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981 roof to boot lid seal

BoxsterLL11

BoxsterLL11

PCGB Member
Member
Can anyone shed any light on an issue that I seam to have?
I have noticed when the car is out in the rain, as the water droplets run down the rear window towards the rubber seal that sits between the underside of the leading edge of the boot lid and the roof fabric, instead of the water running along the seal towards the gaps/drain tubes positioned behind the B post, the water seems to seep away between the roof fabric and the rubber seal.
Now I assume the seal is bonded in some way to the roof fabric so that the water is guided towards the gaps/drain tubes but this appears to have failed on mine as the water seeps through behind the seal to where?
I have noticed when I have taken my MG's to car shows I have seen a number of early Boxster's that may have had the same issue as I have seen very crudely applied mastic to the roof fabric/rubber seal interface.
My 981 is now 8 years old and does spend most of its non-driving time in the garage out of the weather but am concerned when it is out in the wet, where is this water going to that seeps past the seal and is there a more professional way to fix it than clag loads of sealant along the joint.
Suspect a new roof would cure it but am sure that will be expensive.
 
Keith, I don't think the seal is designed to stop or direct the water as the whole hood compartment is sealed and water is drained away via the drain tubes.
Adrian.
 
Thanks Adrian.
So presumably the base of the hood stowage area is a large "drip tray" and any water collected here must then drain away to the B post drainage tubes.
It was only because I saw some older Boxster's with beads of silicone along the hood/rubber seal join that had me worried that water wasn't supposed to be getting past the rubber seal.
 
Hi Keith, I see you have been an MG owner so not surprised you concerned with water ingress ?? I had a BGT V8 for many years which was fine but convertible models are a challenge.The previous Boxster models have a completely different hood assembly with a hinged lid that closes on top of folded roof. Have you checked that your hood drains are flowing ok ?
 
The hood drains were a bone of contention on this car before I bought it.
Very very long story.
Thankfully it was the previous owner who had the hassle.
Long story short, nearside drain blocked, water overflowed into passenger seat floor, flooded the body ecu which sits beneath the passenger seat.
Very expensive repair, under warranty.
Eventually fixed but owner then handed the car back to the Porsche dealership.
Repair included permanently removing the "tea strainer" filters from the top of the drain tubes which caused the blockage.
Ridiculous design if you ask me.
First owner obviously kept the car on their drive and leaf debris eventually blocked the drain tube filters.
My car is garaged most of the time when not in use so no longer an issue on two counts.

I thought water running off the fabric roof was guided towards the front along the seal, just above the drain tubes where there is a gap in the seal where the water can drain downwards.

Still have the two MG's.
B GT and the 1500 Midget.
Roof on the Midget doesn't even seal where it touches so not a wet-use by any means.

 
Hi Keith, what a nightmare water leaks are, a good job the previous owner had it fixed under warranty, I am not sure water leaks covered under Used car Warranty ??I have a 14 plate but when I checked drains did not see any filters, it was mentioned on forum somewhere they might have been removed in production, do you know ?
Adrian.
 
Adrian,
I had a 987 for 15 months before I swapped for my 981.
I discovered the scenarios of blocked tubes and how to check/clean them whilst owning the 987. With the 987 the filters were easy to see, get to and clean with the roof half retracted.
But the 981 is a different kettle of fish.
With the roof stopped halfway, even with a torch it is very difficult to even see the tops of the drain tubes never mind reach them.
I understand the Porsche dealership that was dealing with the issue when the last owner had the car, had to remove the wing panels to get to the tubes and strainers to clean and remove.
It seems a bone of contention whether the filters should stay or not.
In my opinion, the tubes are never going to block with the strainer not being there yet with them fitted it is highly likely they will block with the obvious consequences and difficulty in cleaning them.
I have a compressor in my garage and have made an extension tube to fit to my blow gun so every now and then, retract the roof halfway and blow air down through the tubes.

Whether a dealership would agree to removal of the tube strainer I suppose depends on their experience of having had a car with the consequences of a blocked drain tube.
Much like fitting a mesh in the front bumper air duct to the radiators.
I had to replace one of my ac condensers as it had failed so while I had the bumper off, I fitted a black mesh to behind the cross bars.
Now apparently some Porsche dealerships disagree with doing this yet Porsche themselves fit the mesh to the top models but not to the bottom of the range models - very odd.

Apparently the only reason the previous owner knew there was a problem of some sort soon after buying the car was that he was getting a lot of condensation on the inside of the windscreen and door windows and also issues with locking the car and retracting the roof so took the car back to Porsche.
They eventually found about an inch of water beneath the passenger seat.
Now the ECU boxes don't like humidity never mind being immersed in water and the body ECU controls the remote locking, alarm, roof etc.
Apart from having to get the carpets dried out, the ECU had to be renewed (£££), two new remote keys (£££) synchronised to the new ECU and one of the loom connectors had badly corroded behind the passenger seat so the wiring loom had to be cut and a new multi-connector fitted.
Think the previous owner had the car for three months and half of that time it spent at the dealership so some agreement was made and they bought the car back.
Now I didn't find out about all this until after I purchased the car.
I asked the dealership several times before buying the car why the previous owner only had the car for 3 months.
And shall we just say that they didn't tell me the truth.
Not impressed.
And it was only due to the power of the internet and owner/club forums that I became aware of the water ingress issues.
In fact, I managed to communicate with the previous owner directly via another forum and got all the details.
Which even after I was fully informed and I got back in touch with them, the Porsche dealership sales department in question were still pleading ignorance.

Having said that, the car has been great.
As already said, I did have to replace both ac condensers and the gas drier a few years ago (total cost was less than £300 including re-gas and I believe Porsche would do it for around £1500).
This year I also had an issue with the alarm which turned out to be a faulty pcb in the alarm unit by the battery which I bought a used replacement from eBay at the fraction of the cost for a new one.
Love the car though.
Great to drive especially when my speed limiter is not sitting in the passenger seat.
 
I just had a look at mine while giving it a clean after the weekend.

The water runs around the seal towards the front of the car...it slopes downhill, and disappears through the end of the roof seal into the B Pillar moulding. (I note you've looked here), but the water on mine runs straight off the Fabsil'd roof...and along the channel...no hanging about...

Alistair
 
Unfortunately it sounds as though your car comes with a lot of history which I gather you were not aware of when you bought it. Pity you couldn’t have rejected it as it sounds as though it will always be a Friday car.
 
Nowt wrong with the car really.
The issue with the blocked drain tube the previous owner had was because of what the previous owner before them did with the car and the roof drain tubes are NOT a service check point.
The issues of blocked roof drain tubes are well documented so all Boxster owners should be well aware of the issue and its consequences.
Pinholed ac condenser could happen to anyone because of age and where the heat exchangers are situated.
Water in the alarm siren box seems a common problem for cars about 8 years old.
So there was no issues for me to reject the car.
Just wish the dealership had been more honest before I bought the car and then I, as a mechanical engineer of 40 years, could have made a judgement call to buy or not, based on the facts.

And re the soft top seal, I am now almost certain that the rubber seal is bonded to the fabric roof which should then guide water along to the front drain tubes either side. So am sure water should not be seeping past the seal/roof fabric interface as this will then drop into the trim section that sits behind the seat headrests.
I have released the lower edge of the roof and pushed it upwards & forwards so as to hoover out debris that collects in the trim "well", not an easy job.
So if water seeps past the seal below the back window, this is where it will go.
 
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