Water entering 124 trunk...
 

On rainy days, I get a good amount of water entering my trunk thru the wheel well grommets. Although fine in appearance, and only a bit worn out, I replaced the rubber vent grommets thinking that replacement would solve the problem.

It didn't.

It appears that the body-formed tube passages found underneath the car, on the wheel well, has deteriorated somewhat meaning that water has less length to travel to enter trunk thru those vent grommets.

Has anyone else had this problem and fixed it? I'm considering gluing in some PVC pipe down there to extend the length just a bit, hoping that the water won't enter, having a longer distance to travel. Not sure if it'd work or not, or if this is even the problem.

Any thoughts or suggestions is appeciated as always!

-Paul-

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'91 300E 198k

Water entering through wheel well grommets is not very likely (unless I misinterpreted your writing).

Water can enter the trunk
1) through the water hoses of the sunroof (the rear hoses of the sunroof go through the trunk along the wheel well until they exit the trunk behind the bumper),
2) at the taillights when the sealing is broken/damaged,
3) at the trunk lid rubber when it is either damaged or after it has been removed previous. Normally there is a sealant like additive inside the trunklid rubber, which can cause the rubber to leak after it has been removed and replaced.

Your rear screen is glued in, so it is very unlikely that water comes in from there (this is more a W201 problem).

greetingz,

or:

4) thru the broken antenna seal

Can't tell you how long it took me to figure this one out.

Thanks Mbenz

~~Paul

or backed up water in the drain trough at the bend due to leaves and road grime hiding under the trunk seal. Gently lift back and was out. Water will sit in the trough around the upper portion of the lid seal and find a way in.

re;water leak
 

I had this problem in my 126, it ended up being the seal around the talelight, hope yours is as easy to fix.
Good luck Mark

I had loooots of water in the trunk and traced to a leak through the tail light in my 126, the seal was good but the metal around the cutout wasn't right perhaps due to previous smash repair, bend it a bit and solved the leak. However some water is still entering through the large venting hole into the sides of the bumper...havn't got aroudd fixing that yet....

The 126 had water leaking in through the plastic lens of the rear lights (which happened to be made in Italy).

Took me almost 2 weeks to figure that part out after much effort - from rubber seals to everything else that was mentioned here.