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Project 480s
Leaking Boot
Even in November 2002 during my pre - purchase inspection of the 480s, a soggy boot floor was in evidence. “Oh, I never noticed that” / “It’s been laid up a while you know” said Mr. previous owner (to be fair, I’d have come out with something similar myself as a seller! ).
This was to prove the beginning of a long, but not so interesting quest to remedy it. My first ports of call were the numerous websites dedicated to the 480 and Volvo in general ( you can find them, amongst others, on the links page ). Some of the suggestions on the forums of these sites were a little crazy, such as ‘condesation’ developing in the boot due to the air vents located at either side of it ( behind the bumper sides ).
While I have a lot of respect for condensation, it doesn’t produce half a bucket of water overnight to the best of my reckoning!
The ‘Haynes’ manual - which covers not only the 480 but the entire 400 range - is somewhere between lightly useful and complete rubbish. They hardly over - do the photographs and technical drawings. Nope, this was going to involve trial and error I thought, and guess what? - I was right!
 Late 2005: By this stage I was truly blue in the face. In fact I was beginning to hate the car - when you try so many different things and think “Great, that’s it” only for a leak to return, it’s depressing to put it ( very ) diplomatically. I learned a lot more about leaks than I ever wanted to know!
 I took out both side windows aft of the B - pillar. To my surprise they weren’t even bonded in place, but rather ‘snapped’ in and out of the metal frame. Strange way to keep out water I thought, so when they were going back in they got a good liberal line of U-Pol ‘Tiger Seal’ mastic around the edges.
Getting the windows out and back in was no joke. Wooden / plastic spatula’s were essential, and my ‘Draper’ dent remover ( suction pad ) came in handy too, for securely holding the window with one hand ( one quickly runs out of hands! )
 Take a good look at that picture on the left. This is how they dealt with water - flow on the 480’s. Note the rain channel designed into the window - frame rubber! Thank God Volvo don’t do home heating. If they did you could probably expect to have Gas pipes routed through an open fireplace
As water channels in a ‘seal’ designed to keep out water seemed like a complete joke to me, I filled this water - channel in the frame with mastic before re - fitting the windows. Okay, water now flows down the sides of the car instead of towards the boot channels, but I was taking no chances
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