03 Liftgate holding water, pooling by latch loop

[MyExplorer03v8Lim]

Hi Explorers,

My exp seems to be holding water in the liftgate after it rains. When I raise the glass or liftgate, water pours out of it, even days after it rained. Water comes out of the plastic on the window, and it also comes out of the liftgate door. Seems like both parts are holding water.

Furthermore, a lot of times I'll pop the liftgate, and there will be a half inch pool of water in the dimple area where the latch clips to that black metal loop in the floor. No idea what to call it.

But all this water collecting really has me bugged out. I'm sure that this water is going to rust out my liftgate and probably the floor area where that mating latch loop is located.

I am almost sure that the water is getting into the area where it pools via the glass window weatherstrip. I think it's also probably getting into the liftgate itself by breaching the glass window weatherstrip.

Checking my Carfax, I see a record of someone having replaced the hinges on the rear window. Also looks like someone replaced the bottom trim panel, probably because it got the notorious crack.

TLDR: anyone else have this problem of water getting into the liftgate and latch area? How'd you deal with it?

 

[lincolnshibuya]

it's a bad design because water could pool inside and rust the bracket that holds the lock and wiper assembly. Mine actually rusted off and caused rattles.

this will lead to this if you don't seal the trim properly.

 

[MyExplorer03v8Lim]

it's a bad design because water could pool inside and rust the bracket that holds the lock and wiper assembly. Mine actually rusted off and caused rattles.

this will lead to this if you don't seal the trim properly.

Do you know if the problem is remedied in the 4th gen doors, where the glass is trimless?

There's a post somewhere here about retrofitting 3rd gens with 4th gen liftgate assemblies. The wiring is the tricky part because the connectors are the same but the pinout is different.

I bet I have water pooling in there for sure. Do you think there's anywhere that could be drilled to allow the water to drain correctly to a safe location?

 

[MyExplorer03v8Lim]

Side question:

The truck has 160k miles and I'm thinking about just replacing all of the weather seals. I'm sure the dealer would gouge me. What do you guys think is a fair price to pay a pro to do it? And would a body restoration shop be the best bet?