Ford Focus Mk.2 Estate Boot Water Ingress

[Sst99pro]

Hi all,

I hope the forum can help me here. I have had water ingress in the luggage area of the boot boot of my Focus estate for the last 3 months. Over that time, it has been into the dealer 3 times and the leak has still not been fixed. The have done the following:

-Put sealant round the tailgate hinges (a common source of ingress apparently)

-Had the roof lining away and still not been able to pinpoint the leak source

Alas, this has still not fixed it and water is still coming in though the rear plastic 'vents' on the inside of the rear pillars. Taking the tailgate seals away and looking inside the (soaked) lining indicates water is still coming in from somewhere, and the lining is soaked up to 2-3 inches from the top corner of the tailgate. This might indicate that the leak is coming from that area. This problem is occurring in both the right and the left hand side of the car, bust mostly on the left.

My car also has t-track roof rack fixings.

I really hope someone can help me here! The car is perfect besides this.

All the best and a belated Merry Christmas to you all!

[Lenny]

Hi all,

I hope the forum can help me here. I have had water ingress in the luggage area of the boot boot of my Focus estate for the last 3 months. Over that time, it has been into the dealer 3 times and the leak has still not been fixed. The have done the following:

-Put sealant round the tailgate hinges (a common source of ingress apparently)

-Had the roof lining away and still not been able to pinpoint the leak source

Alas, this has still not fixed it and water is still coming in though the rear plastic 'vents' on the inside of the rear pillars. Taking the tailgate seals away and looking inside the (soaked) lining indicates water is still coming in from somewhere, and the lining is soaked up to 2-3 inches from the top corner of the tailgate. This might indicate that the leak is coming from that area. This problem is occurring in both the right and the left hand side of the car, bust mostly on the left.

My car also has t-track roof rack fixings.

I really hope someone can help me here! The car is perfect besides this.

All the best and a belated Merry Christmas to you all!

Welcome to the forum,

This is a common fault on the hatch models including ST where the seals around the spoiler bolts wears away allowing water engress,

Ive removed my rear spoiler and applied silicone as a preventive action,

May be the same on the estate, not sure if yours has a rear spoiler section.

[NorthSussex]

If it has a sun roof, this can be the cause as the drain pipes get blocked and water leaks into the rear of the car.

No sun roof? check the rear washer pipes and connections.

[Stoney871]

Check around the roof rack mounting points too.

The seals there can perish or work loose too.

[jon-v8]

Have you check the foam seal on the rear of the light clusters?

I had the same issue with my estate, I found that the rear cluster wasn't fitted correctly at the dealers - they trapped wiring loom between the cluster and the pillar (not tucking the loom into the pillar correctly), this then allowed water to get into the boot and fill up the small box section in the corner. Mine eventually overflowed into the wheel well!

My fix (So far it has worked), was a couple of beads of silicone around the cut out on the rear pillar, allow to dry and harden and re-fit cluster.

[craig281986]

Hi guys

New to the forum and having problems with my Mk2 Focus 1.6 Petrol. I discovered the drivers side rear seat was soaked one day and due to heavy rain here before ive had the chance to get it looked at the water has been soaked up on the base of this seat and the middle seat, also the lower back rest.

I checked the floorwell and its fairly damp along with the boot floor and spare wheel well. I cannot see where its coming from. I have no sunroof, the door and boot seals dont seem wet and no visible tear or anything.

Is there a common problem i should be checking before i let the garage take a look and rip me off?

Thanks

Craig

[Lenny]

Hi guys

New to the forum and having problems with my Mk2 Focus 1.6 Petrol. I discovered the drivers side rear seat was soaked one day and due to heavy rain here before ive had the chance to get it looked at the water has been soaked up on the base of this seat and the middle seat, also the lower back rest.

I checked the floorwell and its fairly damp along with the boot floor and spare wheel well. I cannot see where its coming from. I have no sunroof, the door and boot seals dont seem wet and no visible tear or anything.

Is there a common problem i should be checking before i let the garage take a look and rip me off?

Thanks

Craig

Hi Craig,

Welcome to the forum, This is a common fault on the hatch models including ST where the seals around the spoiler bolts wears away allowing water engress, Ive removed my rear spoiler and applied silicone as a preventive action,

See the Guide section of the forum for information on removing the rear spoiler, very easy process,

Dont forget to place a blanket on the roof under it though encase it scratches the roof when you un-bolt it.

Once removed,

Dry the whole area,

And apply standard DiY bathroom silicone around the bolt holes and along the top of the rear window,

Dont worry none of it can be saw when the spoiler is back in position,

But the leak will be stopped. Ford would do exactly the same thing and charge you perhaps two hours trouble shooting fee because they dont admit its a common fault on all mk2 & mk2.5 hatch models from 2005-2011.

Thats what i would do, but ya gotta stop for a moment and think...

"What Would Jesus Do?"

[artscot79]

Have to agree the spoiler is leaking if its getting on the seats or rear boit hinges

[Sst99pro]

Hi All,

Looks like I have solved the problem and the garage that hasn't been able to fix it has refunded my money in full (as exoected). Here's what I did.

My Mk. 2 Focus Estate has 'T-Tracks' on the roof to enable fast *cough* fitting of roof bars etc. They have a very loose fitting rubber seals around the edge between the bodywork and the base of the tracks. They also have gaps in between the sections which I believe were letting the water in.

I hence put silicone sealant round there and filled the inside behind the seals and let to dry for at least 24 hours before taking the car out again. I also removed the inner roof lining in the car and sealed up 6 gaps which the drips were originating from.

I then let all that sealant dry before applying another layer to ensure the seal was tight, and hy presto, no water ingress.

Also, as a precaution, as well as previously sealing up the roof hinges, I sealed up the gromits for the cable and tube entries for the rear lights and screen wask respectively. Just remove the gromits, put seals round them, and replace, leave to dry, job done!

Hope this helps anyone else who was in this dilemma!

All the best and thanks for all your help.

[pat100]

I may have identified the leak more precisely. At the tail end of the T-tracks on my 05 estate the rubber seal forms a transverse flap, which hangs down. If I lift this flap, and peer in with a torch, my line of sight runs forward under the T-track (I.e. I can see under it from the back)

I could just make out two parallel hairline cracks (running fore and aft) in base of the groove that runs under the T-Track. They extended for about 3cm, positioned in about 1cm from the hanging flap. I missed them at first as they were very hard to spot.

I applied a coat of mastic over them and shaped it so that water could flow back over it and thus would not well up (much) in the groove.

It took me ages to find this leak as the water appeared to come in around the hinge "cup" but was in fact tracking across from the end of the T-Track inside the double skin of that area. It exited in two streams - one allowed it to come out of the louvres in the plastic trim to the rear of the window and the other exited under the roof trim and dripped down into, and outside of, the little openable vertical pocket in the carpet trim (twist catch). This was with the car on the level. I could see cracks under both rails and, although only the passenger side one was leaking, I put sealant on both.

I could fix this much better if I could remove the separate rear end of the T-tracks. Does anyone know how to do that? Is it held in place by the T-track or is it just a question of levering and tugging?

[andy_gib]

I've recently encounter the same leaky problem but instead of trying to fix it myself i took to to the "Professionals" (local Fraud stealer) They charged me a small fortune to fix the leak. Leaks seems to be fixed but unfortunately in the process they have snapped off the bit at the back. I was told it was all in one and needed to be forced off in order to get to the section which was leaking. They may be lying to cover their incompetence. Wish i had a go at it myself now. Is the main T-track removable? because the back section looks like its bolted onto the black nut near the rear of the track. Was also told it was a very common problem on the 05-08 FF estate.

[Richs1882]

Patrick, did sealing the hairline cracks stop the water ingress?

I have sealed around the hinges, all cable inlets and around the rear cluster fixings etc. I too have these hairline cracks mostly on the drivers side around 1 inch inside the rubber seal flap (under the roof rail) they don't look large enough to allow this amount of water in but I'm running out of things to seal! The cracks look more like a hairline of rust when peering in from the end of the t-track.

The water is coming through the vent on the c pillar and dripping onto the carpet above the small storage compartment on the side of the boot compartment. It's a shame as I've had 5 years trouble free motoring with this old barge..

[hocmack]

I had this problem and Evans Halshaw took lots of deep breaths and sighs when telling me it would cost about £300. Took it to Halfords and the guy there just pulled out the rear light assemblies and resealed the screw holes that keep the lights in place. Turns out it was just a broken seal. Oh, and he did this for free. Proper Job!

[Mick J]

Have the same problem on our Mk2 estate, this winter lots of water into the spare wheel tray, rear matt and trim soaking wet !! After hours on the hose pipe, all trim out in back of car, head lining out. I suspect there was always some water getting in !!

Resorted to using a small garden spray with pinpoint jet over back of car, no ingress around rear lamps or hinges only higher up towards the end of T tracks, could be seen running across inside layers of steel to drip from folds in the steel away from the cracks/holes. Removed one T track, 3 bolts, but just taking the rear 2 would allow access to channel, as above found small (tiny) cracks and hole in joint under rear end of the T track, covered in silicone both outside and inside, For small holes a large amount of water was let in, I know this winter has been wet - but !!

The rubber foot at the rear of the T track pulls off easy and I am cutting the bottom of the flap to allow water to escape quicker, I still have fingers crossed on this, and will keep trim out and silicone gun handy for a few weeks. will update if needed. Hope this helps someone

[pat100]

Mick,

My T-tracks (I think Ford call them C-tracks!) have a separate front and back piece of trim. Are you able to say what has to be done to remove them?

You said to remove the "rear 2" bolts (nuts?) - did you mean one from each track (passenger side and driver's side (= 2 total.) Or did you mean two of the three on each side? (= 4 total.) I am asking as I can see the rearmost ones without removing the headlining (which I am too lazy to to do!)

[Mick J]

Pat, I had the headlining out, lot of work, but was really banging my head on this one. I found taking the nut and attached washer from the track at the back and above the rear seat (above middle of door) on each side allowed me to slip a piece of timber under the track and get a good view of the channel. (the bolt is captive in the track and has some rubber seating).

I had one track completely off but could not see how to remove the plastic ends, the 2" square rubber part at the rear just pulled down and off. A pin hole and some cracking could be seen on the drivers side channel, just a bit of cracking other side, I was getting water from both sides, drivers side worse. We could spray water into pin hole and see immediately water inside, some running along folds and layers of the steel bracing. Pin hole was/is on the joint where one sheet folds over and joins another.

I smeared more silicone sealer over the area yesterday and will be out with the hose pipe later today (April 1st), will add to this thread the final result.

[Mick J]

Update to above, soaked the car with the garden hose yesterday, left for a bit and still dry inside so seem to have sorted it. smeared silicone over some of the metal inside using a small paint brush. Cut a bit more off the rubber foot at the rear end of the roof bars to clear the silicone and allow better flow.

Just releasing the rear fixing for the roof bar allowed the back of the bar to lift 50 to 60mm, rubber foot just pulls down and off, still unsure how end trim fixes to bar.

Rooflining now back in, bigger struggle that taking out, would not recommend, managed to snap one of the push in fixings on one of the covers, catch that one later.

I found a tub of builders/paintersanddecorators wipes really good with the silicone, gets it off fingers and bodywork where its not wanted.

[Tdci-Peter]

I had the same problem on my '06 Estate.

Cracks under rear of passenger side T-Track, water all over inside the boot.

Seems to have been cured by shoving in a load of silicone under the T-Track, did not undo anything.

But I now have leakage at the front, passenger footwell was soaked.

I also can not get the trim bits off at front or back. I have managed to prise out the black screw-like pin at the front, but it does not seem to release the trim. Is the front track mounting bolt accessible without wrecking or removing the headlining?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tommy1340millar]

On 5/13/2016 at 1:57 AM, Tdci-Peter said:

I had the same problem on my '06 Estate.

Cracks under rear of passenger side T-Track, water all over inside the boot.

Seems to have been cured by shoving in a load of silicone under the T-Track, did not undo anything.

But I now have leakage at the front, passenger footwell was soaked.

I also can not get the trim bits off at front or back. I have managed to prise out the black screw-like pin at the front, but it does not seem to release the trim. Is the front track mounting bolt accessible without wrecking or removing the headlining?

 

 

 

 

 

 

+1  😞

Did you find a fix for this?

 

Cheers, T

[Tdci-Peter]

4 minutes ago, tommy1340millar said:

Did you find a fix for this?

The sealant at the back seems to have solved the leaks into the boot area ok.

The leaks at the front were due to holes in the roof that had not been sealed properly. The car was a police car in a former life!

Dropping the roof lining down at one side a bit enabled me to identify and cure it. The roof lining is fairly easy, though time consuming, to drop, it is just held up by all the trim panels, lights and other bits screwed through it.

But there are a number of other causes of water in the footwells: Windscreen leaks, drips from a/c condensate, heater leaks (will smell of anti-freeze), leaks from the bonnet scuttle panel area.