WATER IN YOUR TRUNK?

The eighties BMW's are especially prone to water leaks in the trunk. Of these cars the E30 is definitely the worst suffering model. Water enters from several points, all need to be checked.

First check is the rubber seal around the trunk opening itself, make sure it is intact, look around the metal below this seal for signs of water trickling down from the seal, if you see any, replace the seal.

Next check is the antenna, make sure the area on the fender is sealed correctly. Look at the antenna itself, it will show signs of water running down it if the mast is leaking.

The more common leak is the tail light gaskets. The tell tale signs of these leaks are water stains running down from the gasket area, but these gaskets will not allow water into the lights themselves if they are leaking.

If you have water inside the lights, turning them into coloured fish bowls, then the glued seam between the coloured lens and the plastic housing is leaking. There are a couple of ways to fix this other than replacing the entire lens assembly. First choice I use is a bead of clear silicone around the seam, this works 99 percent of the time. Another popular choice is to use a soldering iron or hot knife to blend over the seam, sealing it perfectly is a little harder to do, and I recommend using the silicone.

Removing the tail lights is very straight forward. unclip the bulb holders and you will find between 6 and 8, 8 mm, nuts. On the outer edge of each lens is a bracket, note the orientation of this bracket as it must be replaced correctly to ensure the lights seal. It is advisable to replace the tail light gaskets if you remove the lenses, even if they were not the cause of the leaks.