'97 boxer, water in engine bay.

Any other boxer owners with this problem. After heavy rain the left side of the engine bay is soaked, battery tray full of water (rusting) and water around oil filler,I've tried rubber strips to re route the rainwater but no success, I was thinking a removable plastic tray over the battery area might be worth doing. I can usually fix things but this has got me stumped. I have heard that the newer models have this problem and Peugeot supply a cover for free.

My Symphony had the same problem. I stuck a plastic sheet over the battery with gaffer tape to deflect the water away, one reason why the two fuses hanging there get so corroded.

Hi thanks, looks like plastic sheets the answer then, did the water still get on the engine tho, and did you gaffer tape the plastic to the top of the inner wing?.
Dave

Most of the water seemed to be deflected away but some still got to the engine. It helps to clear the drain hole in the channel above, it's hidden under the rubber seal. Taped the sheet to the wing as you said. Ideally you need to fit a pipe to this drain hole (windscreen washer tubing would do) but you need a way of fixing it but I never got that sorted.

Thanks that'll give me something to do on this scorching bank holiday Monday.

Well you'll have plenty of rain to test it! (if you're having a wet one like us)

hi,
if you can park with the off side of your van higher than the nearside the water will go out through the scuttle drain rather than overflowing onto the battery. I presume you are aware of the problem of the scuttle drain dumping water onto the gearbox and how to fix it?
chris

Hi yes the drain has the modification, my drive is level but I know what you mean, I suppose I could use one of my leveling ramps,I would like to find a permanent fix if I can, thanks for the suggestion.
Dave

Previously to our A/S I had a 1996 fiat 1.9td with exactly this problem ,Fiat produced a cover to overcome this ,effectively what your proposed plastic sheet will do.We had the problem that the water on entering the bonnet managed to fill the battery so as to leak electrolyte (acid)over everything below!The fiat cover with replacement battery and thorough cleaning/rustproofing put things to rights, but I also fitted a drain tube from above the scuttle underneath the rubber seal to come out by the headlights to be sure! Having now owned 3 "incarnations" of boxer type vehicles they never seem to get this bit quite right!                                                                                                                                                             Regards

Hi Paul thanks for the info, will give drain tube a go as well.
Dave

All sorted now, I ended up drilling a 5/8" hole in the left hand side of the plastic scuttle panel as low as possible just above the rubber seal then used a shortened plastic nozzle from a sealant cartridge pushed through the hole then fixed an 16" length of bike inner tube to it using a plastic tie. Its close to left hand wiper mechanism, just clears it. I've thrown a bucket of water at windscreen and it all drains straight out, not a drop gone in engine bay so seems to have worked ok. Happy days.
Thanks for the advice.
Dave

Well done that man!

Well done will get out drill soon and have a go at that but can see that on the passenger side the water funnel from screen that drains water on to the gearbox, stupid design, that this is loose and not sealed where it fits under the screen, water is going all over the engine, looks a difficult one to clean and reseal any one done that?

Frogeye70 wrote:Well done will get out drill soon and have a go at that but can see that on the passenger side the water funnel from screen that drains water on to the gearbox, stupid design, that this is loose and not sealed where it fits under the screen, water is going all over the engine, looks a difficult  one to clean and reseal any one done that?

There is a few older posts detailing this problem on the forum somewhere, search 'boxer gearbox' and you should find them.
I have created a new drain on the drivers side which helps but am still getting some water on the battery, it creeps in at the top of the inner wing under the bonnet, and re-sealed the side above the gearbox and added the longer drain pipe available from Peugeot. I completely removed the black plastic panel under the windscreen to do this and used the non-setting sealant available from car accessory shops.

Enn