W124 estate water ingress

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Paul64

Active Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2003
Messages
229
Location
South of France
Car
1995 W124 E300 Diesel estate (250k miles), 2008 CL63 AMG, 1969 Triumph 2.5PI, 1975 Triumph TR6
So, after a particularly busy Christmas, I took an afternoon to relax and search for a water leak on my '95 124 estate.
I have already replaced the side window seals (with added Arbomast along the bottom of the seal!) and the rubber seal for the tailgate but I was still getting dampness in the recess for the third-row seat base.
I removed the carpet liner and folded it back along with the heavy sound insulation panel to find some residue water but luckily, no corrosion to speak of.
What was quite obvious was the failed rubber grommet to the rear of the compartment for cable entry into the rear of the car for lights presumably. There was clear air between the cables and the grommet edge so, I replaced this and covered everything with more Arbomast to give added water-proofing. This grommet exits right above the exhaust outlet and presumably gets sprayed with water from the rear wheels. I cleaned everything up and painted some Loctite anticorrosion in a few places so that, hopefully, is going to be that.
I also removed the stainless trim panel from the bottom of the tailgate opening to check on the seal - it was still OK but some corrosion is starting at the upper edge where the stainless panel clips into the seal channel.
If I wanted to repair this corrosion, is the seal channel part of the visible panel under the stainless trim, A1247400078, or part of the lower main crossmember of the rear of the car? I don't want to pull the seal out in case it gets damaged without parts ready to make an insert as it seems to currently be sealing correctly.

Thoughts welcomed!

IMG_1407.jpg IMG_1408.jpg IMG_1410.jpg IMG_1411.jpg
 
Hi Graeme,
Thanks for the picture link - so would you say the seal channel is part of part 5 or part 8? I can't seem to find a decent photo of a new part on the internet from the required angle to have a look...
It looks like it would be easier perhaps just to cut away the top lip and form and weld a piece of steel on perhaps with the TIG to keep things easy. Certainly, the inside of the lower section is completely covered in thick anti-corrosion product and is fine.

Paul
 
A couple of pics of what I would call the cross member? BUT MERCEDES CALL "PANELLING" 5 A1246400571 but I suspect that the seal will be held in by 8 A1246420214
s-l1600.jpg

s-l1600.jpg
 
Thanks anyway - I think I'm going to do a bit of cutting and weld a new strip on at some point rather than replace the whole thing, it looks not too bad a job to make an insert.
Bon weekend all,

Paul
 

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