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Possible Mk3 Boot Leak?


WES180
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Sooo, just spent 45 minutes getting the tail lights off, the screws holding in the lights were incredibly tight! I've mauled them a bit with pliers but at least I got them off. I was bout to take the rear bumper off and realised I need a 5mm socket wrench to get the bolts off. My cheap set go up in increments of 2mm haha!! So I cleaned behind the tail lights and just put them back on, failure - it's started raining now. 

Anyway,I just called Vospers where I purchased the car (just three days ago) and explained the situation. I have a platinum guarantee but doesn't say it covers water ingress. They confirmed they will try and sort it out and there will be absolutely no cost to me at all! 

Amazing service from Vospers Ford. I'm just writing this on here because I've heard normally dealers turn a blind eye to this sort of thing. I wont have my car for three days but they're giving me a courtesy car. Rare positive things get said about main dealers on these forums so I think it's important we record the good as well as the bad.

Just have to hope they know about the air vent situation and that they need to silicone it. If only I had called them before I stressed around with the back of my car for an hour!

 

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Many thanks to Wes10 and others for diagnosing and suggesting how to fix this problem. I had a bad case of it, with litres of water sloshing about in the spare wheel well and many more which had run forward and saturated the upholstry and underfloor sound insulation inside the car.

Here is a short video detailing exactly how I fixed it. No new info in here that's not already in this thread, but hopefully it will help some who are trying to sort this (common) problem.

 

 

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Great vid, got an in car swimming pool myself, this will go along way to helping me fix it.

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On 28/04/2018 at 2:26 PM, SamCappo said:

Sooo, just spent 45 minutes getting the tail lights off, the screws holding in the lights were incredibly tight! I've mauled them a bit with pliers but at least I got them off. I was bout to take the rear bumper off and realised I need a 5mm socket wrench to get the bolts off. My cheap set go up in increments of 2mm haha!! So I cleaned behind the tail lights and just put them back on, failure - it's started raining now. 

Anyway,I just called Vospers where I purchased the car (just three days ago) and explained the situation. I have a platinum guarantee but doesn't say it covers water ingress. They confirmed they will try and sort it out and there will be absolutely no cost to me at all! 

Amazing service from Vospers Ford. I'm just writing this on here because I've heard normally dealers turn a blind eye to this sort of thing. I wont have my car for three days but they're giving me a courtesy car. Rare positive things get said about main dealers on these forums so I think it's important we record the good as well as the bad.

Just have to hope they know about the air vent situation and that they need to silicone it. If only I had called them before I stressed around with the back of my car for an hour!

 

Never had a problem with Vospers, some of my mates won't go near them but probably just because one had a bad experience and tainted the expectations of the others.

I found that to remove the rear light fixings a 2" wide paint scraper fits nicely into the slot at the end.

Push against the light fitting as you turn the fixing and you'll feel it squeak and loosen enough to turn by hand.

Must admit I mauled up a couple before I sussed this out.

I now keep a spare couple at home in case I have problems (acquired through my fleet maintenance manager for a drink :cheers: )

Ford probably have a nice nifty tool specially made to remove them.

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Talking to the guy who owns the bodyshop which did the paint work on my past showcars and he has said he can do the whole job on the rear vents for £60.00, so for that sort of money booked her in to be done. well worth it for the lack of hassle.

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3 hours ago, team alchemist said:

Talking to the guy who owns the bodyshop which did the paint work on my past showcars and he has said he can do the whole job on the rear vents for £60.00, so for that sort of money booked her in to be done. well worth it for the lack of hassle.

£60 to avoid a tube of sealant and half an hours work...  You must be richer than I am! :biggrin:   

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On 01/05/2018 at 1:37 AM, Stoney871 said:

Never had a problem with Vospers, some of my mates won't go near them but probably just because one had a bad experience and tainted the expectations of the others.

I found that to remove the rear light fixings a 2" wide paint scraper fits nicely into the slot at the end.

Push against the light fitting as you turn the fixing and you'll feel it squeak and loosen enough to turn by hand.

Must admit I mauled up a couple before I sussed this out.

I now keep a spare couple at home in case I have problems (acquired through my fleet maintenance manager for a drink :cheers: )

Ford probably have a nice nifty tool specially made to remove them.

I've also heard bad reviews, but couldnt miss the opportunity to own a 12k miles car in the spec I wanted.

Thanks for the heads up and advice about the screws, I'll get myself a tool at the pound shop!

I've just spoken to Vospers, rear vents have been replaced (I do hope they've siliconed them lol) and they've ordered a new interior light. Will be ready to collect on Friday. Great service. Only negative is I've been doing 100miles a day in a god damn EcoSport and it's really not my cup of tea :yucky: - especially when it's windy on the a38 haha!

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On 02/05/2018 at 12:48 PM, TomsFocus said:

£60 to avoid a tube of sealant and half an hours work...  You must be richer than I am! :biggrin:

No just mechanically incompentant Toms, if i touch it i break it:blush:

 

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Thanks everyone for all your comments. I was able to follow all the steps last weekend and so far so good. Washed the car and steady rain midweek. Removed the grommet and nothing came out where previously I ended up with an armpit full of water !

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23 hours ago, SteveH1 said:

Thanks everyone for all your comments. I was able to follow all the steps last weekend and so far so good. Washed the car and steady rain midweek. Removed the grommet and nothing came out where previously I ended up with an armpit full of water !

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Great looking zetec S there mate! Looks lovely in red with the 18's.

Glad to hear you got the leak sorted as well.

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On 5/10/2015 at 8:35 PM, spurswes said:

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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getting my rear vents sealed next week, but as i am a dot the i and cross the t sort of person i want to get the tail light done just to be sure, as i dont want to put sealant round it, as it might be a bugger to remove light for bulb change, my i ask if the later models still leak and if not would a late model tail light fit my car and if so which year tail light should i go for?

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  • 2 months later...

Has anyone had this occur yet with a facelift car?

I scoured the thread but I couldnt see any ref to facelift, does this validate the statement about changes to rear lights affecting the leakage?

Andy

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  • 3 weeks later...

Does anyone know what clips are used in the rear bumper (the pop in ones you have to remove to get the bumper off)?  I'm trying to source some before I remove the bumper, so if I knacker them in the removal I can just pop some new ones in...

 

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Just from experience my 1.0 ecoboost had water ingress into boot but fortunately it was not from the same source as all posts here mine was through reverse sensor wiring loom bung some how the hole that the wiring loom comes through in bung had gotten a little wider (ie could see light through it) so off to ford and 48 pence later all sorted obviously untill bung perishes again but thats for my son to sort as he now has the car and im a proud owner of a 1.6 zetec s with eml issues 😂

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  • 3 months later...

22 minutes ago, Satman44 said:

hi what are the vents called if i need to go to fords thanks john

Ford (wrongly) call them an inlet grille.  Part number 1706176 & 1706175

Here is a link to one side.  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Ford-Focus-MK3-Air-Inlet-Grille-1706176-/182411173295?hash=item2a788d9daf 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wow, I've not been on here for a while and am amazed to see my thread has attracted over 59000 views, that's a lot of leaking Focai out there then! I bet Ford still say they don't know of any issues!

It's nice to know that this thread has helped people and I appreciate all the Thanks posts throughout the thread!👍

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59 minutes ago, WES180 said:

Wow, I've not been on here for a while and am amazed to see my thread has attracted over 59000 views, that's a lot of leaking Focai out there then! I bet Ford still say they don't know of any issues!

It's nice to know that this thread has helped people and I appreciate all the Thanks posts throughout the thread!👍

You can bet on THAT being the case! :wallbash:

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  • 3 weeks later...

I had water leaking into the boot and pooling in the spare tyre well and despite all of the you tube videos I couldn't fix it. After taking out the lining on the right hand side above the wheel arch I could see water running down the weld/seam leading up to the rear brake lights. After watching you tube I used silicone around the hinges as advised but it still leaked. 

For anyone having this specific leak and the hinge silicone tip doesn't work for you this is where the problem may be. Lift the plastic runner on the roof on the side that's leaking near the boot and you will see a seam underneath it. Mine had a bit of green algae on the point where the leak was. One blob of silicone over the seam and it hasn't leaked since. 

I think the seams on the Focus are so poorly done it could leak on any one of these seams but I hadn't seen anyone suggest this one before. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Could the leak be around the light? I have a small amount of water around the spare tyre and dampness in my lights and on the inside of the windows. There is also a damp smell in the car. The water is coming in on the left side. The left side light is loose - it is not clipped at the front. Could this be allowing water to come in or should I be looking at the vents? My mechanic is going to seal the vents tomorrow. I will get him to seal the light too. 

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21 minutes ago, reilig said:

Could the leak be around the light? I have a small amount of water around the spare tyre and dampness in my lights and on the inside of the windows. There is also a damp smell in the car. The water is coming in on the left side. The left side light is loose - it is not clipped at the front. Could this be allowing water to come in or should I be looking at the vents? My mechanic is going to seal the vents tomorrow. I will get him to seal the light too. 

I always check the lights first as they have been the cause of leaks in a couple of my older cars. I put a good smear of grease all over the foam on the  rear of the light to ensure a watertight seal against the bodywork. You definitely need to tighten it up though if it's loose. Just be careful you don't drop the retaining nut into the body cavity if removing the light, I did and that's how I found the pool of water in the cavity when trying to recover the nut.

Don't let your mechanic seal the lights on with silicone or you will have a nightmare when you need to remove the light to change a bulb. Grease doesn't set so it's ideal to aid a watertight seal.

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On 2/3/2019 at 8:07 AM, WES180 said:

I always check the lights first as they have been the cause of leaks in a couple of my older cars. I put a good smear of grease all over the foam on the  rear of the light to ensure a watertight seal against the bodywork. You definitely need to tighten it up though if it's loose. Just be careful you don't drop the retaining nut into the body cavity if removing the light, I did and that's how I found the pool of water in the cavity when trying to recover the nut.

Don't let your mechanic seal the lights on with silicone or you will have a nightmare when you need to remove the light to change a bulb. Grease doesn't set so it's ideal to aid a watertight seal.

Thanks,

I dropped it in to him this morning and he seems to have a lot of knowledge on them - he was able to tell me everything that I read in this thread. 

Yesterday I went looking for the grommet in the base and I took out the big grommet that is in the chassis rail - but no water came out. That's what lead me to believe that it might not be the vent that's leaking. So after looking through this thread again, I went back at it and found the smaller grommet closer to the bumper and when I removed it, water flowed for ages from it. 

The car is stink, so he's going to have to wash all of the boot linings as well. I went through the floor pans in the back and front and thankfully it appears that no water has gotten in there!

Its a new car to me - I bought it at a significantly reduced price knowing that this needed to be done. Hopefully the sealing of the vents will solve it!

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Most of the smell will be the stagnant water and the saturated insulation material in the cavity, it smells like an old dirty washcloth! Once removed, rinsed and dried though the smell disappears.

The problem is that the vents leak causing the cavity to fill with water, this then sits stagnating and when you go around a bend it spills over into the boot through the various holes then filling the tyre well with the dirty water. Left long enough the the tyre well would fill and spill over again causing it to run down under the rear seats and into the carpet and soundproofing material.

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1 hour ago, reilig said:

Thanks,

I dropped it in to him this morning and he seems to have a lot of knowledge on them - he was able to tell me everything that I read in this thread. 

Yesterday I went looking for the grommet in the base and I took out the big grommet that is in the chassis rail - but no water came out. That's what lead me to believe that it might not be the vent that's leaking. So after looking through this thread again, I went back at it and found the smaller grommet closer to the bumper and when I removed it, water flowed for ages from it. 

The car is stink, so he's going to have to wash all of the boot linings as well. I went through the floor pans in the back and front and thankfully it appears that no water has gotten in there!

Its a new car to me - I bought it at a significantly reduced price knowing that this needed to be done. Hopefully the sealing of the vents will solve it!

a lot of these cars leak water in seems to be a problem on them

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