Oil In Passenger Footwell!!

[IMK]

Hi,

I am new to this forum, need some assistance please.

I have a 2022 Ecosport Stline ecoboost , manual has only done 13k. I noticed while cleaning the car the carpet under the passenger seat was a little damp. Upon touch it felt a little oily. Anyways cut a long story short i noticed the front passenger footwell was the same so I ended up taking the front seat out and lifted the carpet to see what was going on. OMG! to my surprise there is a pool of oil in the front and rear passenger footwell, it is definitely oil. I am very confused where can this oil be coming from, there no pipes that I can see in the area. It appears to be coming from the front of the car and working it's way to the back.

Its definitely not anti-freeze or heating matrix fluid...looks like proper black oil!

The car is under warranty so I intend to reach out to the dealer, but I am intrigued to know what the issue could be.

 

thanks.

[TomsFocus]

Have you owned the car from new?  Just wondering if something could have been spilt before you got it.

Do these have seat height adjustment on the passenger side?  There must be some oil in the height mechanism if so. 

[IMK]

I haven’t owned the car for long, the carpet appears clean on top hence i thought must be from below. 
 

it is a LOT of oil, passenger seat has no height adjustment, this like at least 1 litres worth.. if i squeeze the foam under the carpet it oozes out.

[iantt]

Theres been a spillige by the previous owner for some reason and only cleaned the carpet surface. 

[IMK]

@iantt i did think that but then I read on another forum how these cars suffer issues with master cylinder leaks into the car - I couldn’t locate the plastic pipe they refer to though.

[iantt]

You said the oil was black. Brake fluid is a clear/ very light brown. 

[Ian Lanc]

40 minutes ago, iantt said:

Theres been a spillige by the previous owner for some reason and only cleaned the carpet surface. 

I reckon so! Some time ago we got a newish car, it stunk of aftershave but after 2 months that smell was dwindling having replaced by a smell of oil, i investigated it further lifting up the brand new mats and pressing my hand on the carpet, my hand was wet through and looking at the underside of the mats they was caked in it too, taking both seats out and lifting the carpet up, it was sodden in engine oil, no other oil lines or anything so something had been knocked over, top of the carpet being cleaned, car owner fitting new mats to hide the spillage, the only option was a scrap yard visit and got a load of sound deadening under carpet and replacement carpet.

[Ian Lanc]

13 hours ago, IMK said:

The car is under warranty so I intend to reach out to the dealer, but I am intrigued to know what the issue could be.

Get on their backs ASAP and show them, I wouldn't want to be stepping in it, risk of walking it into the house or maybe ruining your shoes.

[IMK]

Are there any pipes containing oil in the front of the passenger footwell that could cause this? The more i think about it I think you guys could be right must be a spillage by the previous owner.

just want to be sure there is no actual leaking going on.

[Ian Lanc]

45 minutes ago, IMK said:

The more i think about it I think you guys could be right must be a spillage by the previous owner.

If it does turn out to be a spillage you want to see where you stand here, oil is toxic so is harmful to uwmans & dogs/pets......So I'd be wanting the carpet changed, whatever you do find out the under carpet/carpet still needs replacing.

[billyboy]

Youy say it's about a litres worth, if it was that much coming from the car you would certainly know where it had come from.

[IMK]

Update: I removed the carpet and what a mess it was underneath. Looking at the volume of oil on locations it appears to have been split in the back and then spread via the ‘channels’ on the floor. 
 

i have taken the carpet and underlay up, i managed to buy a used carpet for a bargain, same colour from eBay. In the process of cleaning up the footwells, so far so good.

I noticed the black sound proofing style large pads that were stuck to the floor have all disintegrated. What are these and where can i get them from.

 

also any suggestions what to use to get rid of the odour?

thanks everyone for all your advise.

[TomsFocus]

5 hours ago, IMK said:

I noticed the black sound proofing style large pads that were stuck to the floor have all disintegrated. What are these and where can i get them from.

also any suggestions what to use to get rid of the odour?

Have you got a picture?  If it's just the recycled cloth sound deadening then you can use normal carpet underlay cut to size.  That type of thing is likely to be expensive from Ford and not kept in stock.

Odours generally don't cling to smooth painted surfaces, so once you've cleaned the floor pan and replaced the carpet hopefully it'll go.  I reckon it'll probably stick in the mats as well, although you can try running those through the washing machine before replacing them.  You can mask it with an air freshener in the meantime.

[unofix]

Try some of this 🤣

[RL123]

I did purchase a year old Focus cc3 about 14 years ago from a main dealer. The boot carpet had been cleaned with what appeared to be ‘back to black ‘ or wd40 to make it look better. Very hard to clean up.