Water in battery compartment

Nat_s2

A2OC Donor
Hi Guys,

Does anyone have a step by step guide of how to sort these vents on the back panel?

Got a boot full of water after all that weather last week :-(


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Hi Nath

Its a back bumper off job and that will reveal the two rubber vents that let in the water.

If you want to whatsapp me when you are ready i'll talk you through how to remove the rear bumper. The issue you'll have is haviong to seperate the votex rear skirt from the wheel arches to remove the bumper as a whole.

PS update your avatar, your cars far too pretty not to be on show :)
 
I'm sure there is a walk through, i can't find it at the moment. I did it about a month ago to mine.

All I needed was WD40, some plastic body panel tools and a Torx T25 and a spare pair of hands came in handy too. It took me about 3hrs I think. but that was at the same time as the discs and pads were being changed too.

Remove back wheel, and then unscrew the torx screws that hold the wheel arch in. (I undid as many as I could to just bend it out the way so I could unscrew the torx for that side of the bumper.

Rinse and repeat for the other side.(I had both sides on axel stands for this.

Spray WD40 around the edges of the bumper left to penitrate for a moment and then start from the corner and using the body panel tools unpop the bumper from one side and then the other. In my case I could see very clearly which vent was damaged as it was hanging out of it's space. clip in the new vent and pop off the bumper to the other side. For me this was a pig to get out so could have left it in... but for piece of mind replaced both for new vents.

put back all torx and clips for bumper and check alignment.
put back all torx for wheel arch liner
put wheels back on... Job done!
 
When replacing the vents it is advisable to seat them onto a non-hardening mastic to ensure a seal around the edges as this is where the leak is.
The weaknes in the original design is the reliance on a perfect panel surface for the seal to seat on. Even a minor rear nudge can distort the panel resulting in the water ingress. A small bump is probably the cause of many of the leaks so a straight replacement might not fix the problem without using mastic to seat the vent into.
 
When replacing the vents it is advisable to seat them onto a non-hardening mastic to ensure a seal around the edges as this is where the leak is.
The weaknes in the original design is the reliance on a perfect panel surface for the seal to seat on. Even a minor rear nudge can distort the panel resulting in the water ingress. A small bump is probably the cause of many of the leaks so a straight replacement might not fix the problem without using mastic to seat the vent into.

Folks
- any recommendations on what Mastic to use for sealing in the new boot vents?
Thanks,
John
 
Thanks Kleynie,
I have some Dow Corning tubes left over from door frame sealing, actually I probably have some sanitary versions too - I must dig out the types and see what they are.

Some folks have mentioned using a non-setting mastic to safeguard against future bumps, so I wasn't sure what to use, but I had a look
on screwfix there - this stuff seems to be non-setting might be worth a go:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-roof-gutter-sealant-black-310ml/67521

Thanks,
John
 
More often the vents are still good it is the sealant that has failed. If the vent looks good then I only really well clean the surround and edge of the vent with isopropylalcohol then apply a good thick bead of exterior grade silicon about 10mm all around the joint between the vent and rear body. Leave it alone for a couple of minutes, then using a ruler I dip the end in water and level the silicone with it. I start on the lower left or right and go around the top to the other side, the lower I do separately left to right, dip the ruler frequently to stop the silicon sticking to it. Just make sure you have no gaps in the silicone after you smooth it.
 
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