Mk2.5 Trim Around Front Wipers/driver Door Issue

[Goodkat]

Hi all

Couple of annoying issues with my Focus, the black trim around the front wipers keeps popping off around the drivers side, I keep pushing it back down but a couple of hours later it has popped up again. Is there a trick to make it sit properly, and more importantly, do I need to remove the wiper arms in order to reseat the whole part?

Also, 90% of the time, when I lock the car, all the locks work fine, but when I dead lock it the driver's door makes a weird sound, as though the double lock mechanism is slipping. Is it a ball-ache to strip the door down and replace the part? I assume it will need a new mechanism, and the door card needs to come off anyway as it is slightly loose around the B pillar side, and I suspect it needs a new clip.

[TomsFocus]

No idea about the wiper trim. But one of my rear doors makes the same noise when deadlocking, seems to be common!

It still works though so I'll just leave it for now, would be interested to know how easy and cheap the fix is though.

[troy45]

Your doorpad may need a new clip but also if the pad's been off before don't be surprised if you have to repair the retainer which holds the clip to the doorpad - sadly the doorpad pins need a sharp pull to release them but sometimes their retainer just breaks off the pad instead :(

I'm very familiar with the leafscreen panel coming away as described

Basically there is a ridge along the underside of the panel which locates into a channel clipped along the bottom of the windscreen. If the panel has popped out of this channel for any reason, the angle you need to push it back into place can also dislodge the channel from the bottom of the screen. So the panel just doesn't clip in properly any more and pushing it down doesn't help. Plus you're risking cracking the screen if you go overboard!

To fix it you need to take the wiper arms off - handy to use some tape on the screen to mark their positions, plus to release the arms from the spindles you just need to press the short section of wiper arm downwards (before the hinge) and they pop off easily..

Then it's a pair of pliers to pull off the 6 or 7 clips which hold the panel in place under the bonnet, along where the brake fluid reservoir is.

Now you should be able to pull the panel upwards to release it from where it's still in the windscreen channel. It's possible the channel will also come off at the same time. If it stays on the windscreen or hanging off just pull it off.

Once you've got the channel and panel off you'll see the retaining ridge on the underside of the panel. Worth mating up the windscreen channel into this while off the car to see how well it retains. If it's retaining ok you may need to slide the channel off again rather than pulling it off.

Next try fitting the channel back onto the windscreen and see how secure it is. Have seen them get fairly loose and had to pack out with thin sections of pvc tape to improve the retention.

With my last ST I then bonded this channel onto the bottom of the screen but if someone else tries to take the panel off at a later date it can cause problems as it can also bond to the windscreen laminate, and if you're not aware it is possible to end up pulling the channel off with the panel and damaging the laminate. If you try refitting without doing something to hold the channel in place it's very hard to see that the panel ridge and retainer strip are properly lined up, then as you press down the strip gets pushed off the bottom of the screen again.....

Less complicated method, once you've confirmed the channel grips the leafscreen panel ok, and also the bottom of the screen, is to fit the channel to the leafscreen panel then fit the whole lot into place.

You'll need to sit the panel a bit lower down than it usually goes and then move it upwards feeling for the channel meeting up with the bottom of the screen. But isn't that hard to do, and once it's all in place you can refit the clips and wiper arms and job done :)

[alz]

Hi, I had the same thing with the scuttle cover, you take off the wipers, remove the scuttle rubber and push fit clips, then remove it, if the strip is still on the bottom of the windscreen, take it of by pulling down then secure the strip to the scuttle cover, clean the bottom of the windscreen, then holding the scuttle cover in place, push it on to the bottom of the screen making sure that it is clipped all the way along the screen replace the scuttle clips and rubber then the wipers, this is what I did to my focus Mk2 estate and now it fine.