Water in the Tailgate?

[Broa30]

Hi there. Has anyone had problems with water getting inside the frame of the tailgate on the A6 Avant Estate? I bought the car recently and noted water escaping from the tailgate light and then could hear water swishing around inside the tailgate as you lifted it open and close. Is it likely that the water is getting in via a poor seal from the tailgate screen/window or likely to be getting in from somewhere else? There are no obvious corrosion points or entry points visible for this.

[Steve Q]

Welcome to the forum Allan :) 

youll find the members on here are a friendly and helpful bunch :) 

sorry to hear your having issues. Could the water be coming in through the rear wiper seal? 

Cheers

steve 

[Broa30]

Not sure Steve but will go and take a close look. Thanks for responding.

[Steve Q]

56 minutes ago, Broa30 said:

Not sure Steve but will go and take a close look. Thanks for responding.

Your welcome :) 

hope iv helped :) keep us posted :)

[Magnet]

Hello Allan, 

I would go with Steve's suggestion for a starter. I would advise that you remove the inner panel and indeed this may give up some clues of where this water is getting in (via evidence of stains etc.), and thoroughly dry the inside of the tailgate. You could then tape over the top outside paintwork to glass area, overlapping from paintwork to glass. I would just do the top join to start and test with a hose. If this does not eliminate the problem then add additional tape to each side join (one at a time) and finally the bottom glass to paintwork. The idea of doing this one section at a time is that you will know which one solves it - if it does. 

Another possible source could be where the flexible electrical wiring harness runs from the main body into the tailgate frame. 

Possibly some of this might help.

Kind regards,

Gareth.

[Steve Q]

Just to add to Gareth's post one thing you could do after you've dried the boot/tailgate out and taken off the trim panel you could get someone to sit in the boot and watch whilst you spray the boot and roof with a pressure washer. 

Hope iv helped :) 

cheers

steve

[Broa30]

Thanks Gareth. I tried Steve's suggestion but the wiper seal looks intact. I'll try the taping paintwork over glass test and see if that gives up any clues. If its the glass seal I might just need to get Autoglass in to replace it (& seal).

[Trevor]

Hi Allan....welcome to the Forum

The usual thing that occurs on VAG cars is for the washer jet hose to pop off or leak and that tends to fill up the tailgate and also the boot latch mechanism which then fails after a while...worth pulling off the cover to investigate the cause.

Cheers,   Trevor

[Broa30]

Thanks Trevor. Great advice.  Will check this out also.

[Rob82DZL]

Have you got this sorted? When this happened on my A3 I did away with the over complicated arrangement that is present.  I used some good quality silicone vacuum hose and took off the white connector with small o-ring and clip. I used some aroldite and pushed the silicon hoes up about 2 inches up the feed pipe and then the other end was an extremely snug fit over the other end which no longer needed the clip. Far more secure and no chance of leaking.

Obviously this wont help if it's the shaft that is leaking through the wipe motor gear box. But even then it's a cheap part about £50-60 ish. :)