1985 300D water floor trunk

I am new to the diesel benz world. I am having problems with water getting in trunk and on interior floors. I have ordered new trunk seal as well as all door seals. Is there another secret or spot water can get in? Please help. Thank you

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Body and Interior Specific Aid

Chassis Model Number

W123

It's PROBABLY a different seal with the trunk leak, actually...

I hate to break it to you after you got all those other gaskets, BUT... Trunk leaks in the W123 are actually most often due to the REAR WINDOW GASKET failing!

If you look in your trunk you'll notice how much the rear window actually hangs over the trunk area rather than the back seat area. When this window seal gives way, the resulting leak goes straight into the trunk! It leaks even worse than if the trunk seal itself fails, due to how everything fits together back there.

As for your interior leaks, don't forget to check your sunroof seal... (Hard to tell about the interior leak without more specific location info.) Good luck!

Be sure and read our alerts and tips

We cover one of the most common reasons for interior leaks into the 123 chassis.

water in 85 300D

Thank you for the swift reply...i will be ordering the rear window seal as well as the moonroof seal....i might as well get the windshield seal as well...running out of money though....any discounts available here at this site?

Water in 1985 300D

You could soak your feet in my 1984 300D passenger side after a good storm and driving thru the car wash brought water into the passenger foot well that came in from above. Mercedessource covers the reason though I didn't know about this site at the time and had to find the problem on my own. Check your battery tray. I bet some acid got thru it some time within the 24 year life of your car. Then the acid kept going thru the firewall. Installed new tray and patched firewall.....no more water.

If there is water on your

If there is water on your passenger side it is most likely due to a leak below the battery under the hood. What happens is that battery acid causes corrosion in the firewall and it leaks through the firewall in front of the passenger floorboard. Mercedessource has a replacement battery tray and what I did is I removed the battery and battery tray and then got a grinder and some sandpaper after the area to expose how much of it was damaged. Then I put a layer of miracle paint on the rusted and corroded areas and let it dry. I had a pretty large area of damage in mine so I grinded it away pretty good and then the area where the metal had completely worn through I put some Epoxy putty/clay and mashed it in there real good. After the Epoxy had set I put another layer of miracle paint on the area and while it was still wet I applied put one of the fiberglass sheets on it that Mercedessource supplies in its rust fix kit and put that ontop of the wet miracle paint. Then I put another layer of miracle paint on top of it. the cool thing is that once the miracle paint dries with the fiberglass it is rock hard and nothing else is going to get in there.

This may sound like a daunting job but as I recall you can accomplish all of this for under $100. Just with a fair amount of elbow grease.

Also if you have the miracle paint, a grinder, some epoxy puty and the fiberglass cloth it might be a good time to see if you have any rust in the floorboards and work on that as well.

wet floor

thank you..you guys at mercedes source are great....a newcomer to the diesel benz world i am encountering all the regular problems that come with these cars....even after the tuneup the car wouldnt shut off....of course i came in here went to mercedessource.com and found out that a vacuum hose was probably loose...indeed it was...thanks guys...will get the battery tray and paint as you all suggested..thanks..Marc

Water leaks 83 300D Turbo

A local repair shop told me to start at the top...sunroof, windshield, back window. He also cautioned to avoid trying to seal with silicon glue. Doesn't work because there are so many places for water to enter and you will never locate them all. Try this...I put four Q tips evenly spaced along the inside lip (dash)at the base of the windshield then tested with a hose to see if any absorbed water and where it may have started. Much to my surprise they were all wet so I know I need a new windshield gasket. Since my windshield is shot I will have both replaced at the same time. I'll let you know the results.
Thanks for the tip on the battery box....I'll check that as well. I know there is battery rust there.
John J

Water leaks 83 300d turbo

Gentlemen
See my comments from September. Finally replaced windshield and seal and still water coming in at front pass side. Q tips are no longer wet so water not from windshield. Found a seam just east of the battery tray (assume front of car is north)where water runs down from the hood gap near the hood spring should be draining to the ground. Because the seam has rusted the water is coming into the pass side at the firewall pretty high up....so high it actually accumulates in the gully that is on the right side wall near the pass feet. You can only see this section if you have removed the carpeting that runs up this section (forward of the doorjam).
I have picked the hole open as much as possible and installed some temp caulking used around windows and doorjams for weatherproofing anly because I had it in the garage.
It's raining now and I am going to add some more to be sure I've stopped the leak. I'll let you know if the problem is cured with this temp measure. Then I'll go to the miracle paint and fiberglass cloth received from the source. It will be nice to have a dry car so I can reinstall carpet and pass seat.
John J