Hi everyone. Only had my 2012 Zetec S nearly 2 weeks and noticed a bit of a funny smell. I took the boot carpet out today and found a bit of stagnant water in the spare wheel well. Are there any known leak areas on the mk3? Ive tried running a hose over the boot hinges & rear lights and nothing was getting in. The previous owner had a dog and am wondering if he wet vac'd the boot area hence the dirty water. I will keep an eye over the next few weeks and see if it gets wet again. I just want any issue sorted before the warranty runs out at the end of July.

Cheers

Are you sure water leaks are on your warranty? Mine didn't cover water entering the car.Apparently the models that are older leaked because of how they fitted the back lights,but as time went on the models didn't leak

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Its still under the original Ford warranty not a little garage one so it should be covered. Ive just nipped out and removed the carpet and foam insert so can keep an eye on it over the next few days. You can see water marks on both sides of the carpet so i am leaning towards it being wet vac'd unless i have 2 leaks! Will just have to see now when it rains as i couldnt cause a leak with the hose. Will try getting the pressure washer on it again next weekend too to see if the high pressure is pushing past a seal. Its going to be a waiting game for a week or so i think!

Just a quick follow up. I jet washed all the shutlines and lights etc around the boot and couldnt create a leak anywhere. Hopefully then it was just a case of the previous owner having the carpet wet vac'd due to his dog being carried in the boot. Shame he wouldnt reply when i txt to ask about it. Oh well, fingers crossed all is well now then!

Obviously i didnt cross my fingers long enough as the leak is back! Went to Fords today and seals are only covered for 12 months. Service guy advised me to take the rear lights off to see if its getting in there. Also said to check the seals on the wiring grommets by the hinges. I will have a look tomorrow. Cant believe when i jetwash it no water gets in but the rain does!

jet washing pressure just bounces of the panels and seals normaly, rain water trickles past seals, not heard of any leaks on mk3,

I slowly ran the jetwash around each panel gap and seal so you would have thought that would get in. Also tried with hosepipe trickling too.

Try using a smoke machine in the boot.

That will show up leaks quite quickly.

fold seats down, removeboot carpet and spare wheel etc, tape the hosepipe to the roof of the car, let it trickle though the gaps for 20 mins, climb in through a back door and sit /lie in sparewheel well and have a good look with torch.

Try using a smoke machine in the boot.

That will show up leaks quite quickly.

Lol, got a great karaoke system but no smoke machine! Will ask a dj I know if can borrow one.

fold seats down, removeboot carpet and spare wheel etc, tape the hosepipe to the roof of the car, let it trickle though the gaps for 20 mins, climb in through a back door and sit /lie in sparewheel well and have a good look with torch.

Did that with the pressure washer with my wife sat in the boot!

I will try the taped hosepipe method then until can get a smoke machine.

It seems to be leaking and coming down behind the side carpet panel.

Take the side carpet out and see how high up its leaking, I like to guess, so im guessing the rubber grommet that goes near the hinge, trickling through a chanel and going down the side

I reported this a long time ago but was told no it doesn't happen ....neighbour had the same issue in her case the rear lights were leaking ford fixed it under warranty at that time but leaks reappeared ford said she was out if warranty when it happened it was never clarified it was the lights but that's where the water runs started....IDE check the boo hinges to see if they're sealed all the way round

I reported this a long time ago but was told no it doesn't happen ....neighbour had the same issue in her case the rear lights were leaking ford fixed it under warranty at that time but leaks reappeared ford said she was out if warranty when it happened it was never clarified it was the lights but that's where the water runs started....IDE check the boo hinges to see if they're sealed all the way round

Just had rear lights out and dropped the nut into the car body!!! After quite a few swear words i got under the car and spotted a grommet that i could get the nut out of. When i removed the grommet water literally poured out and the insulation was saturated.

Went back to Fords to see if would be covered and got the same response, we can look at it but will not be covered under warranty. Guy said take the grommet out every week to let any water out!

I couldnt see any obvious water runs from the lights so i caked the seals in grease and refitted them.

What am i looking for on the hinges artscot as there is nothing obvious with them and the rubber grommets next to them are clipped in properly?

I dont know what to do now or even if the grease will have stopped the leak.

I take your rear washer works ok?. Just had a look at mine, another pkace to try would be where the struts bolt to body, maybe getting oast the bolt threads?unlikely but worth keeping boot open and conc3ntrating water over them, noticed the grommets on the one side not fitted flush on mine, the edge of the seal has folded in in one area, not enough for mine to leak.

Just been back out and unclipped the top wiring grommets, the headlining is directly underneath them so that rules them out as theres no water marks. Just looked at the strut mounts as you say too so might run a bead of black sealant around the top and sides of them to rule those out too. Im hoping it is the light seals and the grease will stop the water getting in now. Its a case of waiting for the rain again now as there are no leaks when i use the jetwash or hose!

My neighbours a panel beater and has just offered to strip everything out with me and have a look if it returns.

Other place he suggested was the air vent seals behind the bumper which would make sense as the car is parked slightly nose down on the drive so if they were leaking it would let water into the area that was flooded when i removed the grommet.

Ive not seen the mk3 hinges but if similar to the mk2 you see the hinge goes into the cup on the body with the boot slightly propped open all the top and sides are welded but the underside isn't on the mk2 water would enter that way but the roof liner would get wet under the hinges or have water marks....letting the water outs not an excuse as it will rust but also work its way forward to the rear footwells

The neighbors was greased up on the lights but it didn't last long its trial and error with that much water its easier to strip the rear insides out tape tissue paper so under the light tape a bit of tissue there then higher up if the tissues wet under the light and not above you know its that also the plastic trim at the rear that runs down the edge of the boot closest to the rear quarter window pull that back add tissue there if its the hinge that will get wet also check it for water marks brown patches on the inside of the plastic trim if there is the hinges are leaking

Ive just had the hose running on the roof for about 15mins and no water in the boot. I will pull the grommet underneath the car again tomorrow when the floors dry so i can lie on it to see if that has filled up again. I think this is going to be a long process! Thanks for the tips everyone.

Talcum powder is your friend when chasing leaks

Talcum powder is your friend when chasing leaks

Yeah, i was getting a stressed out sweat on especially when the light cluster nut fell into the car body! I will give myself a good dusting of talc before i start next time!

LOL, pull back the carpet and give the sides around the lights a light covering of talc, you will see exactly where the water is running

Oh and We've all been there with those dam non-captive nuts!

Right, here we go again! Went out this morning and the boot was dry but when i pulled the grommet out underneath the car it was full of water again!!!

This called for some more investigation so off came the back bumper. Turns out the vents fitted behind the bumper were a poor fit so they were not sealed properly. You could see where water had tracked down from the roof past the lights etc and then onto the top edge of the vent. Once the vent was removed it was obvious that was where the water was getting into the cavity as it was full of dirty rain water residue between the clips highlighting that the seal had failed.

I cleaned all the surrounding area and dried the cavity and insulation out with a hair drier, this took some time as the insulation was saturated. You can see through the body cut out in the pic above where the underside grommet is removed to let the water out. This was replaced when everything was reassembled.

Once that was all clean and dry I siliconed around the open edge of the body and also the back of the vents for good measure before clipping it back into place and smoothing the silicone around the edges. I did this to both side vents and both rear vents to be on the safe side.

Basically what was happening was the water was tracking down behind the light cluster and getting into the body of the car via the poor seal on the vent. This caused the cavity to fill with water and then when driving the car and going around corners the water was spilling over into the boot floor area through a hole about 20mm up from the bottom of the cavity.

I hope this helps somebody as I couldnt find any information regarding boot leaks on mk3's anywhere and Ford were useless as seals are only guaranteed for 12 months!

I will remove the grommet again next weekend to make sure it is finally 100% sorted but all the signs were there to suggest it is. Im just hoping there is no secondary leak point!

We had alot of heavy rain here last night and this morning so I removed the grommet under the car and the cavity and insulation are bone dry, result! The damp smell has gone too as the insulation was holding water causing an old damp dishcloth smell, not nice in a 12 plate car!

that's bad for a 12 plate glad you got it sorted :)

think I will take a look in my boot

Cheers dezwez! Hope you dont find anything in yours. If theres no smell im sure its fine!