R230 Boot Seal Leaks

[MD5]

Hoorah! I still fear I have a ticking time bomb after the main dealer did mine. At least you can relax in the rain now.

 

[roadster198]

Thanks Dickster, I’ve actually ordered the 3M stuff (a cool £20 worth!) and will try this for attempt number two.

It will be well worth it if it does the trick.

HI, Where did you get it for £20 if you don't mind me asking? I've seen it on amazon for £40. Thanks

 

[RedSpecial]

HI, Where did you get it for £20 if you don't mind me asking? I've seen it on amazon for £40. Thanks

Hi Roadster,

Link to eBay seller

3M 08008 Super Weatherstrip Glue Adhesive Black - 147ml for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 3M 08008 Super Weatherstrip Glue Adhesive Black - 147ml at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

I see its now £22.99

 

[PhantomF4]

Thanks for sharing such a detailed and informative process report. It’s a worry for most of us, so it’s good to have this info available.

 

[RedSpecial]

Thanks for sharing such a detailed and informative process report. It’s a worry for most of us, so it’s good to have this info available.

That‘s kind of you and appreciated.

I‘m far from the most competent DIY’r but going through it I felt it would be useful for others to see as much of the detail and thinking as possible.

 

[Dickster]

Well done, cracking job

 

[stevenicks]

Brilliant thread, very interesting.

 

[roadster198]

New window seal ordered this morning from MB Glasgow it'll be here tomorrow. £126.00 and the part number is 2307903198

I've also ordered the 3M sealant it should be here on Saturday. Link below.

3M 08008 Super Weatherstrip Glue Adhesive Black - 147ml for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 3M 08008 Super Weatherstrip Glue Adhesive Black - 147ml at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

Can anyone recommend a cleaner besides petrol to take the gunk of the metal strip? I used GT85 to break down bathroom silicone which worked can I do the same on the car?

 

[roadster198]

Likewise, sorry it hasn't worked yet. When I was looking for the same solution I help great faith in the last video of your first post, but I didn't have the facilities or courage to try it. I gave it to the main dealer to do, and so far it's been okay, but I can't imagine they were anything like as thorough in the prep as you or the video guy have been. Good luck, and I'll watch with interest and sympathy!

I'm scared to ask.... How much did the dealer charge?

Thanks

 

[MD5]

I'm scared to ask.... How much did the dealer charge?

Thanks

I'll let you pic the bones out of it, as I have no idea what "mutter" is! I'm guessing just under 3 hours labour (£243 net of discount), and the parts are as priced back in Jan 2018. Add vat back on to the discounted price takes it up to about £426.

 

[stevenicks]

New window seal ordered this morning from MB Glasgow it'll be here tomorrow. £126.00 and the part number is 2307903198

I've also ordered the 3M sealant it should be here on Saturday. Link below.

3M 08008 Super Weatherstrip Glue Adhesive Black - 147ml for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 3M 08008 Super Weatherstrip Glue Adhesive Black - 147ml at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

Can anyone recommend a cleaner besides petrol to take the gunk of the metal strip? I used GT85 to break down bathroom silicone which worked can I do the same on the car?

Would white spirit do the job?

 

[NigelCL]

It may a little late but a good way of narrowing down where the water is getting in is to use talcum powder. If you dust it liberally over the joints/rubbers/overlaps on the outside, water will then take the talc through any gap and leave a visibility trace, effectively showing you where every leak is. I hope this helps someone at least.

 

[Jigglyjohnson]

Congratulations on a really well worked repair

 

[RedSpecial]

It may a little late but a good way of narrowing down where the water is getting in is to use talcum powder. If you dust it liberally over the joints/rubbers/overlaps on the outside, water will then take the talc through any gap and leave a visibility trace, effectively showing you where every leak is. I hope this helps someone at least.

That‘s a good tip Nigel, thanks.

 

[roadster198]

Right, so I have tackled this for a second time - not so many pics taken I’m afraid but hope it’s useful.

First task was removing the seal again which was pretty easy given only the bolts appeared to be holding it in place. The mess that was left from the sealant in attempt 1 was not a welcome sight...

View attachment 100834

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This was about a thousand times worse than I was faced with originally and was an absolute pig of a job to clean up so that there was a good surface to work from again.

View attachment 100836

There wasn’t too much stuck to the rubber seal itself - clearly the reason the first fix hadn’t succeeded. Some of these small areas however were incredibly difficult to get clean and in the end the Mark-I fingernail was about the most effective tool for the job.

After about 3 hours of hell I had something to work with:

View attachment 100839

View attachment 100840

Maybe not clear from the pictures but I scuffed off the surfaces with sandpaper to provide a better key for adhesion.

I was set to try again with the Loctite 5940 and bought a fresh tube just in case there’d been any issue with the original batch. Dickster had suggested 3M weatherstrip adhesive which I did some research on and did seem like a very good shout. I believe the chap from the US which I linked to his YouTube clips in my earlier post used a variety of the same product during his ‘fix’.

This is the stuff:

View attachment 100841

However, I was a bit jaded from the experience of having to strip off the sealant and was concerned that if I had to tackle this a third time I’d just not be willing to persevere with that again. So, in a bit of a departure I decided to go for Plan C...

View attachment 100842

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This is 3M ‘very high bond’ double sided adhesive tape, code 5952, and is specifically for bonding vehicle parts that need to be water resistant. I went for 10mm width which fits exactly on the correct area of the rubber seal.

I then added this closer to the top edge of the seal where I felt the 3M would be too thick for the job:

View attachment 100844

I don’t have pictures of applying this stuff as it was a bugger to work with - it’s the OE butyl sealant on a roll as obviously supplied by MB and as seen in the official workshop video linked previously.

(cost about £10 so expensive on the face of it and only just enough for the job).

I figured that this across the top and the VHB tape below there would be a pretty formidable seal created. For total belt and braces I also put a seam of sealant around the area where the bolts attach through the metal. The rubber is hard-formed in this area and I thought this would give the most effective ‘squashed‘ seal once all torqued up.

Got it al re-assembled, used my fingers and glazing roller to press everything down and then closed up the roof and left for 48 hours.

Car out of the garage and some more of this applied to all the seals I could access:

View attachment 100846

Then the moment of truth - 10 mins of ‘rain’ with various hose settings:

View attachment 100847

Dried the whole car thoroughly then opened the boot:

View attachment 100848

View attachment 100849

Thanks to my strategically placed cloths I could see it was BONE DRY!

Gave it another decent blast with the hose just to check it wasn’t a fluke but again not a single drop!

View attachment 100850

Honestly so delighted with this result. I can now leave the car out on occasion or wash it without having to make sure the boot is covered with cloths etc, and importantly protect the PSE from water damage in future.

As mentioned, the car is garaged and only really used in decent weather but this has hopefully now secured its longevity and wellbeing beyond my ownership.

I find any kind of successful work like this hugely satisfying but this one maybe more so given the original setback and pain of making good a second time.

I hope this might be useful for others but likewise I’ve really appreciated the advice and feedback from you on this thread.

I‘ll get some new threads going in due course when I tackle fitting a new ashtray mechanism and giving the whole car a massive paint correction/enhancement detail.

Enjoy the nice weather meantime

How has it held up with the recent rain? I'm about to do my tomorrow. Hopefully it'll solve my issues or it's towels in the boot on a perm basis.

 

[roadster198]

So I've managed to get the rear roof seal on using all the tips from this forum. Thank you. Sorry no pics

I've made a bit of a mess with the c pillar though so I'm not hopefully this has solved my problem.just need to wait and see.

Thanks to all posters the pics on this thread have helped a great deal.

If you can afford to buy a new rear window seal do it (£126 MB main dealer). It saved me a ton of time in the long run. It also has a new butyl strip on it.

WD40 took off silcone residue that was left on the metal part of the window. I then used Alcohol rub to make sure no WD40 was left.

Before I fitted the new seal I used fine grit sand paper to scuff the full length of the rubber seal

I used 3M. 08008 Black Weatherstrip Seal Adhesive bought from ebay.

I applied two thin beads to the metal part of the window. Once I fitted the new seal I left it for around 40 mins then applied another bead of sealant just under the edge of the window. This was reasonably easy though quite messy.

I used a wallpaper seam roller to press it altogether.

I've left the pieces of pipe in the drain channels in the hope this might help keep the water out.

It's to rain here tomorrow so I guess I'll soon find out if it has sorted the leaks.

 

[RedSpecial]

How has it held up with the recent rain? I'm about to do my tomorrow. Hopefully it'll solve my issues or it's towels in the boot on a perm basis.

So far, so good!

Fingers crossed for you too.

 

[Steeve]

Was any of this issue ever fixed in the face lifts of the R230? Seems like something that should have been identified and fixed in later edition models... Or am I giving early 2000s Mercedes management too much credit?

Great job by the way OP!

 

[roadster198]

Was any of this issue ever fixed in the face lifts of the R230? Seems like something that should have been identified and fixed in later edition models... Or am I giving early 2000s Mercedes management too much credit?

Great job by the way OP!

Not going by my car late 2009 SL350. Nothing seems to be altered. Same leaks in the same areas

 

[Steeve]

I'll let you pic the bones out of it, as I have no idea what "mutter" is! I'm guessing just under 3 hours labour (£243 net of discount), and the parts are as priced back in Jan 2018. Add vat back on to the discounted price takes it up to about £426.

View attachment 101688

How's the dealership repair working out? Any leaks? Am considering an R230 and wonder if I just factor in £500 for a seal repair. Or are others finding you really need the additional adhesive applied via the DIY method? I.e. the DIY method is definitely cheaper, but is it also better?