Water Under Rear Seats

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DarkendViper
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Water Under Rear Seats

Post by DarkendViper »

Hi.
I've got a '96 Xantia Estate and noticed that under the drivers side rear bench there is a pool of water. Could someone point me in the right direction of where it could be coming from?
TIA
Ste
mseymour
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Post by mseymour »

The back door (rear hatch) is leaking. It's safe to assume that if you have a xantia estate, then the back door is leaking. It's an incredibly bad design. If you lift the carpet in the boot you'll find it's foam backed and will probably be soaking wet. This will obviously need drying out.
Removing the internal trim panel from the back door reveals the crappy plastic membrane that's come away. Most probably around the lock catch area as it's an awkward shape.
Resealing this will cure the leak and you shouldn't have any more problems. However I haven't been able to find any way of sealing these damn things back on. Someone here suggests Bolted Panel Sealer, and that certainly works for a while, but sooner of later it will fall off again.
If anyone knows any other way of sticking these things back on... Please share.
matt
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by DarkendViper</i>

Hi.
I've got a '96 Xantia Estate and noticed that under the drivers side rear bench there is a pool of water. Could someone point me in the right direction of where it could be coming from?
TIA
Ste
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davek-uk
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Post by davek-uk »

I resealed mine with silicon sealant - holding it all in place with tape. It's easy to tell when it's leaking, the trim on the inside of the tailgate gets wet under the lock. I cannot tell if it will last long term but so far (a couple of months) it has survived heavy rain, car washes and heavy frost. I didn't remove all of the black sealant but I did take it off along the bottom where it had dried. Tape was necessary to hold the plastic in position and to help prevent any more leaks I taped the bottom and side edges completely.
DarkendViper
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Post by DarkendViper »

Thanks for the info. Looks like i'll be having a look at that this weekend!!! Oh what fun this car brings me.
Ste
mseymour
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Post by mseymour »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by DarkendViper</i>

Thanks for the info. Looks like i'll be having a look at that this weekend!!! Oh what fun this car brings me.
Ste
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This is probably the most maddening 'feature' I've come across on my Xantia... Just because it's so simple, yet such a pain!
In the end I've resorted to cutting the membrane in half, fastening it in place with a strong glue, and then putting a bead of silicone on the inside to stop leaks. Then I attached the rest of it with duct tape. That seems to be working well. Every other attempt I made resulted in leaks.
alex
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Post by alex »

Yeah - bolted panel sealant and a wallpaper seam roller worked for me (and is still there 2 years on). Everything else I tried fell off after a few weeks.... Alex
benewson
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Post by benewson »

I had this problem in a xantia hatchback which I eventually traced to a rear light cluster not seated correctly. Water ingress would make its way along the boot floor and end up under the rear seat.
Might worth checking.
snazelne
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Post by snazelne »

I have had a similar problem (hatchback). I opened the sun roof (tilt) and put a fan heater in the back of the car whilst at work (they paid the elec bill). Not completely sure what caused it, but my suspicions lies with the failed retraction device for the parcel shelf, cords get jammed in the rubber seal around the hatch and allow the ingress of water (rain and wind seemed to be the for-running weather situation). It has been dry for the past two months since disconnecting the cords from the hatch.
Kered
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Post by Kered »

I have a 2000 Xantia estate with a sodden mat. I have take the mat out to dry and also removed the tailgate trim. The membrane appears to be still stuck OK. I can find no trace of water coming in from anywhere!
I recall that there was a previous thread on this subject many months ago. The guy reported that he thought the problem could be that the tailgate seal sits very close to the top of the bumper. He also thought that drainage from the top of the bumper was bad.
Having recently changed to an estate I can see what he means. If the tailgate area is subjected to a deluge and the taigate seal is iffy then water could get in that way too. His cure was to drill some drainage hole in the top of the bumper.
Derek
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