I’m pretty sure that my boot seal doesn’t work too well and is the reason for the car quickly smelling of exhaust fumes when the windows are opened.
My car (a '98 MPI) has a centre exit exhaust which sits just under the bumper (i.e. doesn’t extend out very far). I like the look, so would rather keep it that way than change to a side exit or longer tailpipes.
Putting a bright light in the boot and closing it definitely indicates that there’s not a good seal.
Also, the seal appears to be in good condition and is still very flexible, so I’m thinking that just replacing the seal won’t make enough of a difference (although I could be wrong) - and was wondering if anyone has had any luck with a different kind of seal - maybe the circular cross-section kind that you usually see on doors?
Hi..to test if youe boot is making a seal use a strip of news paper and pop this against seal close boot and see if you can pull paper out if tears then you have a seal if comes out easy then no seal…do this all the way round…
The best way to seal the boot and improve safety is to fill the gap around the ends of the rear seat vertical (well almost vertical) panel and the rear shelf where there is a big gap to the outer body skin panels. Fibreglass paste is a good sealant.
Also, the rear shelf has holes in and sometimnes audio speakers. The rear shelf can be plated with a sheet of aluminium and sealed in place with bath sealer and fixed with pop rivets. Speakers are best re-located under the rear seat front edge and a panel is available for this.
That way your car is sealed against any sort of fumes from the boot.It’s more fireproof as well if you have a petrol tank leak.
> Hi..to test if youe boot is making a seal use a strip of news paper and pop this against seal close boot and see if you can pull paper out if tears then you have a seal if comes out easy then no seal…do this all the way round…
Nice test idea - and mine fails miserably! Thanks for the suggestion!
**Cooperman** I like your idea - and I did consider this as an option. It’s probably a better “final solution” than messing with the boot seal too. Thanks!
Just an update - I sealed the (considerable) gaps between the boot and the car interior and that was definitely my problem. Opening the windows doesn’t stink out the car anymore. When I took the trim panels off to reach the gap from the inside, there was definitely a lot of soot there. This also explains why the headliner was so sooty looking - I think it was acting as a filter for the exhaust fumes as they made their way into the car. I’d always assumed that a previous owner was a smoker, but the stains didn’t look quite right for that.
