Water leak in Trunk

[loudspeaker69]

I had a water leak in my trunk and found the reason.

The trunk handle (2003.5 car, so it’s the facelift handle), did not have the gasket behind the handle.

I had a carbon fiber trunk before and they swapped over the original trunk handle, but not the gasket with it.

Today I have a used OEM trunklid and the original handle, but still no gasket hence the water leak.

Has anyone ever taken their handle off the trunk for any reason?

If they have taken off the handle, has the gasket been adhered to the handle itself?

- so when putting it back on the vehicle the gasket does not stick on on to the trunk lid (as it is stuck on the handle).

Just wanted to confirm.

Note: For the E46 M3 it seems most places technically does not sell the gasket by itself as they attempt to sell you the entire handle assembly with the gasket. After talking with an FCP Euro Rep he found this part for me.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-trunk-lip-grip-gasket-51138244713

[02_lsb]

Are you sure it’s not the tail light gaskets?

[loudspeaker69]

Are you sure it’s not the tail light gaskets?

100% sure.

I changed the tail light gaskets with new ones before…

I sat in the rear of the vehicle with the seats down and with a flash light and saw the water coming inside the trunk area while my neighbor was only spraying down the trunk handle.

We obviously sprayed down different parts and saw nothing else.

We hosed down the car straight for 10 mins, prolly used 50 gallons of water.

[loudspeaker69]

So I dropped off the car to the body shop.

They installed the gasket behind the trunk handle and upon removing the screws, it seems the handle is adhered to the trunk lid.

Nevertheless, water is still getting into the trunk 🙈