Hi, I have a 2008 five door Focus, had it since October 2011 and it has only about 10 days of dealer warranty left.

While driving in heavy rain I noticed the underside of the driver side carpet near the sill was becoming damp, and closer inspection showed that one of the four driver seat 'feet' that bolt to the floor had some rust. I took it back to the dealer I bought from, and they claim they found a leak, and used a rubber plug to plug it from the inside. They also say they unblocked (removed crud from) the external opening on the underside of the sill that was causing water to not drain from the sill.

This all sounded odd to me, as I'm wondering why its a design feature of the Focus to allow water into the sill in the first place. I did some more investigation, took some pics, and am wondering if anyone can confirm if what I'm seeing is correct? I took the interior plastic strip off the sill, and you can see from the photo through the oval hole a slit of light - thats the driveway under the car. Is it correct that the interior of the sill, and therefore the interior of the car are exposed to the outside like this? The second pic shows a bit of the rust on the driver seat foot.

I can't see rust anywhere else other than the seat foot, but I'm concerned there's any rust at all. Can anyone offer advice?

[quote name='andrews65' timestamp='1325506515' post='158996']
Hi, I have a 2008 five door Focus, had it since October 2011 and it has only about 10 days of dealer warranty left.

While driving in heavy rain I noticed the underside of the driver side carpet near the sill was becoming damp, and closer inspection showed that one of the four driver seat 'feet' that bolt to the floor had some rust. I took it back to the dealer I bought from, and they claim they found a leak, and used a rubber plug to plug it from the inside. They also say they unblocked (removed crud from) the external opening on the underside of the sill that was causing water to not drain from the sill.

This all sounded odd to me, as I'm wondering why its a design feature of the Focus to allow water into the sill in the first place. I did some more investigation, took some pics, and am wondering if anyone can confirm if what I'm seeing is correct? I took the interior plastic strip off the sill, and you can see from the photo through the oval hole a slit of light - thats the driveway under the car. Is it correct that the interior of the sill, and therefore the interior of the car are exposed to the outside like this? The second pic shows a bit of the rust on the driver seat foot.

I can't see rust anywhere else other than the seat foot, but I'm concerned there's any rust at all. Can anyone offer advice?
[/quote]
U would say that rust is just from wet carpet ? Could be a leak down the 'A' pillar ?? See how it get on in next rain and also try hose yourself

[quote name='Wickwick10_1' timestamp='1325518842' post='159035']
U would say that rust is just from wet carpet ? Could be a leak down the 'A' pillar ?? See how it get on in next rain and also try hose yourself
[/quote]

the mk1 foci sills were the same dont understand why they would be that way but every focus so far ive seen have been the same as for water getting in that way i doubt it ive never had it fdrom any focus yet so ide rule that out more likely is the seal on the panel behind the door is leaking water in check the drain holes on the botom of the doors by pushing a straw up inside them.

agreed the seat leg looks rusty a bit too rusty for an 08 my 05 has none so theres an issue somewhere lift the carpets and get youre hand up under the soundproofing and have a good feel around searching for dampness it could be the waters running back to that point and not where its coming from

[quote name='Wickwick10_1' timestamp='1325518842' post='159035']
U would say that rust is just from wet carpet ? Could be a leak down the 'A' pillar ?? See how it get on in next rain and also try hose yourself
[/quote]
Its possible the rust is from wet carpet or insulation underneath. It was a Motability car from new until sale to me, so its possible the previous keeper was not bothered about water getting in as they didn't own the car; so might have been getting damp for a while.

Hopefully not a dumb question, but which is the A pillar?

[quote name='artscot79' timestamp='1325526182' post='159054']
the mk1 foci sills were the same dont understand why they would be that way but every focus so far ive seen have been the same as for water getting in that way i doubt it ive never had it fdrom any focus yet so ide rule that out more likely is the seal on the panel behind the door is leaking water in check the drain holes on the botom of the doors by pushing a straw up inside them.

agreed the seat leg looks rusty a bit too rusty for an 08 my 05 has none so theres an issue somewhere lift the carpets and get youre hand up under the soundproofing and have a good feel around searching for dampness it could be the waters running back to that point and not where its coming from
[/quote]

Assuming the leak is already fixed by the work the dealer already did, should I be concerned about the rusty seat leg? The car still has about a week left on warranty, so I do have some come-back with the dealer.

[quote name='andrews65' timestamp='1325535957' post='159085']
Its possible the rust is from wet carpet or insulation underneath. It was a Motability car from new until sale to me, so its possible the previous keeper was not bothered about water getting in as they didn't own the car; so might have been getting damp for a while.

Hopefully not a dumb question, but which is the A pillar?
[/quote]
The A pillar's are the body of the ar than is either side of the windscreen the part that is at 45 degrees either side of the glass and can bee seen fully when the front door of the car is open mate,
no dumb questions here mate were all here to learn just uneducated questions

[quote name='andrews65' timestamp='1325536296' post='159088']
Assuming the leak is already fixed by the work the dealer already did, should I be concerned about the rusty seat leg? The car still has about a week left on warranty, so I do have some come-back with the dealer.
[/quote]
ive found with these kind of things mate, its better to fix them yourself and know that the job has been done correctly, if you bring it back to ford they know theirs only 1 week left on the warranty and will most likely spray a skim of gloss black paint over it without treating the rust.

which in 3 months time will be as bad as ever! and you will have no come back and still end up doing the job yourself,

id remove the seat and sand the rust down, paint on some Hammerite Kurust then prime and spray all of these materials are available in local Halfords, the Kurust is like nail polish and will kill the rust stopping it from blistering the paint and spreading further through the metal.

also while the seat is out lift the carpet and check the body for any further rust mate, the seat should come out by undoing the 4 bolts and unpluging the weight sensor cable for the seatbelt alarm system.

i personally would do it this way for 100% peace of mind.

Hi again - I still have this problem, but the recent rain has helped to identify where the water is coming from!

The attached photo is of the driver's side footwell with the carpet and insulation stripped back. The oval shaped hole in the middle of the picture is where the water is coming from. Any ideas what might be leaking or blocked to allow water to come through that hole?

thanks, Andrew.

Didn't upload pic correctly .... now uploaded.

just had a look at mine the oval hole is where the plastic trim you removed pops into in order for water to get into that area you must have seam sealer missing or split behind the wheel arch liner so ide take it in and have it done unfortunately these fords have enough holes to drain pasta with

Thanks Artscot.

Is the wheel arch liner where the top of the wheel arch meets the shell of the car, above the front wheel? I took a look and neither of the front wheels seem to have a seal there, the wheel arch is just kind of loose. But only the driver side leaks.

Is this something only a Ford dealer can do? I'm a bit reluctant to hand over good money to Ford for something that (in my view) shouldn't be going wrong with a 3 year old car.

Andrew.

you need to remove the wheel and take that plastic cover inside the arch off completely so you can see the bulkhead of the car there will be seam sealer there