Rear Light Cluster

[robwright]

I think remember on here quite recently that someone replied to a post saying they had drilled a 1mm hole in each of there rear light clusters to eliminate the boot filling up. A recent check of my spare wheel well revealed a nice crystal clear pool of rain water. Obviously I would be interested in doing this and would like to find out exactly where they drilled the hole/holes. Do you just need one drain hole per cluster or one for each of the bottom light sections? Thanks in advance guys.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Sounds wierd, I'd rather eliminate the source of the water than drill holes in the lamps. Won't they just get a load of condensation?

Sealing around light units, tailgate seal, hatch pin seals for a start.

 

[Alexw]

Theres a bung in the bottom of the spare wheel well isn't there? It'l be full up with gunk or blocked somehow. IIRC its a little rubber bung that screws in? Not sure on that though.

And drilling holes in the rear lights is just fixing the symptoms, not the cause. Its like giving someone a tissue to cure a cold. Stop the water getting there in the first place! Reseal the light - I did this a while ago, just squirt some sealant around the cluster and wash the car when its dried, you'l soon see if you did it. []

 

[robwright]

Yes I have the black rubber bung at the bottom of the wheel well but if I recall mine was just a bung. It didn't have a drain hole in it. Is it meant to have one I presume it must do. Guess I will just have to put one in then. Anyone any idea of wht size it should be. I dont wan't to make it too large to let noise in but too small would do nothing due to surface tension of water. With the best will in the world it's hard to keep the boot water free due to it's design. As soon as you open it when it's raining the spoiler channels everything on top of the boot lid straight into the boot!!! As far as I know all the boot seals are tip top I will check the light cluster seals though. It was defo rain water as it was crystal clear but we are not talking gallons though only a couple of inches and I have had the car nearly a year. I had to remove the bung to empty it.

 

[sulzeruk]

Rob, the hatch pins seals will need changing> it would be worth stripping out the tailgate locks and making sure the drain hoses aren't blocked. Lube them up and adjust and you'll find your hatch much easier to open. Also, it is worth pulling off the back light clusters and re-sealing. I have done it on the S2 I am running about in, someone had sealed them both up with black goo. I couldn't unstick them so in the end resorted to battering them off with a rubber hammer! Found about a 10mm gap in the bead where the water had been dripping in nicely!
Alasdair

 

[robwright]

I did some digging (or should I say spraying) about today mate. This was in one of my lucid periods as I am suffering from life threatening man flu!!! Must be bad I actually had a day off work!!! Turns out it was the rear light clusters. I have filled the gaps with some translucent sealant and hopefully that will do the trick. Back off to my death bed now to do some speeking in tongues.

 

[berg944]

It was me......I did it.

Usual water in boot, wet carpet.

New hatch seal, pins, removed and resealed clusters.......still wet.

Then I noticed one cluster was half full of water. The water then overflowed through the lowest bulb aperture into the boot.

As the water was getting in through the cluster joints I thought the cluster is knackered anyway so I drilled from the outside at the lowest point.

The water ran out, no condensation and you could not see the 1mm hole.

I did get another cluster but did not fit it as the temporary fix worked so well.

Mike