Just thought to share my findings with what appears to be one of several common root causes for water leaks in the boot / trunk area. From searching, it appears there are generally 3 types of boot leaks:

1. Leak through the gap between bootlid and numnberplate garnish / beaver panel (symptoms: felt liner on inside of boot is wet at the bottom - leak is through the bootlid itself, cause: missing or compromised clips on underside of garnish panel)
2. Leak through the weatherseal at boot opening (symptoms: puddle in spare wheel well, water path can be traced, causes: dirt build up and/or damaged grommets, plastic trim piece, tail light gasket, weatherseal)
3. Leak through centre brake light (?)

A bit of info on #2.

1. Firstly, clean up the muck. Take off the black plastic trim covering the water channels and clean this up. Debris and dirt over time will block the channel and lead to water ingress.


2. As shown here, the underside of the plastic cover has a small channel to redirect water towards the boot itself where it can drain away more easily. You can see mine has broken leaving a small gap. Seal this up to redirect the water away from the tail light area.



3. Check the condition of the tail light gaskets. They should be firm foam and not cracked. You could replace these if broken and/or apply a line of sikaflex here to help drain water downwards towards the bumper. The gaskets are ok to get wet, but if in doubt, remove the tail light and check whether it's wet on the inside. If yes = water can get in.


While you're at it, may as well clean all the rubber, apply gummi pflege or whatever and then re-assemble. Good luck and happy dry floors for years to come!


Please feel free to add clarifications or additional information if you've had a different experience.

 

I had minor water entry to the spare tire well on our W211 2008 E63 sedan, and I replaced the trunk seal (probably not worth it, in hindsight), the plastic drip trays on each side of the trunk (def an issue) and as long as I was in there, I did the tailllight assembly gaskets, too. All dry so far. I think the plastic drip trays should be considered wear times. The plastic rivets can get old and brittle, and mine tore when I pulled them out. A ton of gunk was under there, and the car is garaged 95% of the time, and some rust had set in on the right side (cleaned, hit it with rust converter). I ran water over the car before I took everything apart, and then carefully ran water over some suspect areas, and I am pretty sure my culprit was the drip trays on each side. Look closely in the trunk and you should see the signs of water entry - either actual water or dust trails where it has dried.

I also found that our local dealer charges up to 50% above Mercedes MSRP for parts, so shop around! I mean, I get dealers are not giving us deals, but WOW. In my case, driving another 10 miles got us the drip trays for $16 each, plus the plastic rivets at $3.50 each (x8) vs roughly 50% more. For the tail light assembly gaskets, there are two per side, the main one, and a small oval one for the last nut on the side of the car.

 

Hi, mine leaks from the marked places in the attached picture , the water goes through the inside of the seal and enter the trunk , please help.

 

Hello,
Had the same problem for years on my w211 had to replace "EVERYTHING" in the trunk. Trunk seal, taillight seal, third brake light, trunk recces drain plug, realign trunk, etc... It was a big pain in the butt to solve the issue. Great post with your findings

 

@Moanes I have seen on other threads that some appear to be leaking through the boot (trunk) lid itself - you may need to run a hose over areas systematically to find where the leak is. Water can be very tricky to trace!

 

The water is coming through the seal from inside , it is wet from inside of it .. I'm not sure if it is the lid

 

Does this cause the battery to die overnight? so out of no where i started getting convenice feature disabled warning right after starting for a few mins then it would go away. the last time we had a big rain i went to start car and it was completlely dead. i went to jump it and noticed everything under there was damp so i dried it up, eventually got it started and it was fine two weeks, then we had another big rain i next moring i went to start it and it wouldnt start, its at 9.5 volts so and holding. im kind of confused as to what i should start with, ive also had a belt pully issue but when my batt is good it would had staedy voltage.

 

Does anybody have the part number or know where to buy the plastic rivets with the rubber grommets that go into the plastic water channel trays on either side of the trunk? Mine are all ripped or missing.

 

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mL9iq0o

 

I have the same problem. How did you resolve it? Thanks

 

Thanks for posting all this mate your a legend

 

Hello, I have same leak I believe.
I cleaned the tracks on either side and replaced tail lights seals.
My water intrusion looks to be from this area. Idk how though. Does replacing this seal fix or should I add silicone to existing seal to test theory?

 

Since they weren't provided and if anyone was searching like I was, here are the part numbers


Seal Ring, Both Sides (Tail light gasket) - 211-826-03-91-64

Seal Ring, Both Sides (Small tail light gasket) - 211-826-04-91

Trunk Weatherstrip Cover Trim, Left - 211-693-01-33
Trunk Weatherstrip Cover Trim, Right - 211-693-02-33

Trunk Weatherstrip Cover Trim Rivets - 000-991-59-40

 

Excellent! Thanks @alfadog for starting this thread and @Obaid1999 for the PNs!
I haven't been on this forum for a while but just recently acquired an '08 E350 4Matic and currently working on small fixes and will start a thread with some more details and questions after I get it mostly sorted out.
First thing I noticed that I had to address was water I found in the trunk. I think it was mostly caused by debris caught in the channels between the rear window and around the lid since I cleared it all out and the trunk has been dry since and we had a bunch of rain recently to test it. I will dig deeper to check under the trim covers just to be sure later and if needed, these part numbers will come in handy. Thanks again and look forward to learning and contributing more!

 

Thanks for posting those! Where do you find those schematics?? I've searched and searched for a go-to place to easily find part numbers for my newly acquired E55, and I'm striking out...

 

here is an EPC for your specific vehicle
https://partsouq.com/

 

When I run my car via VIN# on that site, it doesn't show the correct (for example) brake calipers. My E55 has the Brembo 8-piston calipers, but the parts on that site only show calipers for the E500.
What am I missing??

 

bizarre, you can also try the following ( though I do not like the interface)

https://webautocats.com/en-us/epc/mercedes/1/211/

 

Those are helpful, and thank you! However, my leak came from the license plate panel that runs the width of the trunk lid and is clipped in place by five (5) rivets and two bolts along the top edge. Unfortunately, these clips are NOT the same size as the door panel clips that we can find everywhere.

Do you have a part number for those clips that run along the top edge of this panel? The license/trunk panel clips have a smaller diameter flat head and are shorter/fatter than the door clips. They also have four distinct retaining points around the pointed (inserted) end.

Thank you!

 

Excellent tutorial, thanks for posting!

 

For those interested, I found a solution to my license plate panel leaking:


For those interested, I found a solution to my license plate panel leak after about a half dozen trials. I was NOT interested in using silicone sealant as I want a factory look andwant to be able to get the light out again in the future if necessary.

On Ebay I found 3/16" x 3/16" closed cell foam weatherstripping. After thoroughly cleaning off all the old sealing foam and adhesive (plastic scrapers, dull slotted screwdrivers, flat and dull dental tools, and Goo-Gone are your friends here!), I used the 3/16" foam along the upper edge of the panel taking it all the way to top left and top right "corners" and putting about a 30deg angle cut on the ends to match the panel angle.

The foam that runs from those top corners down to the mesh filter at the center bottom of the panel was replaced using a 1/4" x 1/8" gray foam weatherstripping that I used for the 3rd brake light seal in another post. I doubled this up for about the first 6" from the corner down the side edge of the panel putting the adhesive right against the first run of weatherstrip and making sure it met the top edge piece tightly to mimic the way the old foam came off the panel.

Keep in mind that I replaced all of my panel clips with the best of the best that I could find on several parts cars in local used parts yards since finding them new seems to be about as easy as finding a winning lottery ticket. These plastic fasteners do get overused, they get hard, and they can break. It's worth noting that there are six (6) clips along the top edge: 2 black clips (1 on each end) and 4 white clips that fill the middle four mounting points. They look the same at first glance, but they are different, thus the color difference. Last: don't over-tighten the acorn nuts on either end of the panel to edge.

It's worth noting that I also replaced the drainage panels and rubber rivets that run from the lower rear glass down to the lower inner edge of the taillights AND I replaced the tail light gaskets on both sides. Those were not my issue however. My water was coming in around the 3rd brake light lens and around the license plate panel....... What a huge PITA, and what a crappy design from Mercedes-Benz!!!

 

Do you have any pictures of your foam seal installed?

 

I do not; sorry. The foam strips look exactly like the foam that was in place however, and I tried to install the new foam in the exact way MB did when they made the license plate panel. It's worked now for several months with no water entering the trunk area.

Be sure to follow what is a natural drainage plain when installing the foam. In short, install the seal while you're imagining the way water will enter from above. Make any joints where one piece of foam meets another a tight fit (butt joints for the foam but with no silicone or sealant), and again, think about the way water travels with gravity. In other words, make your upper piece of foam extend to the very edges of the license plate panel, then butt the foam that runs down the edge of the panel up against the bottom edge of the upper piece of foam. The idea is that water will have to travel outward to the upper foam's edge BEFORE it travels downward. If your foam is butted up underneath the upper foam and inside its outer edge, water will be OUTSIDE the edges of both pieces of foam and not enter the trunk.

In the end, my panel looked just as it did when it was removed but with new foam seals in place of the old foam seals. There are several ways to seal this problem area, but I chose to do it in a way that the panel would come off the car easily in the future. If you put silicone on it and attach it to the trunk lid, it's NOT going to be easy to remove in the future. Keep that in mind as you make your repairs.

For what it's worth:
The 3/16" x 3/16" foam I could find ONLINE ONLY (1/4" x 1/4" might work but it seemed too thick to me).
The 1/4" x 1/8" foam I was able to find at Home Depot.
Pay attention to which sides have the adhesive on them too because it matters when attaching it. For the 3/16", it didn't matter, but for the 1/4" x 1/8", make sure the adhesive is on the 1/4" side.