Ford Forum

Hi, Im sure some of you may have seen this type of post before, however have a 55 plate Focus 1.6 TDCI Ghia and the boot is damp. The usual place which is the booy hinges have been re-sealed and the rear lights removed and resealed, however there is still a minor leak on the right hand side of the boot....I know water leaks are a real pain to find but i have tried the 2 x obvois and usual places.

Does anyone else know of any other areas where this could be getting in???

I did think that under the filler cap seal there is a small hole which is a runaway for any water, just wondering if this might be blocked or faulty and could water get in via this???

Any ideas welcome and thanks for your help in advance.

We have a 2006 South African made 5 door hatch that has had a leaking boot from new,with water coming in from the upper part of the rear, it's been back to the dealer over twenty times so far to have everything in,on or under the rear taken off, and each time they say it's fixed, but the next time it rains, wet boot ! Anyone else with such a long running problem?

Hi,

I also have the same issue, again I have taken it back to the dealers and they also have tried to 'seal' the hinges and still I get a leak in the boot, I will be selling the car this summer if not fixed, very disappointed also to find after finding this fault that the warranty (and the extended warranty I bought!) doesn't including water ingression (i.e. water leaks).

If anybody knows a fix it would be appreciated.

by the sounds of it you have narrowed it down to being above floor level? maybe remove trim panels and have someone hose the car down while you search for signs of water from the inside?

Sorry, you have probably already tried this but it's just a thought.

I've not looked at the focus petrol cap drain but other cars that ive had normally have a hose attached to this drain that goes down to the lower side of the car.

Good luck with your search. If you ever find the leak let the rest of us know where the water was getting in. may help us out later. (not that it rains often here in Bahrain)

Have had the same problem on an 06 Focus for the last 18 months. The water comes down from the roof area inside the car and drops off underneath the light area with the water appearing on the parcel shelf support bracket (don't know if this is the correct name) within the boot. You need to look inside the holes on the little shelf to see the water. If enough water comes in, it drops onto the carpet.

Ford garage have done the following (been in garage around 10 times):-

- Silver sealant around tailgate hinges and welds leading up to the roof.
- Dumdum putty in the screw-holes around the tailgate lights.
- Dumdum putty put in the holes in the roof where we took out the original sealant to fit the roofbars. Note - do not do this as the putty sticks to the small plastic caps that screw into the holes in the roof when the bars aren't on. Had to break the caps to remove them - awaiting new ones from garage.
- Various black and silver sealant behind the plastic trim inside the boot which runs behind the taillights (looks a mess).
- Various attempts to put coloured dye onto the car to detect the 'trail' of water ingression.
- A piece of 'shower curtain' as used on car doors, was put in the tailgate somewhere to redirect the water. Last ditched attempt by garage.
NON OF THE ABOVE THINGS WORK.

Just sent another e-mail to garage to ask for more action. Don't know what else they can possibly do. Does anyone know what action I can take against Ford now?

I have owned a Ford Focuss Zetec 06 model for the past 2yrs, i discovered 2mths ago a leak in the boot, upon stripping out the boot carpet plastic covers etc. i could look up through the holes in the inner panels you can see a water trickle and a small ginger rust trail coming from an inner joint. The leak must have been occuring for longer than 2mths possibly since i bought the car which only had 6000 miles on it when i bought it. Upon further investigation i have sourced that the leak is coming from three posible locations.
1. Hinges of boot lid, welds are apparently poor according to another web site (dont think this is the problem)
2. Fixing bracket for hydraulic stay for boot lid (dont think this is the problem)
3. From below the roof rack trim strip, the roof panel is welded to the side panel at this point.

In narrowing this problem down i have plastered high temperature greese around the suspect locations, unfortunatly the leak continued.

My next step is to fully remove the trim strip along the roof to inspect the roof panel/ side panel joint below the trim strip. I had partly removed the strip but did not continue for fear of it snapping. From the area below the trim strip i can see, the panels all appear to be spot welds with joints sealed using a putty of some discription, the putty is then sprayed over to match the car unfortunatly the putty/paint work below the trim strip would appear to have cracked at some points potentially allowing water ingress.

I hope this is some help, and is as far as i have managed to investigate, if the putty has cracked along the length of the roof i am very disappointed that Ford believes this an acceptable method of sealing a car. I dont know what my next approach is with my local garage or Ford as they appear not to be interested in investigating it unless they are paid for it, and warranties dont cover water ingress. I dont believe this is my fault as the car is well cared for and should not have developed this problem.

Anyone with a similar problem i would very much appreciate your thoughts.

Well done Lindab80.. you may be on to something there.... Please let us all know how tou get on..

I am amazed that Ford do not offer this under warrantie? water ingress due to poor workmanship / bad design...? Especially looking at this forum it seems to be the major complaint...

I do not seem to suffer from this problem as my car hardly ever gets wet... other than when I wash it... But if you ever find out where the water is coming from you will be a hero for many of this website users... (plus you could maybe sell the info to the ford dealers).

Please post your findings....

Ive fixed the boot leak on our 06 Plate Focus Hatchback.

The boot was soaked on the right hand side, the boot lining was damp etc and droplets of water showing on and under the right side parcel shelf plastics.

Where the top of the torch is, all this was damp and lifting the boot carpet was damp underneath too. This had led to a lot of condensation on the windows of the car.

Looking up inside (where the arrow is) there were drips inside here, obviously it was coming in from above...

My first thought was it was the light cluster, but a haynes manual and removal of the cluster (just to see how it was cabled etc) revealed it wasnt that.

So, plan B. After heavy rain, I would nip out at night with a torch and must have looked like a right nutter to the neighbours, but I caught some drips making their way down the outside of the white trim and onto the plastic shelf, then on downthrough the gaps and down to the boot:


Anyway, I removed the tailgate inner top trim cover (it pulls off) This reveals four bolts that hold the spoiler on, recessed into the tailgate. They are approx where the arrows are, behind the trim.


Another night of rain and the culprit was two of the bolts holding the spoiler on, sitting there with drips forming, ready to run down the cover, if it had been in place.

Undid the 4 bolts, I removed the spoiler, (you also have to unclip the high level brake light), throughly cleaned up the seals on the spoiler that are supposed to prevent water ingress, (they are like foam, stuck to the spoiler) cleaned up the tailgate area where the spoiler sits and these foam seals mate, and refitted it. The bolts were tightned up firmly.
Then I decided to silicon sealant over the two tightned bolts that were leaking, as a double measure.

Its been dry since.
Hope this helps someone else, that has a tailgate leak.