Mark 2 Rev 5 boot leak - source?

[Charlieepie]

Went to take it to a body shop today. Unlocked it, turned the ignition and it won’t even turn over so a leaky boot is now the least of my worries.
Hoping it’s just got water in the battery so not got any power rather than a bigger issue. It’s only been sat for 2 days since I last drove it and there wasn’t a hint of a problem then.

:(

[jimi]

Your in trouble if there's no water in the battery
Sounds like either a dead battery or a bad battery connection, try slackening the battery clamps, give ghem a wiggle then retighten. If you have access to a multimeter, check the battery voltage

[Charlieepie]

I don’t have a multimeter, but the garage I usually take it to are less than a minute’s walk away so they’re coming across and checking it out for me tomorrow. I was more concerned because I drove it Tuesday for 30 miles or so - so if it’s just gone completely flat to the point it won’t even attempt to start I’d be surprised. Hence the suspicion that the sheer amount of rain we’ve had has something to do with it!
I still need to invest in some useful tools, my other car is much newer and (touch wood!) hasn’t had any issues so I’m lacking in that department.
I’ll try the battery clamps now though (I’ll be embarrassed if I have to go in to the garage tomorrow and tell them not to bother).

[martin42006]

the rust coming through is from a pocket above the rear arch in the strut tower. its an "censored" to repair but certailny not impossible. I doubt thats where your water is coming from however. water leaks i would suspect are from one of the bolts through the top. either your boot lid hinges or the bolt for the engine bay inspection panels. both of those sources are directly above where your boot looks wet and not an uncommon failure point.

If your getting the rust fixed i highly reccomend going to a specialist restorer. you want it done right and not have to have it fixed again in a few years.

[Wheelnut]

If the waters muddy its from below, if clear from above. I would suspect its coming from under engine bay side panels as rear of that is above panel thats rusty. Easy to remove and check.

[Charlieepie]

the rust coming through is from a pocket above the rear arch in the strut tower. its an "censored" to repair but certailny not impossible. I doubt thats where your water is coming from however. water leaks i would suspect are from one of the bolts through the top. either your boot lid hinges or the bolt for the engine bay inspection panels. both of those sources are directly above where your boot looks wet and not an uncommon failure point.

If your getting the rust fixed i highly reccomend going to a specialist restorer. you want it done right and not have to have it fixed again in a few years.

Great thank you. Have you seen this before then? So is the leak point into a void as I originally suspected, as that makes it harder to identify :(
I do want this repaired because it’s making the boot itself wet when it rains but I don’t want it to just come through again or come through elsewhere if I don’t fix the leak - I’ve no idea what behind it looks like either, hopefully it’s not rust city.

What’s the best way to seal off those leak points you mentioned?

Yeah it’ll be going in to a body shop next week. It’s running again now - battery is fine, apparently it just had an alternator full of water. Garage took it out and dried it off and it’s fine again - I’m a bit worried it’ll happen again although it might just be because of the amount of rain we had yesterday. I live in Cumbria and it was mad. Not sure what to do with it as I don’t have a garage and I’ve seen very mixed reviews of car covers…

[Charlieepie]

If the waters muddy its from below, if clear from above. I would suspect its coming from under engine bay side panels as rear of that is above panel thats rusty. Easy to remove and check.

I’m pretty sure it’s clear but by the time it’s through it’s usually picked up some of the corrosion so hard to tell.
I will have a look under these panels this weekend but from what I can see under them they don’t look like they lead to where the leak is?
Though thinking about it they move VERY easily so maybe they’re not actually fixed down correctly

[Synz]

Martin42006 knows his stuff about these things so he’s probably right here!

Once it’s done I would spay wax oil inside the boot jams and down the sills just to future proof it. That’s what I’ve done with mine.

As for car covers if you have access to power easily the Carcoons are the best going, anything else isn’t really breathable and will just trap water in.

[Wilkie Senior]

Hi its another Cosmos save her!!!

I would concur with all that's been said ive had to have a major rebuild of body work after a local award winning body shop did a bodge.. anyway I digress

Water as you know can creep along, i would think (ignoring the corrosion area) check the boot hinge bolts etc

When min was out in the rain I used to put 2 rubber car mats over the engine bay vents, I have a turbo lid & rain tray I may fit, but I'm wanting to keep this one more std with subtle tweaks

Water pouring onto the Alternator Is a "Achilles" heel of this things as the under tray part of the engine cover exits right onto it,

Keep us posted on the progress hope it all gets sorted for you :-)

P.S. wondered where about your are in Rainy country Im in the North West if not too far away happy to meet up can hopefully give you some information first hand that would be of use :-) i think we've met at the National day

[Charlieepie]

Hi its another Cosmos save her!!!

I would concur with all that's been said ive had to have a major rebuild of body work after a local award winning body shop did a bodge.. anyway I digress

Water as you know can creep along, i would think (ignoring the corrosion area) check the boot hinge bolts etc

When min was out in the rain I used to put 2 rubber car mats over the engine bay vents, I have a turbo lid & rain tray I may fit, but I'm wanting to keep this one more std with subtle tweaks

Water pouring onto the Alternator Is a "Achilles" heel of this things as the under tray part of the engine cover exits right onto it,

Keep us posted on the progress hope it all gets sorted for you :-)

P.S. wondered where about your are in Rainy country Im in the North West if not too far away happy to meet up can hopefully give you some information first hand that would be of use :-) i think we've met at the National day

I've no intention of letting her rot, I've only had her a few months! Just learning where she's not quite watertight the hard way in the Cumbrian rain. Ideally she'd be kept indoors but I don't have a garage so just need to take care of her This is the only corrosion I've seen on the whole car, aside from so minor parts in the very sides of the boot where water has managed to get to due to my multiple boot leaks, but that looks to be just surface so when I've fixed the leak points I'm going to brush it off and apply some rust treatment.

I've checked the boot hinge bolts - they're absolutely fine, both inside and out. Inside the boot they're bone dry.

I thought I'd pinpointed the problem actually - the bolts that hold the little side panels down were really wet, but when I removed one and poked a small piece of wire through it to see where it went, it was visible from this little hole in the boot - which was bone dry. So that's not the culprit.



I've taken a photo inside my engine bay - all the bolts on the panels at the boot side look fine, in fact that area doesn't even look wet -

.

So I'm still a bit stuck with where the water is coming from. I'm going to take it into the body shop for them to quote me for a repair but I don't want to risk it just coming back through.

Also - I'm in west cumbria. Not been to any of the meets, so won't have met you - not sure if the previous owner was into meet ups so you might have met the car before

[Wilkie Senior]

Hi good luck with the project you look like your investigatiing it all :-) I saved my Cosmos the current Mrs W found the reciept for the last round of work oooo! quite weekend ha ha!!!

Not too many of the Cosmos ones around good to see another one getting some TLC

Good Luck

Best Regards Brian

[Charlieepie]

Well she’s booked in at the body shop next Friday to go in for the patches cut out and new ones welded in! I’m away on holiday for a week and a half so hopefully I’ll get back and she’ll be nice and shiny and new.

The guy at the body shop confirmed it is corrosion from the strut above the wheel arch, and he reached right underneath the car to find the other side of the crunchy spot (he definitely had longer arms than me!). He reckons it’s been spray off the road going up to it when driving rather than a leak from somewhere that’s caused it which makes sense because I couldn’t find the leak point for the life of me.

Just need to get my butt in gear and do the spoiler seals now, it’s so dark when I get home from work it’s hard to do anything, I’ll try for tomorrow if it’s not raining!

[Synz]

You need to find an owner close by with a garage , I would offer mine but I'm all the way in West Yorkshire. Once its repaired I'd definitely do the wax oil thing before putting the boot lining back in

[Charlieepie]

Just got the car back after getting the patches cut and welded, body shop have done a nice job.

They couldn’t get my spoiler off to fix that leak but that’s a problem for another day - I think I’m going to attempt to lift the side side slightly and squirt some black sealant underneath, and also seal the bolt that leaks, on recommendation of the body shop. Fingers crossed anyway!

Should be good to put the boot liner back into a watertight boot soon!