Discovered the carpet in the boot was damp today and after lifting the carpet out I saw 4 inches of water in the cavity where the spare wheel fits. I cant see any sign of obvious wear in the boot seal. A local garage suggested that the light cluster seal can often cause leaks - I wasn't aware that my back lights had rubber seals. This has clearly been going on for a while and I'm surprised I dint hear the water sloshing about.

Local garage suggested removing inner trim and lying in the boot whilst my wife hosed the back of the car to pin point the leak. He did say that the whole light cluster may need replacing if it was taken out

Has anyone else experienced leaks in the boot ? Were the light clusters the problem or the boot seal itself? Any suggestions would be very welcome

 

 

I personally doubt it's the tail light, partly because of the volume of water.

 

Have you removed the spare wheel and checked there are no missing rubber bungs/grommets in the spare wheel well?

 

The rear windscreen washer pipe is known to come loose on some Octavias, pumping the fluid out of a bad connection, could it be this draining in to the wheel well?

 

Also possible but not very likely is a blocked or leaking sunroof drain (if you have a sunroof), I'm not sure if there are any at the rear of the sunroof in addition to the two in the A pillars though.

Many thanks for the response pistOnbr0ke 

 

The car didn't come with a spare wheel - it was bought so I didn't have to use a compressor and the well seems sealed - its been holding the water all this time anyway. No sun roof either.

 

I noticed tonight that the rear washer motor is running but no water is spraying on the rear window. Not sure if this is coincidence but I would have thought that if the pipe had come away from the nozzle unit the boot door lining would be soaked and its as dry as a bone - I'm assuming that is where the pipe and pump are located for the rear washer? The pipe must travel from the engine where the washer water tank is located but where do the pipes go from there to the rear of the car?

 

 

The pump is at the washer bottle.

 

Not sure on the exact route of the washer pipe but on my '18 plate vRS hatch, I noticed there is a also a connection on the left side of the boot before it goes up to the boot lid.

 

If that's popped off, it's plausible the fluid could run down into the boot area

2 hours ago, langers2k said:

The pump is at the washer bottle.

 

Not sure on the exact route of the washer pipe but on my '18 plate vRS hatch, I noticed there is a also a connection on the left side of the boot before it goes up to the boot lid.

 

If that's popped off, it's plausible the fluid could run down into the boot area

Thanks langers2k - there are 2 connections at the very top of the door on either side that must be supplying both the back wiper and the washer unit - I can check the connections. The washer reservoir is quite low so I will top up with some blue or red solution - this will help differentiate the washer water from the rain water that could be coming in.

Do you mean the rubber gators?

 

The connection I found was much lower down, around the rear seatbelt area:

Yes there’s rubber tubing at the top of the boot lid at left and right. 

 

I'm trying to work out from your photo what position inside the car I’m looking at? Ive stripped away the inner walls on the left of the boot and the area but not as far as the rear seat belt.

Immediately behind the left light cluster is sopping wet. Nowhere near as bad on the other side. If it was coming in through the light cluster it must have been happening for a long time given the volume of water

 

Tried to identify the water pump but the washers don’t work with the bonnet up. Is there a way of running in maintenance mode? 

The connection in my picture would be about here:

 

If it's so wet behind the left light, it suggest the problem is around that area as it's unlikely for the washer pipe to make it that far.

 

edit:

There will be a bonnet open sensor somewhere, you just need to fool that so the car thinks it's shut

Edited 18 October, 20205 yr by langers2k

23 hours ago, langers2k said:

The connection in my picture would be about here:

 

If it's so wet behind the left light, it suggest the problem is around that area as it's unlikely for the washer pipe to make it that far.

 

edit:

There will be a bonnet open sensor somewhere, you just need to fool that so the car thinks it's shut

Many thanks for your help mate - appreciate it.  The wettest area is in the small storage area on the left behind the light cluster. I will try hosing this from the outside and see if I can see any water coming in.

On 18/10/2020 at 19:48, langers2k said:

The connection in my picture would be about here:

 

If it's so wet behind the left light, it suggest the problem is around that area as it's unlikely for the washer pipe to make it that far.

 

edit:

There will be a bonnet open sensor somewhere, you just need to fool that so the car thinks it's shut

 

Managed to remove the trim and inspect the washer pipe. As I expected the pipe union was intact with no sign of any leak. I’m starting to think that the boot seal may be at fault and I’m testing this over the weekend.

 

I now have a problem refitting the plastic trim that houses the sear belt roll. On the fitting nearest the back of the car there is a plastic locating lug and a spring metal clip with a plastic surround which snaps inside the metal hole.
 

The springy metal bit has come away from the plastic. Not sure if it snapped off or can it be refitted  but it seemed to just fall off - if it can be refitted I may have to remove the whole plastic piece (which it looks like you’ve done in the photo). How does the piece come off at the end where the seat belt goes through?

 

cheers 

I'm not sure which bit you mean, can you add pictures showing it?

 

The top of the C pillar just pulled off:

 

 

I just pulled the top of the lower C pillar out slightly but left the lower part attached:

 

I haven't got an image for the next bit, but I think there were one or two obvious screw for the 'top' panel on the boot side to pull away.

 

Various metal clips were used, I think one stayed attached to the car body. If this does happen, grab some mole grips or plyers and remove it from the car body, it should just slide back onto the trim ready for refitting

 

It’s the parcel shelf supports ( not sure if this is the exact one but looks similar) . This is covering the seat belt roll . I’ve only removed the part in the left hand side to remove the carpet.

The fitting is on the left looking at the image and there is a square plastic area which goes through a square cut out in the carpet and then a steel spring clip which snaps into a metal hole in the boot. The clip part has fallen away and  l was wondering if it’s worth removing the whole piece 

Looking at this image I’m wondering if you need to remove the white trim that comes over the top of it.

Looking at the image below, there are two metal clips, is it one of these you've lost?

 

If so, I'd suggest finding it if only to stop it rattling around. Maybe a magnet on a string or stick?

 

Which white trim piece? The triangular one in my last post? Then yes, remove that before trying to refit the below.

 

3 minutes ago, langers2k said:

Looking at the image below, there are two metal clips, is it one of these you've lost?

 

If so, I'd suggest finding it if only to stop it rattling around. Maybe a magnet on a string or stick?

 

Which white trim piece? The triangular one in my last post? Then yes, remove that before trying to refit the below.

 

 

Cheers mate, yes that’s the one  I have got the metal clip that fell off and if it can be refitted onto the plastic that retains it I’ll do it. I suspect I could find some other way of fixing it back on.

 

Its whether it’s worth removing even more trim to remove the shelf support so I can put the clip back in place. Once the carpets back in and the shelf refitted it’s probably not going to make that much difference 

Just a quick update on this.

 

I noticed that part of the boot lid seal wasn’t pushed all the way down and I was able to pull it off. Someone on here had a similar problem and pulled up the seal, cleaned the area and used Tiger Seal to reapply the seal. Not seen any leaks for 3 weeks despite heavy rain.

 

Thanks to all on here for the advice