's like that too! Looks like a badly fitted piece of plastic though.

 

It might be worth asking at the dealer next time.

That doesn't look right. 

That doesn't look right. 

 

Different to yours?

That doesn't look right at all, especially the way the black plastic piece is under the seal.

 

Here's how my combi looks (i know yours is a hatch)

 

Today, ChrisRs and I inspected the car pretty closely when detailing it. We stumbled across this on the inside of the tailgate, where the water runs down the channels at either side. Is this right?!

 

 

It looks as though it could be purposefully built like this, so that the water runs down this gap and out under the bumper...but it just seems so, so wrong!

 

Is this a bodge job, or is it the same for the rest of you mk3 folks?

 

Cheers in advance for looking!

To be honest, that is very poor. Should be flush. Shows the PDI inspection is a bit slap dash. I'd take that straight back.

That doesn't look right at all, especially the way the black plastic piece is under the seal.

 

Here's how my combi looks (i know yours is a hatch)

 

 

That looks much more like it. Thanks for posting. I'll get on to the dealer about this ASAP.

Please let us know what they say.

The list of things to check when I collect my car is growing!

Just out of interest (and off topic) how are the washers retracting, flush or sitting proud a bit?

Please let us know what they say.

The list of things to check when I collect my car is growing!

Just out of interest (and off topic) how are the washers retracting, flush or sitting proud a bit?

 

First couple of uses, the driver's side washer was 'sitting proud' and needed a bit of gentle persuasion to go back to it's natural position.

 

Now, it seems fine (600 miles on clock).

That looks much more like it. Thanks for posting. I'll get on to the dealer about this ASAP.

 

You can probably sort it yourself, the black plastic piece comes off so you can remove tail light to change the bulbs.  There's full instructions in the owners manual and a little tool in the tool kit.

This seems to be an assembly issue, mine is exactly the same on the hatchback version. Also on the right side.

Mine same on vrs hatch.

I'll check mine! I have LED rear lights, if that makes any difference.

Sent from my phone so please excuse brevity and spelling

Today i tried to fix it. Removed the plastic with the hub cap tool, put it back on but it's still the same :( It seems to be hitting on one of the screws that hold the rear light in place.

I'm wondering if the plastic cover has been changed a bit on the newer cars that come out of the factory.

Edited 21 December, 201312 yr by Mesmer88

I'm at the dealers Monday to have my lights checked, (see separate post on Xenon alignment), so will be having a look at their demonstrator and bringing it to their attention either way as it doesn't seem right. Will update as soon as I hear what they say.

Another example if you need one:

 

Did you get an answer from the dealer on this?

All the hatches in the dealership are the same or at least the ones we looked at are! All the estates are the same! The difference is that the estate lights seem finished off but the hatches don't.

The water that drains down the boot guttering goes between the light housing and the black plastic on both the estate and hatch and exits the car on top of/near the exhaust pipe/pipes. We checked a few cars as it had been raining so it was easy to see. Dealer agreed it wasn't the best finished part of the car but as they are all the same, very very unlikely that Skoda would do anything.

Edited 23 December, 201312 yr by banksie

The water that drains down the boot guttering goes between the light housing and the black plastic on both the estate and hatch and exits the car on top of/near the exhaust pipe/pipes. We checked a few cars as it had been raining so it was easy to see.

On my Combi any rain water runs over the black plastic piece, not in between it and the light cluster. I know this because it also splashes off the bit where the bump stop locates and sometimes into the boot.

On my hatch (with LED rear lights), they fit flush on both sides

On my Combi any rain water runs over the black plastic piece, not in between it and the light cluster. I know this because it also splashes off the bit where the bump stop locates and sometimes into the boot.

Yes this happened on the estates we looked at but we noticed that there is no actual seal between the plastic and the metal boot so we assumed that when you lift the boot lid the volume of water that comes off it does as you describe and goes over the plastic but when the boot lid is shut the water just seeps between the plastic and the metal as there is no rubber seal just plastic to metal.

I also noticed that there is no drain hole at the very bottom of the boot on either side on the mk3 like their is on the mk2.

On my hatch (with LED rear lights), they fit flush on both sides

Does yours not have the gap at the top as shown in the photos?

Nope, looks more like the photo of the estate. There is a slight gap but it is even both sides and nowhere near as big as the photo in post #1

Sent from my phone so please excuse brevity and spelling

Ah right, I must admit mine is nowhere near as big a gap as the photo but there is a gap, probably about 3-4 mm as on all the ones I've seen. Have been back to garage this morning about my xenons but ended up in workshop with head technician who agreed that it wasn't aesthetically pleasing but was correct.

Haven't bothered taking mine off but wonder whether they can be adjusted up and down to have the gap at the bottom and less visible.

Edited 24 December, 201312 yr by banksie

That doesn't look right at all, especially the way the black plastic piece is under the seal.

Here's how my combi looks (i know yours is a hatch)

Just having another look at mine and the top 1" of the black plastic piece is actually rubber and seals tightly against the body work.