V70: General Water in the boot and electrical problems with the boot lock

[FloydV70]

So here's a little story all about how
my boot got wet inside and out.
I'd like to take a minute and sit right there,
I'll tell you all about how I caried out this repair.

A little while ago, earlier this autumn, I noticed the inside of the boot door panel was getting bit wet around the bottom of the panel where the 'Close boot' button is located. I dried it out in the sun and kept an eye on it.

A few weeks later, the area was damp again after a heavy rain fall and was getting worse with every rainfall.
The carpet where the bottom of the boot meets when it's closed was also getting very wet. I took a look in the spare wheel well and there was a puddle of water. I soaked it all up with a sponge and again dried out the car
I started to look for the fault.

At first, I thought it could be the common issue where water ingress occurs around the hinges and got the rubber seal part mentioned in a lot of post in this forum and adhered it to the body.
Unfortunately did not solve the problem.
I was starting to suspect area around the rear lights was where the water was coming in but ran out of time that weekend to investigate any further.

A few weeks later as more water kept coming in, I found the time to take the rear lights of, but again there was nothing clearly obvious and I was satisfied the seals around the lights was doing their job so refitted the lights and soaked up the water in the spare wheel well again.

I then took the panel off the boot as shown in one of volvosweden's videos (I love this guy).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGB6DwlzNpk&t=2s

I climbed inside the boot, closed the boot door and got my wife to shower the outside with the hose.
I couldn't see a significant amount of water coming in but I could see a small water stain around the bottom of the rear window. I wasn't clear where the water was coming in but it looked like it was collecting on the bottom rim where the windows is bonded and then dripping down but I wasn't confident where the source of the leak was.

Now another month had past and I was still no closer to confidently finding the leak then another problem presented itself.
I was driving down the road and the boot opened up by itself. I closed it and it did again. I went home and tried to resolve it. I could hear the rear lock opening repeatedly as if the button on the key fob was being pressed repeatedly.
Also, the boot close button wouldn't work.

I investigated and came to the conclusion that this could be the common earthing issue that is shown in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRIUBEqEgAA

Volvo are aware of this issue and here's their guide. https://pdfhost.io/v/~5o2AYcEY_Volvo...ectorENpdf.pdf

After carrying out the work on the earth connection, the electrical problems with the boot continued.

I came to the conclusion that the water ingress has corroded something so started look at every connector I could see in the boot for signs of corrosion. The connector that connects to the boot handle was gunked up with corrosion. I cleaned this up with some WD40 contact cleaner and a fibreglass pen and the electrical issues went away. The boot was working perfectly. This was a sure sign, I must find that leak before it ruined anything else. I lowered the rear seats so when it next rained I could see the inside of the boot lid without opening it. The panel was still off.

That night, it rained. I went outside with a torch and climbed in. I could see a little bit of water collecting again at the bottom of were the window is bonded in the same place as before.
I pushed the window from the inside and a load of water rushed in from the top for the glass. Yes, it's the bonding around the window.

I called an auto glass company who came to my house and re-bonded the window for £192.

When I first got the car, I found that the windscreen leaked and Volvo re-bonded that for me free of charge but I know they no longer do this. It is clear from this experience and other peoples post that Volvo had a serious issue with bonding.

Because it is common, it is the reason why I posed this. Just in case it helps others.

[Tatsfield]

I didn't know that the rear screen also had a bonding problem. The windscreen upper edge bonding fault is well known and wasn't adequately dealt with by Volvo as it was a safety issue that they dealt with as if it was only a trim issue but I hadn't heard of similar problems with the rear window.

[Kev0607]

^Neither did I.

My Dad's V70 seems to have wet on the panel where the "close button" is located. I would have thought it was coming from one of the door seals or maybe the seals around the rear lights, not the rear window.

Funnily enough, since the panel described above has been damp, the close button no longer works? Maybe water has somehow got into it.