Hi all, 

I have been trying to fix a leak in the boot of my 2012 ford focus. I have read a lot about the problems with water coming in through the vents behind the bumper. However the water getting into my car seems to come through the vents that are visible in the boot and are higher up in the car. Have spent many hours with a hose pipe trying to see where this is coming from and the only place I can think of is the roof rails. I was just wondering if anyone has had a similar problem, and if so how they fixed this?

Many thanks

Hi. I had the same thing. Water in the spare wheel well. Constantly mopping out. The problem for me was the vents on either back wings under the bumper. Water ran down the car through the bad seals. The wells behind the vents filled up and overflowed into the boot.  I’m not good with tools so decided not to remove bumper and vents to reseal. I pulled the drain plugs from the wells and water poured out. I also removed the sound deadening material Through the bung holes as this just soaked up water too. 10 months on boot is bone dry. 

I have the same problem in my 2011 focus estate, but can’t see the bungs under the air vents only those directly in the boot.  I can however feel wet in the side rear air vent under the lights by accessing through the large oval rubber bung on the side of the boot interior near the fuses. Does the estate have a rubber bung under the cavities at these vents?  Additionally the parking sensors have stopped working.  Do you think this is related?

I had exactly the same problem on mine. I cant say for sure but I think the estate doesnt have the bungs underneath (at least I couldn't see them on mine). I tracked the problem down to the seam which runs underneath the roof rails and continues down behind the tail gate. Mine was only on the drivers side and because of the way I park on my drive, all the water was channelled to that side. If I put a hose on it, it would drip out through the upper side vent. It would also track down into little hatch and behind this is the parking sensor. Eventually, it would fill up the spare wheel space. 

To seal it I took off the roof rail, which is 3 or 4 x 10mm nuts, but you have to drop the headlining slightly to get to them. The sealant that ford used was cracked (actually it was only a tiny crack but still let lots of water in). I dug out as much as I could and re-sealed with silicone.  Mines been dry for over a year now. 

@Mmmmm I would say your parking sensor module has got wet. Its behind the soundproofing in the hatch on the drivers side boot. I'd remove it, dry it out, spray it with WD40 and refit it.