I recently discovered a pool of water under the spare wheel so emptied the boot of the carpets and covered the car in talc to try and find the source. Luckily, I've had a load of rain today so I've been out to check and as expected, there's a pool again. It looks like it's coming from two positions, although one is worse than the other. 

The main leak is coming from the passenger side somewhere above the wheel arch. I've stripped out as much as possible but can't find the exact location - https://ibb.co/3NCdgZY - any ideas what could be causing it? I assume something to do with the light, but did also notice that it was a bit damp towards the roof - https://ibb.co/q1wjwV8.

Theres a much smaller puddle on the driver side but this definitely seems to be located near the roof - https://ibb.co/zmBGBfH.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

Have a read through my 'leak' thread - may give you another option to lookout for...

 

@StephenFord cheers for this. I've actually just managed to get 30 minutes with no rain so I've had another once over of the car and I think I've traced the leak to behind the passenger light.

Dropped the light and gave it a wipe in behind and then poured water over the area and eventually saw droplets around a small hole that holds some cables in place, somewhere in the circled area - https://ibb.co/M5S89Tn. The droplet was then running down the cable and into the boot. 

Going to drop the light again tomorrow and slap some sealant on everything that looks suspect. Crazy how much water could come in from such a small area. 

The only thing that does make me suspicious is that there's some water marks under the roof interior and quite a bit of condensation up there. I guess that could just be a side effect of the puddle 

1 minute ago, Danny_H22 said:

@StephenFord

Dropped the light and gave it a wipe in behind and then poured water over the area and eventually saw droplets around a small hole that holds some cables in place...

 

Afraid your link doesn't work... You should post the photo directly on here.

@StephenFord not the best photo, but there's a small clip within that circle that holds that cable in place. Looks like the water is coming through there 

They are all old cars now, no harm in sealing anything that looks dodgy!

I had a 2006 Mk2 with water ingress into the boot, it was due to a design fault with the boot's window and was rectified by plastics strips (official Ford ones) that were fitted to either side of it. There were threads about it circa 2007 if you can find them.

1 hour ago, Sprawlsy said:

I had a 2006 Mk2 with water ingress into the boot, it was due to a design fault with the boot's window and was rectified by plastics strips (official Ford ones) that were fitted to either side of it. There were threads about it circa 2007 if you can find them.

Nice one, I'll take a look for those threads. Thanks 

2 minutes ago, Danny_H22 said:

Nice one, I'll take a look for those threads. Thanks 

If you find them, post them here - I sure as h*ll couldn't find any LOL

From what I remember the plastic strips fitted either side of the tailgate glass were to fix issues with water running into the boot when you opened the tailgate - they weren’t a fix for general water leaks. 

4 minutes ago, troy45 said:

From what I remember the plastic strips fitted either side of the tailgate glass were to fix issues with water running into the boot when you opened the tailgate - they weren’t a fix for general water leaks. 

I'm even more intrigued now, as when it's wet, I actually hold the hatch half way so the water runs off before letting it fully tilt where it does indeed go straight inside the boot! Have googled to death, can't find a murmur of such a thing...

I think I found an image of these elusive 'plastic strips'. Now, does anyone know where I can get them??

Checking the part listings I think FINIS no’s 1539801 & 1539802 should be the parts needed from Ford dealer.

 

3 minutes ago, troy45 said:

Checking the part listings I think FINIS no’s 1539801 & 1539802 should be the parts needed from Ford dealer.

 

What a brilliant quick response! Can I annoy you once more and just confirm that those numbers will fit a 2005 Mk2 Focus (the photo I grabbed is of a later model)?

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

What a brilliant quick response! Can I annoy you once more and just confirm that those numbers will fit a 2005 Mk2 Focus (the photo I grabbed is of a later model)?

The Ford Parts eBay page says it'll fit my 2008 model. There's a couple places selling them and they have compatibility checks 

I fitted a set to my mk2 ST which was 2006 model, can’t remember if there may have been a Field Service Action to retrofit them if customers complained of the issue then they came in as standard on the facelift. 
 

They have a butyl strip inside them so pretty much a one-time fit, for alignment I think they need to butt up against the tailgate panel at bottom of the rear glass.

 

Update: it's been raining pretty much non-stop since posting this which has made it difficult to actually try and fix the problem. There was an hour or two yesterday that was dry so I dried the suspected areas and tried to silicone the grommets under the light and the joins around the back area, but as it was so cold, the silicone was claggy and didn't really spread as it usually would. 

I've checked it today after another 24 hours or so of drizzle/rain and there's still water getting in, although it does appear to have slowed slightly. It looks like it's still dripping from the same area on the passenger side, which I think it's the top grommet behind the light. On the driver side, I can't work out exactly where the drip is coming from, even after stripping out the Interior. 

One thing I have noticed is that the first inch of the roof headliner is wet from the passenger side to the driver side, which a larger wet patch in the driver side corner. The car is parked on a slope so the driver side is sitting downhill which could mean that the leak is somewhere high on the passenger side and the water is running both along the headliner, causing the driver side leak and also down along the passenger backside panel. 

Annoyingly, it's still raining and I don't have off road shelter so I can't put more silicone on the suspect areas