How to fix boot leaks due to failed rear light cluster gaskets

[MrZardoz]

With extra time on my hands and having this problem myself I thought I'd make a How To guide for what appears to be a fairly common issue with the Mk1 Auris.

Thankfully it's very cheap and simple to do. I hope this guide makes it easier for other Auris owners.

There's a previous guide here that includes how to unclip the boot lining:

One more note: On the passenger side make sure you unclip the boot light cable before pulling away the boot liner too far.

Ok, once you have access to the rear of the light cluster there are a few things to undo before the cluster can be removed. I found it easiest to remove in this order.

 

A - 2 x 10mm nuts

B - Electrical connector for lights

C - 2 x blue plastic clips

I've read that some people struggled with the blue plastic clips, but I found that if you push in the tabs with your fingers (or small pliers as I had to do on one of mine) and push them inwards it takes little effort.

The electrical connector takes a little persuasion. I found wiggling it free from underneath (being very careful around the wiring) with a large flat headed screwdriver worked well.

With all these parts released the light cluster can be pulled straight back. as you can see there's a fair amount of rubbish back there. In many parts the foam rubber gasket was slimy where it was failing to do its job properly. The failed gasket just pulls away from the cluster.

To give the cluster a good clean I took the bulb housing out. The main part just needs the tabs pushing in as in the pic below to disengage the tabs.

The outer bulb just takes a 1/4 turn.

Once these are out it's much easier to give everything a good clean up. Ensure it's all dry before the next bit.

Get the light housing of the bodywork really clean and dry, paying special attention to the OUTER edge of the large hole.

Once clean and dry I went around with clear silicon as neatly as I could.

While this was still wet I carefully replaced the light housing. The long 10mm screws really help lining it all back up, there's also a white plastic lug on the side of the bodywork that helps NOTE: Leave the bulb holder out at this stage!

With the light cluster back on and tightened up, you'll probably see excess silicon appear on the inside edge. Just wipe this away if so.

Then it's just a case of popping the light holders back in and replacing the boot lining.

So far my boot has kept bone dry after being tested with the recent storms 🙂

[ziauris]

Great info, I'm sure there's many Aurises with this issue still out there.

[eygo]

good info

but personally i dont like the use of silicone for the sealing of lights that should be removeable

i would prefer to use a self adhesive foam tape like the following item

https://shop.stormflame.com/self-adhesive-extra-thick-foam-seals-black-35-metre-3973-p.asp?gclid=CjwKCAjw57b3BRBlEiwA1Imytlrpidj11lqSCuxyClA4n2UxH9YlvJZDnZ5l-tQQciHRrWMYYsoCRRoCbzsQAvD_BwE

 

[MrZardoz]

I can appreciate that (I’d considered butyl strips too - used on previous cars door seals) but I’d imagine they’d still be removable with little fuss. I think it would be almost impossible to use the foam strips around such a complex shape and keep it gap free.
 

Can’t really see why you’d need to remove them anyway once this is done. 

[yossarian247]

On 6/21/2020 at 9:21 PM, MrZardoz said:

I can appreciate that (I’d considered butyl strips too - used on previous cars door seals) but I’d imagine they’d still be removable with little fuss. I think it would be almost impossible to use the foam strips around such a complex shape and keep it gap free.
 

Can’t really see why you’d need to remove them anyway once this is done. 

Yes, the only time I ever removed my rear lights was to fix the leak! Silicone sealant is easily enough peeled off though if the lights needed to be removed for any reason in the future.

[nazy1983]

Hi.

MrZardoz, thanks for the info.

How is it holding for you?

I just bought a 2008 Auris and, according to the documented history, both seals have been replaced in 2016. However, today I noticed some water in the boot passenger side and, luckily, I found this guide.

I have two questions:

- from what I can see from the pictures (the last one in particular), you have completely removed the gasket. Is it correct?

- I also saw that on Toyota official eBay store, the gaskets are on sale for about £20. Is there any point of getting them if they are so prone to failure? Would you recommend using the silicone trick combined with the gasket?

Thanks a lot.

[Motheo]

Awesome information and guidance.

Did this repair to my Auris about a year ago and it is holding up well even when we have rain here by us.

Sent from my SM-A307FN using Tapatalk

[yossarian247]

I fixed the rear lights on my 2009 Auris with silicone when I bought it in 2014. The boot was still bone dry when I sold the car in July this year, so the original Toyota seals had failed in less than 5 years, but my silicone was still holding up after 6 years.

[nazy1983]

Thanks for the confirmations.

I will give a try with the silicone before the weather worsens.

[TonyHSD]

Silicone is the best, the new gaskets failure is caused by debris and dirt , silicon can seal tightly and withstand the pressure that builds up when pouring rain and water has no place to go. The only negative is that will be difficult to remove the clusters if needed in future. 👍

[nazy1983]

I was checking which silicone to buy. Any suggestions?

I was thinking about one of the following:

https://www.toolstation.com/premium-building-silicone-310ml/p97204

or

https://www.toolstation.com/dow-corning-785n-neutral-sealant-310ml/p39406

[MrZardoz]

I'd go for the clear stuff rather than the neutral. Shouldn't really matter though as all the areas you're using it will be concealed once the clusters and trim are back on.

 

[MrZardoz]

On 10/15/2020 at 9:57 PM, nazy1983 said:

Hi.

MrZardoz, thanks for the info.

How is it holding for you?

I just bought a 2008 Auris and, according to the documented history, both seals have been replaced in 2016. However, today I noticed some water in the boot passenger side and, luckily, I found this guide.

I have two questions:

- from what I can see from the pictures (the last one in particular), you have completely removed the gasket. Is it correct?

- I also saw that on Toyota official ebay store, the gaskets are on sale for about £20. Is there any point of getting them if they are so prone to failure? Would you recommend using the silicone trick combined with the gasket?

Thanks a lot.

Sorry for not seeing this sooner. To answer your questions, yes I removed the old gaskets, there was little point keeping them on one the seal had perished. The new gaskets are supposed to be better than the original factory fitted ones but I wouldn't use silicon if buying new gaskets.

I'll also add that I had a smaller leak since on the left cluster. This has been completely fixed now by adding clear silicon between the opaque red top section of the cluster and the inner bodywork. (excuse the dirt! just nipped out to take a photo). Again, this is not visible at all once the boot is closed.

[TonyHSD]

The problem with water leak is the drainage that goes through the light cluster, it’s purely design fault but it’s seen with other cars too. What you have done with silicone blocking the water way is good, I didn’t do that but sealed all seals both sides and cleaned properly as per your first post. To avoid water ingress again I try not to park under the trees, this is actually the problem not the seals themselves. Once the dirt is accumulated and in heavy rain the dirt stops the water drain through and water finds its way through the seals and into the boot. 

[MrZardoz]

Yeah, it was a very minor leak (last time the heavy storms hit) so I must have missed a small area. Rather than taking out and resealing inside I siliconed that area to stop it for good.

...now I think about it maybe that would have been enough to do from the start! 😂

[darrenenright28]

The vents behind the rear bumper are also a very common water ingress point so no harm to seal those also.

[furtula]

In my case the water was coming in through the holes in the bodywork. Had to remove the plastic, to patch them up with silicon.

You can see plenty of places in the bodywork that were patched with something like silicone in the factory, and then painted over, so maybe it's a factory flaw they missed those, or as some said, something got clogged up, and so the water found it's way into the boot.

 

[darrenenright28]

4 hours ago, furtula said:

In my case the water was coming in through the holes in the bodywork. Had to remove the plastic, to patch them up with silicon.

You can see plenty of places in the bodywork that were patched with something like silicone in the factory, and then painted over, so maybe it's a factory flaw they missed those, or as some said, something got clogged up, and so the water found it's way into the boot.

That is seam sealer, used in every vehicle....

[pingu_turbo]

I have just done this repair. I recently bought the car for my wife and sealing the light clusters in was a no no for me (she’s likely to break them!). I took them out, washed the gaskets and smeared a butyl based non drying sealer used in the windscreen fitting trade called arbomast on the cluster and the body meeting face and all is well there. I also found leaks on both body vents when I water tested, so I took off the bumper and found the foam gaskets there had split. I cleaned the vents up removed the remaining seal and bonded then in with polyurethane sealer. A few hours in and outside in the rain, the boot is still dry.

[MrZardoz]

Good stuff! Sounds like a perfect material to use for the job.

[Corolla2004]

My 2011 Auris had a slight leakage into the boot so I followed the above advice to get the rear light clusters off. Incidentally I found that a 8mm ring spanner was helpful to compress the blue clips & I found it easier to unclip the electrical socket from the outside with the lamp cluster slightly pulled out.

I found that my gaskets were intact & the leakage was down to the accumulated dirt (as TonyHSD had posted above). While I had the light clusters off I took the opportunity to replace some of the more aged light bulbs. I found my Auris manual only specified the wattage of the wedge bulbs and not their socket size so here are the full details:

Use                           Power           Bulb                 Socket

Fog                                  21W               W21W                     W3x16d         

Turn                                 21W               WY21W (amber)     W3x16d      

Reverse                           16W               W16W                     W2.1x9.5d     

Stop                                 16W               W16W                     W2.1x9.5d    

Tail                                    5W                W5W                       W2.1x9.5d   

I didn't use any sealant around the gaskets when I replaced the light clusters but they seem to watertight (so far).

[ziauris]

i'm doing this on mine as it has been leaking for many years. I've got a few questions:

Below are the pics of the gaskets when I took the lights off. They look OK to me so I thought I'd just clean them ... (Q: Do they look OK to you guys?)

 

 

[ziauris]

Pic once cleaned (Q: I will be applying roof and gutter sealant (butyl based) on the car where the gasket meets the metal of the car so the gasket seals properly. Is this sensible or should I ditch the gasket all together? Should I take the gasket off and put sealant on both sides of it so it is sealed both side (lights and the side that touches the metal of the car?)

 

[ziauris]

Q: Should I put sealent around these vents too or do they look OK?

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17TfJJCMfiluIn6Zq1MM64FS-r8CNl6sF/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17cnl4LWBaTcpCoFdXcjK5q1y9gn3lOeW/view?usp=sharing

[ziauris]

Final Q: My socket dropped off when I was unscrewing the 10mm nut of the passenger (nearside) light and it dropped down somewhere. I can't seem to see it anywhere. Does anyone know where it could have got to?

Thanks