Water Leak

[tmg19103]

My rear seatbelt leak was from where the rear of the roof rack attaches to the vehicle. Not enough sealant applied where it attaches. A common pretty common problem. My dealer has a pro come round every two weeks who specializes in car leaks. Took him 20 minutes. Not a prob a year later. I had it covered under warranty at the time.

This is the most common reason for the third row seatbelt leak and it is an easy fix.

The less common problem for the third row seatbelt leak is a leak in the seam in the body of the vehicle itself. This would be a major fix - and not an easy one.

 

[CulturalInfidel]

The less common problem for the third row seatbelt leak is a leak in the seam in the body of the vehicle itself. This would be a major fix - and not an easy one.

...this is exactly where one dealer's body-shop said mine is leaking from... hence the two-week repair time. How kind of Ford to sell me a brand new vehicle with known problems. (It may not happen to every Explorer, but it seems to be common enough that it is certainly a manufacturing defect.)

 

[Imprezala]

If you watch my videos it's a seem leak I repaired it myself from the outside. Yes it may not be a permanent fix but 5-10 years? I can redo it. It's been good since and I live in raincity vancouver. Silicon done in 2min.

End of the day I wasn't giving the car back. I didn't want to stress and worry about it. Dealer tried to repair it twice. I took the car apart and identified the leak with the help of my wife.

 

[Deus_Eunesca]

Found the source of the leak on mine, manually removed the roof rails and voila, must be a case of wrong torque or the sealant was still not cured when they attached the roof rails. Cleaned the seams and the boltholes, replaced the rusty bolts and applied automotive clear sealant, no more leaks! ��

 

[Imprezala]

Found the source of the leak on mine, manually removed the roof rails and voila, must be a case of wrong torque or the sealant was still not cured when they attached the roof rails. Sealed the seams using automotive clear sealant, no more leaks! ��

Awesome job!!

 

[Wingreen43]

So excited to now be part of this 43 page topic, here's the beginning of my story... I have a 2015 Explorer, absolutely loved it up to this point. It has been raining all day, stopped raining just in time to go pick up dinner. Load up my 5 month old girl into the 2nd row passenger side, turn the car on, shift into gear. Then I hear what sounds like a pitcher of water pouring followed by the worst scream I've heard from my 5-month old (hope I never hear that sound again). Water came pouring out of the second row air vent and it completely soaked my daughter. Not just a few drops, it was a good amount because it completely soaked her, the car seat, the seat. So now I have to figure out how to get this fixed, can't wait to find out how this will play out....to be continued

 

[peterk9]

So excited to now be part of this 43 page topic, here's the beginning of my story... I have a 2015 Explorer, absolutely loved it up to this point. It has been raining all day, stopped raining just in time to go pick up dinner. Load up my 5 month old girl into the 2nd row passenger side, turn the car on, shift into gear. Then I hear what sounds like a pitcher of water pouring followed by the worst scream I've heard from my 5-month old (hope I never hear that sound again). Water came pouring out of the second row air vent and it completely soaked my daughter. Not just a few drops, it was a good amount because it completely soaked her, the car seat, the seat. So now I have to figure out how to get this fixed, can't wait to find out how this will play out....to be continued

Welcome to the Forum. :wavey:
Sorry to hear about this. It seems a while since someone posted here about a leak. Hope the dealer is able to trace the origin of it.

Peter

 

[Deus_Eunesca]

Its almost always, the roofrails. Try taking off your roofrails and check for rust on the bolts. (Please refer to the picture I posted). Looking closely at the holes for the bolts there is a slight buildup of rust from the bolts themselves. Clean up the holes from any traces of rust, replace the bolts with similarly threaded/length stainless steel bolts squeeze silicon sealants on the holes, then apply anti seize on the bolts as you reinstall the roofracks. hope this helps

 

[tmg19103]

Its almost always, the roofrails. Try taking off your roofrails and check for rust on the bolts. (Please refer to the picture I posted). Looking closely at the holes for the bolts there is a slight buildup of rust from the bolts themselves. Clean up the holes from any traces of rust, replace the bolts with similarly threaded/length stainless steel bolts squeeze silicon sealants on the holes, then apply anti seize on the bolts as you reinstall the roofracks. hope this helps

Mine was the roof rack, but that's a lot of water for what is generally a smaller leak where not enough sealant is applied where roof rack attaches, and the roof rack primarily seems to leak in the back and come down the third row seat belt.

While you never know, it could also be the sunroof or the seam leak.

Hopefully it is the roof rack as that is an easy enough fix. The poster will be under warranty. 5 years later you would think they have this fixed in the manufacturing process....

 

[LukerDooker]

... 5 years later you would think they have this fixed in the manufacturing process....

Well, it took 6 years, the 2016's and on up have a different rail system.

However, the new rail mounting system - lets wait and see.

 

[tmg19103]

Well, it took 6 years, the 2016's and on up have a different rail system.

However, the new rail mounting system - lets wait and see.

New rails, but are they mounted to the roof differently? If not - or if in a similar manner, they still need to properly seal them where they screw in. That's been the biggest roof leak problem year after year.

 

[Deus_Eunesca]

What Ford needs to do is to reverse the way of bolting down the rails, with the thread protruding and securing the rails with nuts instead of bolts. =)

 

[corialbie]

Water in my spare tire well

Welcome to the site, chadgkahl. Send me a private message (PM) with your details so I can look into ways to assist. In your message, please include your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership.

Crystal

Hi Crystal,

I am experiencing the same problem with my 2013 Ford Explorer after a pretty good rainstorm. I plan to take it into my dealer. The service guy said he hadn't heard of this problem before. Is there anything I should tell him to help diagnose?

Thanks~!

 

[esandye]

Its almost always, the roofrails. Try taking off your roofrails and check for rust on the bolts. (Please refer to the picture I posted). Looking closely at the holes for the bolts there is a slight buildup of rust from the bolts themselves. Clean up the holes from any traces of rust, replace the bolts with similarly threaded/length stainless steel bolts squeeze silicon sealants on the holes, then apply anti seize on the bolts as you reinstall the roofracks. hope this helps

So how do you get to the bolts to remove the roofrails?

 

[peterk9]

Hi Crystal,

I am experiencing the same problem with my 2013 Ford Explorer after a pretty good rainstorm. I plan to take it into my dealer. The service guy said he hadn't heard of this problem before. Is there anything I should tell him to help diagnose?

Thanks~!

Welcome to the Forum.:wavey:
In order to ensure your concern is seen, it is best to send a PM to FordService (Tricia) with the info requested in the quote in post 850 above.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

So how do you get to the bolts to remove the roofrails?

Check out this thread and in particular this post;
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3300522&postcount=21

I just did a 'search' on "removing roof rail" to find the thread.

Peter

 

[esandye]

Check out this thread and in particular this post;
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3300522&postcount=21

I just did a 'search' on "removing roof rail" to find the thread.

Peter

Thanks Peter for being a wealth of information!

 

[FordService]

Hi Crystal,

I am experiencing the same problem with my 2013 Ford Explorer after a pretty good rainstorm...

Welcome to the neighborhood, corialbie!

I replied. Please check your inbox when you have a chance.

I’ll be here if you need anything else!

Welcome to the Forum.:wavey:
In order to ensure your concern is seen, it is best to send a PM to FordService (Tricia)...

Hey peterk9,

Thanks for mention, and enjoy the rest of your day!

Tricia

 

[nwhitmire]

Leak in 2012 Ford Explorer Limited

My wife has a 2012 Ford Explorer Limited that we purchased new in 2012. Shortly after purchase she found herself in the middle of a hail storm in Dallas TX. The Explorer was beat to a pulp! The windshield was cracked and the Insurance company found damage on every panel of the car. We had it repaired by the Dealer's Body Shop and the work looked to be done well. It is now about 3 years later and we are having a leak in the roof of the explorer.

This past weekend her car was parked in our driveway all windows were up and all doors were closed. We went out Saturday Morning to load some stuff in the back cargo area and I noticed that the cup holders by the windows on the drivers side rear of the car were completely full of water. I felt around and found that the headliner was wet, and so was the carpet in the back area. I removed the carpet over the spare tire and noticed about a gallon of water in the wheel well with the spare tire. I was able to drain the water and get it mostly dried out.

I called out Insurance company and told them about the issue and they submitted a claim and made an appt for us to bring it by for an evaluation and to get an estimate for the damage repair. The adjuster looked at the history of the car and told us that if this is related to the prior repair that they should cover fixing it with no problem. He called the dealer's repair shop that did the original work and was told that this is a Ford problem on many of the explorer's and that we needed to take it to the service department at the dealership. My wife called the service department to make an appt to bring it by for this and was told they are backed up, it is out of warranty and that there was really not much that they could do. They also recommended contacting our insurance company since the car had been repaired before to find out if it was related to this.

Basically we have been given the runaround on this and we are getting a little ticked off! I sent a message last night to my insurance agent and am waiting on a call back from her.

Have any of you had a similar issue with leaking? Were you able to get it repaired? I really think if this is a defect in the construction of the car it needs to be done under a recall and we should not be charged for the repair. Her car has been in a garage most of its life. It is usually parked under cover at home and when she is at work it is also covered. I do not think we should be penalized for taking care of our car. When you purchase a new car do you usually take it through a massive rain storm to make sure there are no leaks?

Hopefully we can get this issue resolved quickly but right now I am not happy with our local Ford dealer. All of the Ford dealerships around us were recently converted to a big corporate company and I think when this happened service went out the door!

Any advice anyone can lend will be appreciated.

Nathan

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum nwhitmire.:wavey:
The forum has a very handy 'Search' program which I used to find a 43 page thread on 'Water Leak'. I have merged yours with it.

Peter