Ford Mondeo - leak into boot

[Lee.Elms]

Car: Ford Mondeo, Hatchback, 2002

Following an accident where another driver drove into my rear bumper, a small amount of water now leaks into the boot when it rains.

The water appears to be coming in around one of the bolts that passes through the vertical part of a small 'L' shaped bracket the joins the boot floor to the vertical rear part of the boot compartment. (If this isn't clear enough to identify the part, I can try to post a picture.)

Can anyone tell me what this bolt does ? Is is 'safe' to undo it, or will this cause a problem ? Should water normally get to the other side of this bolt ?

 

[Ron Gamma]

sounds like the bracket for the tailgate latch by your description. if its leaking around here then the lip of the boot floor is wrong or the tailgate isn't pulling down tightly enough to close the rubber seal.

ring the insurer and ask them to have it put right properly.
if its the boot latch then its a 10 minute job to adjust.
if its the boot lip then it might be possible to "dress" the seam to the correct angle, otherwise they need to take it apart and reweld the panels properly this time.

 

[Lee.Elms]

Sorry, I think my description was probably too vague. There are 2 of these brackets, one on each side of the boot floor either side of the depression that holds the spare tyre. They are normally hidden behind the plastic trim panels that cover the rear light clusters.

 

[Lee.Elms]

Here is a picture of what I was trying to describe; the bracket I am referring to is in the bottom right of the picture. This picture is taken looking towards the back of the boot area. I want to know what would happen if I undo one of the bolts on the vertical part of this bracket.