liftgate glass leak at striker -- seals or applique?

[Wood]

When I tore down the inside of the door, there was evidence of leaks around the glass where the striker bolts pass through. My liftgate glass is leaking through the striker. I've also noticed that the side of my glass appliqué is delaminating, and in hot weather expands and bows significantly exposing a gap between the painted piece of the appliqué and the plastic that is glued to the glass.

There was no obvious seal in that location, only a piece of white plastic that the striker bolts seem to be attached to.

Is the appliqué the only weather seal for the striker, or should there have been some sort of seal installed when my rear glass fell off and was replaced?

Any magic words I should use with ford to try to get them to do the work on this?

This is the consequence either of bad design or poor work done when the recall was performed -- there is plenty of other evidence of this: misaligned striker, broken plastic tabs on the interior trim pieces, broken wiper motor. I've been trying to diagnose this leak for years, and I'm pretty surprised at how little the techs who worked on my car seemed to care about their work. Pretty sad, really.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[A1C_Snowman]

I'd like to know the answer to the applique question aswell, I opened my hatch today, and noticed standing water on my tool box. Don't know how it got there either. As I haven't driven my truck in the last 3 weeks due to my hub bearings going bad.

 

[Wood]

That doesn't sound like the same leak I have. I don't usually see standing water, only the carpet around the strike for the main hatch gets wet.

Unless that is getting wet too, your applique might be OK. The best way to tell is to take the upper door trim off, remove the wiper motor and the striker and look for areas where water has leaked. On mine, once I got it torn down far enough, it was obvious. I'd guess your leak is up high, maybe the brake light, or one of the seals up high.