My experience with a dc2 boot leak

**krazynayba** · 18-06-2012 04:18 PM

Hi all,

Just wanted to share my experience with a boot leak in my dc2.

Whilst vacuuming the carpet in the boot the other day, I noticed it starting to suck up liquid. After investigating I found out that the carpet (moreso the corners near the rear of the car) were soaked! After further investigation, I noticed that the wood panel under the carpet and on top of the spare was also soaked in the two rear corners only. After removing the carpet and the wood, I noticed a miniature lake in the spare tyre recess about two inches deep. Looking further forward towards the seats I noticed a small pool of water underneath each of the back seats also. I had not noticed this up until now as the winter rain had only started to set in here in SA.

Being rather concerned, and not wanting to just soak the water up then put everything back the way it was, I decided to look online in forums (obviously Ozhonda being one of them) to find out why this was happening. The first thing (and most common thing I found) was the rear tail light foam gaskets. I did a quick inspection of them by taking off the plastic at the back but they looked fairly new (car is only 125,000 k's). I generously sprayed a hose over the tail lights and then got in the car to investigate. I noticed a tiiiiny tiny leak, but with the amount of water I sprayed over it, I knew that even after a torrential downpour this small amount of water would probably dry up quickly. To cover all bases I used some silicone around the edge of the gasket where it presses against the chassis to prevent even any minor leaks. After this I began to look into alternative reasons for boot leaks.

The next one I found was the sunroof drain hoses. I found out that there are two going to the rear (and the front) which drain excess water from the sunroof area and connect to the chassis via a rubber elbow, routing them outside of the car. The apparent problem was that they could easily come undone. I decided to take off the side panelling to take a closer look. On the right hand side at the rear, I found the drain hose just sitting there going straight into the boot. The issue with this was not that it was disconnected from the elbow, but that there was no elbow at all! I found that the hole where the rubber elbow should have been was plugged up with a plastic grommet, which to me looked like all the other plastic grommets I had seen in the car. It seems like it might even have been a stock one.

To me this doesn't make sense. Either the drain hose was left disconnected from the factory (i'm sure any one of the previous owners would have noticed that this was a problem unless they always kept it garaged) or one of the previous owners/their mechanics had plugged it up for some reason. I cannot find a logical reason as to why this hole would be plugged, and the elbow missing. To fix this hose I found some black plastic tubing that fit inside the drain hose and bent it slightly so that it routed out the hole where i ripped the grommet out. I then used some silicone sealant to seal around this hose.

Checking the drain hose on the left hand side I found that the antenna drain hose had been disconnected from the elbow, which could have contributed to the water buildup. I reconnected it and fixed it together with some masking tape.

I am still waiting for the bottom of my rear seats and boot carpet mat to dry and i'm hoping that once I put everything back together this won't happen again.

The reason I am posting this is to share my experience with other dc2 owners, and to find out if anyone has any idea why the hole where the hose should route would be plugged up with a grommet =S

Thanks for reading,
Look forward to any suggestions/responses

**pe45678** · 18-06-2012 08:48 PM

thanks for sharing mate, this is good for the owner of dc2

**Ðerp** · 05-07-2012 01:04 AM

Very Useful Post man Solved my problem i had a few weeks ago

**mocchi** · 05-07-2012 08:04 AM

tldr, +1 anyway

**Cr0wbar** · 05-07-2012 01:21 PM

Thanks for the write up. My DC2 has the same problem when it's parked on an angle during rain. I've known all along that it's the sunroof excess but I've never gotten around to fixing it, I just dry out the water haha. Anyway, now that you've explained it a bit, I'll go and do it myself. +1

**ExpressCoffee** · 05-07-2012 08:44 PM

Over time I assume that the drain hose just gets loose or something to cause a buildup of water. My mate has a koi pond in the back of his cause of that haha.

**viinnh** · 06-07-2012 09:50 PM

my mate had water leak in his dc2, he told me something about a plug under the rear driver side wheel arch, theres a hole with a plug missing water came through there

**krazynayba** · 07-07-2012 02:54 PM

Haha i think i spoke too soon, seems like water is still getting in somewhere allbeit fairly slowly =/ Perhaps i solved some of the problem at least... Might check of the wheel arch to see if there is some sort of plug there or something. A mate and i are gonna do some further investigation, as there's only so much you can do yourself. Ive heard of someone adding coloured food dye to buckets of water which sounds like an idea too! Although makes it hard to check for smaller leaks that would need more pressure i.e. a hose. Ill check it out and try to keep this thread updated.