Hi, I have a UK Ford Fusion 2007. I noticed there was a black plastic drain gutter on the passenger side plugged into the square hole in the inside metal wing panel of the engine bay. However, there was no matching gutter plugged into the matching square hole on the driver side.

I thought this must be either an oversight in the design or that a part had been removed at some point from the car, as the lack of a gutter meant that water draining from the windscreen was falling into the trough at the bottom of the plastic scuttle and then out of the moulded grille holes on the driver side onto the head of the offside shock absorber.

I searched around online to confirm whether there is supposed to be a gutter or something on the driver side, but couldn’t find any information one way or the other.

I bought a spare gutter for a LHD car and trimmed it to fit in the driver side. Unfortunately, since I did that it seems I have introduced a flow of water where it shouldn’t be going. The driver and passenger footwell are both getting damp, which wasn’t happening before.

Can anyone with a UK Ford Fusion snap a picture under their bonnet and show me what should be at the driver side beside/below the scuttle end? That way I can see whether I am missing a part that would stop the shock absorber head from rotting in the rain. 
 

Thanks in advance.

There is no plastic drain scuttle on the driver's side on a Fusion.

I did think it a bit odd that there was only a drain scuttle on the nearside, but I think CatCar only shows the one for the passenger side.  Water does drain onto the top of the shock absorber.  You need to make sure the tiny hole at the back of the crossbrace is clear, then once the area around both top nuts of each shocker are dry, fill with greaase or waxoyl, then stick some duct tape across the top nut access hole to keep it dry.

If you have water in both footwells, then I can only think it is entering through the air inlet for the heater ? Every year I remove the scuttle on both my FIesta and our Fusion and clear the leaves and crud from the plenum for the air intake to the heater, and that the drain holes in the plenum are clear.  (The hardest part of this job is remving the wiper arms - I ended bying a tool for it) If the water is getting in through the heater, then a wet pollen filter will confirm it.

47 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

There is no plastic drain scuttle on the driver's side on a Fusion.

I did think it a bit odd that there was only a drain scuttle on the nearside, but I think CatCar only shows the one for the passenger side.  Water does drain onto the top of the shock absorber.  You need to make sure the tiny hole at the back of the crossbrace is clear, then once the area around both top nuts of each shocker are dry, fill with greaase or waxoyl, then stick some duct tape across the top nut access hole to keep it dry.

If you have water in both footwells, then I can only think it is entering through the air inlet for the heater ? Every year I remove the scuttle on both my FIesta and our Fusion and clear the leaves and crud from the plenum for the air intake to the heater, and that the drain holes in the plenum are clear.  (The hardest part of this job is remving the wiper arms - I ended bying a tool for it) If the water is getting in through the heater, then a wet pollen filter will confirm it.

Great advice. Thanks - gives me something to work with. Thanks so much.