Vents Behind Rear Bumper

[Valvematic]

Noticed a tiny trickle of water inline with the boot floor entering the car after it jet washed following it's service.

As I have replaced the boot seal, sealed the high level brake light, rear lights and anything grommet related the only other option I had to look at the vent behind the rear bumper.

Bumper removal is very easy, 4 clips and 2 torx bolts, reg plate and reg plate lamps

1. Remove the clips from the rear wheel arch area.

2. Remove the reg plate

3. Remove the reg plate lamps

4. Remove the two torx bolts hidden by the boot lid inline with the rear lights.

5. Remove the two clips from underneath the bumper

The bumper is now simply held in place by some concealed clips on each side beneath the rear quarter panel and two clips either side of the boot lock.

The bumper will unclip from the clips on each side of the quarter with gentle persuasion. If you find a clip will not give, mask the panel and bumper up with masking tape and use a small flat bladed screwdriver to lift the plastic bumper lug from the retaining clip. Once both sides are free, the bumper will pull from the rear of the car and will release from the two clips next to the boot lock.

Now the bumper has been removed I could instantly see the issue. The vents move around in the body and the seals are made of some sponge type material which was saturated and some of the seal was hanging loosely beneath the vent not actually providing a seal.

I removed the vents and gave them a good clean and disregarded the original seal. On the vent seal slot on the actual vent I filled with a generous bead of silicone and refitted the vent to the car and positioned. Once positioned I applied more silicone around the vent and then smoothed over.

Whilst the bumper was off I took the opportunity to remove the years of road crud. Looked like very good topsoil so put it my border.

Hopefully it will stay dry today so the silicone can fully cure.

Refitting is easy the hardest part is making sure the corners of the bumpers are over the lugs on each side before pressing into place.