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Hi All

Have now had the 1993 LS400 for a few weeks and love it. Have done hundreds of easy miles with no drama other than that I create myself. The great thing is that these cars all seems to have the same issues - LCD displays, dash lights, suspension bushes and this forum knows all the answers.

That said, I have of course what may be a one off problem - every time it rains the boot carpet get wet, the spare wheel well takes in water and the l/h well below the tool kit fills up yet there is no sign whence it comes. The boot lid is dry, the rubbers seem fine and are dry yet the it happens every time it rains whether or not the car is driven.

It is a channel island import so maybe it wasn't so used to rain?

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers

Nick

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Ive just gone through this on my 98 ls 400, if the water is in the sare wheel well it is more than likely water getting in under the seal by the rear lights. unbolt the lights remove and clean the seal, apply silicone sealent to both sides of the metal lip, put the seal back on & hopefully its OK, worked a treat for me, even took it to a jet wash to give it a good blast (leak free) & a couple of quid to fix.

The water sits next to the seal & gets sucked over the lip due to the upstand of the lip not being big enough, My misses is a hard metal roofer so deals with these sorts of problems on a daily bassis,

hope this helps

Mark

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Ive just gone through this on my 98 ls 400, if the water is in the sare wheel well it is more than likely water getting in under the seal by the rear lights. unbolt the lights remove and clean the seal, apply silicone sealent to both sides of the metal lip, put the seal back on & hopefully its OK, worked a treat for me, even took it to a jet wash to give it a good blast (leak free) & a couple of quid to fix.

The water sits next to the seal & gets sucked over the lip due to the upstand of the lip not being big enough, My misses is a hard metal roofer so deals with these sorts of problems on a daily bassis,

hope this helps

Mark

Thanks to all for suggestions. It hasn't been undersealed (yet - ironically I have an interest in a business that does this) - so the drainage holes / tubes are not blocked. ManicMark may have the answer as it reminds me of the same issue on my Audi 80 Cabriolet which has rear light sealing issues (it has a large rear light area like the LS 400).

The fact he has just sorted his own car re-affirms what I said about the forum - the knowledge here is worth a fortune on a car like an LS400.

Thanks to all. Will update when I have looked at this over the weekend.

Cheers

Nick

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Hi just to make clear its the boot seal you have to re seal not the lights , it comes in around the light area & runs down the rear of the boot. I siliconed my seal all the way around, I cleaned out the muck around the lights aswell ta Mark

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Hi just to make clear its the boot seal you have to re seal not the lights , it comes in around the light area & runs down the rear of the boot. I siliconed my seal all the way around, I cleaned out the muck around the lights aswell ta Mark

Ah. Thanks Mark - I would have been sledgehammering to crack a nut. Will update when done. ta. Nick

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Snap. I just added sealant under the boot seal in my 98 also to cure this exact same problem. It does cure it too, no problems since, but no mushrooms either.

I removed the rear lights and sealed it up then respositioned all the mouldings properly, then the light units hold everything in place.

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It really is most probably the rubber seal as they lose their springiness over a few years. I tried silicone and cling film and rear lights and it was simply the rubber trim not pushing hard enough on the trunk. I now have to really mean to close the lid now!

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Hi it was 100% water geting under the seal on mine & not between the top of seal & boot lid , it was possable to see where the water was comming in and trace it back, for me I would try the cheap fix first as seals are dear, ta mark

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Wow Mark I wish I had known that! I bought the original Lexus part!

£3.80 a metre is a cheap option whether you fix the seal as well or not!

Its always after that you get to know this stuff.

Thanks...

Hi All

Over the weekend I removed the boot seal and moulding and reassembled it with silicon . It was a quick(ish) job and has worked as the boot is now bone dry after the continuous rain over 2 days. This surprised me as visually there seemed little wrong with the seal or the fit. I suspect this is a stopgap however as some of the "springyness" of the seal must have gone over the years (the boot closes all too easily and may not have been pressing down the seal) so a new Lexus seal (or cheaper alternative thanks for the info) beckons in the middle future.

What impresses me a lot about this car is that the ingress of water for some time (there literally was fungi growing in the wheel well) has caused zero corrosion anywhere.

Thanks to everyone for their advice.

Nick

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Hi Nick, as I said earlier the lip on the boot is a bad design as it is too small, so water can get over it, water can travel upwards between 2 touching surfaces & will find the easiest path to escape (unfortunately into the boot on the LS) with the silicone it should be OK for a couple of years. I used a specialist lead sealent that doesn't fully dry As my misses works in the metal roofing game.

glad it worked Mark

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