Thread: P38 wheel well water leak...bad

The sunroof drains go through the top of the inner rear wheel arch. If the tips block up, then the water drains into the spare wheel well. The hoses can also pull out of the tips resulting in the same problem.

Pop off the upper side trims (under the rear 1/4 windows) & have a look.

That's where mine was filling up from anyway.

You've already done all of the things I did.....

Except it seemed to work for me.

I had a fair bit of surface rust in the wheel well, so I sanded it back, masked it up, and painted it with a mat black rust converter paint. Looks so much better and hard to tell its not originally painted that way.

Good luck

Dave

Gday all; my wheel-well leak was cured by gluing the rubber molding around the hatch body flange. Factory fit is only push-on,and seems to relax with age.Many cars I looked over in saleyards were full of water,probably from enthusiastic gernying.Good tip re the sunroof drain, and how to get at it.Hope this solves somebody else's "challenge".

Originally Posted by fixes

Gday all; my wheel-well leak was cured by gluing the rubber molding around the hatch body flange. Factory fit is only push-on,and seems to relax with age.Many cars I looked over in saleyards were full of water,probably from enthusiastic gernying.Good tip re the sunroof drain, and how to get at it.Hope this solves somebody else's "challenge".

Good point. My rubber seal had come right away but it was in quite good nick so I re attached it with a continuous bead of silicone gutter sealant on the lip before pushing it in place.

Ok, why can't I find this rear sunroof drain??! Do I need to remove the wheel arch to see it?

Originally Posted by Craig_Keira

Ok, why can't I find this rear sunroof drain??! Do I need to remove the wheel arch to see it?

The rear sunroof drains consist of a length of translucent plastic hose on each side running down the (rear) seat belt pillars and end in a grommet exiting into the top of each wheel arch. You need to remove the vertical side covers of the luggage compartment as well as the "top" (horizontal) plastic sections.

To find the exit hole, you need to jack up the car, remove the rear wheel and remove the mudflaps and then the wheel arch liner... good luck!

Have you played with a hose, moving upwards to eliminate seam seals etc?

cheers

Here's some pix I took earlier:





One problem you can have:

A length of Cat 6 ethernet cable (the actual cable you would install internally, not a lead) is perfect for running down the drain tubes to check and clear blockages.

That's what I found anyway.

Dave