Hi All, I have resolved the water in the spare wheel well problem on my 2004 Range Rover Vogue, I have only had the car for 2 months and noticed that there was a bit of rust on the rear tailgate flap bracket that sits just inside the boot when I was looking at buying the car, after asking the seller he said he did have a problem with water getting into the boot but his garage had resolved it (yes of course they did!). Anyway, I replaced the rear boot seal (around £90) as the old one had more mastic than rubber so this was binned and the lip cleaned up and new seal put on. Water was still getting into the spare wheel well and a couple of weeks ago I took the boot to bits to find the source of the leak. It looked like it was coming from the box section that goes across the rear of the car, essentially the rear panel is double skinned and water was runniing along the seam and just going to the lowest point then seeping out into the spare wheel well. As it's normally dusty in there you could see the water tracks. Long Story short - the leak was coming from the 8 bolts that run through the rear panel from the rear crash bar, 4 each side. I was amazed that there isn't a gasket of some description but mine certainly didn't have one.
To remedy the problem you need to strip out the boot as much as poss, quite easy really but in a nutshell - take out the spare wheel, take out the detachable (if fitted) tow ball and all the cubby box it sits in, then take off as much of the black plastic trim so you can to get to the 4 bolts (from memory I think they are 17mm). You will also need to take off the rear bumper skin (again easy to do, use the search function to find the guide), then you will see the rear crash bar that runs along the rear of the car. It is easy to get off once you can get to the bolts, I used a ratchet spanner which made it easier. Once removed I just used domestic bathroom clear sealant and pumped this into the holes that the bolts pass through and then applied a bead of this onto the crash bar mounting points, I then put the crash bar back onto the car (yes it was messy lol) but as the bolts go through the holes and the sealant they do drag the excess sealant through to the inside of the car but you can wipe this off but not completely, do the nuts back up and you will notice that the sealant has spread out from behind the washers to create anonther seal so wipe off the excess at this point. That should be it! refit the bumper and boot trim and all good - It has rained all day to day and I am happy to report that my boot is as dry as a Nun's nether regions - happy happy.
I hope that helps some of you guys with this problem as it seem fairly common and I have not see this solution online hence the post.
Darren
To remedy the problem you need to strip out the boot as much as poss, quite easy really but in a nutshell - take out the spare wheel, take out the detachable (if fitted) tow ball and all the cubby box it sits in, then take off as much of the black plastic trim so you can to get to the 4 bolts (from memory I think they are 17mm). You will also need to take off the rear bumper skin (again easy to do, use the search function to find the guide), then you will see the rear crash bar that runs along the rear of the car. It is easy to get off once you can get to the bolts, I used a ratchet spanner which made it easier. Once removed I just used domestic bathroom clear sealant and pumped this into the holes that the bolts pass through and then applied a bead of this onto the crash bar mounting points, I then put the crash bar back onto the car (yes it was messy lol) but as the bolts go through the holes and the sealant they do drag the excess sealant through to the inside of the car but you can wipe this off but not completely, do the nuts back up and you will notice that the sealant has spread out from behind the washers to create anonther seal so wipe off the excess at this point. That should be it! refit the bumper and boot trim and all good - It has rained all day to day and I am happy to report that my boot is as dry as a Nun's nether regions - happy happy.
I hope that helps some of you guys with this problem as it seem fairly common and I have not see this solution online hence the post.
Darren