Water Leak

[aznkidlee]

I noticed a water leak in the 3rd row of my car earlier this month after a huge rain storm. I brought it to the dealer to have them inspect it. They said the leaking was coming from body seam and they resealed seam. Cost $130.

My recording of my leak. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSxZE6g0W08

 

[blwnsmoke]

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?

Any advice anyone can lend will be appreciated.

Nathan

You can try contacting the Ford rep on here and seeing if she can lend a hand. How far out of warranty are you? Chances are it is the sealant that is no longer holding up on the right rear mounting point of the roof rack so when it rains, it goes into the hole which then travels down the inside sides of the vehicle. Typically if you remove the roof rack and reseal around it then reinstall, it should be fixed.

There have been a few other places that it has happened (left roof rail) as well as a moonroof drain tube clogging which causes the water to make it's way into the Explorer but being you are reporting it in the rear, roof rack is most likely the culprit.

As far as recall goes, Manufacturers don't generally recall vehicles unless it is a safety concern (brakes, suspension, ignition, fire potential) so I wouldn't hold your breath on that one.

Highly unlikely this was caused by the hail storm as it as all the signs of what some of the Explorers have experienced. With that said, I don't believe this to be an insurance issue.

 

[Wild Valley]

Water leak near 3rd row seat

SOOOOOO frustrating to have yet another problem with Ford Explorer. If pushing for the recall for the steering issue was not enough of a hassle (and much wasted personal time with repeat trips to dealership), the never ending rattling from under the front side (yet more wasted personal time with repeat trips to dealership for something that was never fixed), the driver's seat that now will not automatically return to its place when you start the car (dealer claims to have never seen this one before - sure you haven't!), and now the water leak. It's too much. I really like to buy American, but sadly this will be my last Ford if this all can't get fixed asap. I should not have to wear myself out for a $50k car.

Whenever it rains, water is leaking in the cargo area behind 3rd row seat. Looks like I have to go back to the dealer yet again, just to watch them act surprised by this problem, spend days researching it, then tell me I have to pay for it even though it was their defect.

Signed, Very unhappy 2011 Explorer Ltd owner

PS - Anyone want to buy a used 2011 Explorer Ltd, 1 owner who took good care of it, even if Ford didn't??????

 

[onesaxplayer]

2013 moisture issue - spare area?

Hi all,

I bought my wife a 2013 Explorer Limited last weekend. I will go back to the dealer but wanted to see if anyone had insight into this issue first. I was cleaning the Explorer this afternoon and folded the third row seats up to vacuum. I noticed the back of the seats were wet. I lifted the spare tire cover and found moisture on top of the spare and a lot more down in the bottom of the spare tire pan. Has anyone had this issue? What is the cause and what's the fix? What should I look out for at the service center?

Thanks!

 

[peterk9]

Hi all,

I bought my wife a 2013 Explorer Limited last weekend. I will go back to the dealer but wanted to see if anyone had insight into this issue first. I was cleaning the Explorer this afternoon and folded the third row seats up to vacuum. I noticed the back of the seats were wet. I lifted the spare tire cover and found moisture on top of the spare and a lot more down in the bottom of the spare tire pan. Has anyone had this issue? What is the cause and what's the fix? What should I look out for at the service center?

Thanks!

Welcome to the Forum.:wavey:
The Forum has a very handy 'Search' program. I used it to find this 43 page thread on the 'Water Leak' issue and merged yours with it.
Good luck.

Peter

 

[PNW_Forded]

2014 Explorer water in spare tire well

Greetings All,

It appears that this issue is not new to the model. My wife has had her Explorer a little over a month and she found a nice pool of water in the spare tire well. Hopefully I can figure out where the water is coming in before taking it to the dealership to avoid all the return visits and assorted bovine feces.

 

[peterk9]

Greetings All,

It appears that this issue is not new to the model. My wife has had her Explorer a little over a month and she found a nice pool of water in the spare tire well. Hopefully I can figure out where the water is coming in before taking it to the dealership to avoid all the return visits and assorted bovine feces.

Welcome to the Forum.:wavey:
This thread seems to show that the majority of leaks are where the roof rail fastens to the roof. Another area is a seam along the top of the liftgate. I believe that is where it is located. Another less common area is the moonroof.
Not sure if you have that. I would be helpful if you added the 'trim' level of your Ex to your profile so it appears in the margin. Thanks and good luck.

Peter

 

[esw2005]

Leaking again three years later

Crap! About three years ago Ford fixed my leaky Explorer. It was leaking from a body seam near the rear of the vehicle and the roof rack on the driver side near the rear of the car. Today I found water in the storage compartment on the passenger side near the lift gate and once again water was dripping down the third row passenger seatbelt like it was doing three years ago. I haven't been able to locate the leak on the passenger side yet. Last time this was covered under warranty but now I have over 82,000 miles so I am crossing my fingers that this will be covered under my extended warranty.

 

[blwnsmoke]

If it is a Ford ESP, sorry to tell you they do not cover water leaks. I'm very confident in saying that no 3rd party ESP covers water leaks either.

Fortunately most dealers have experience with this now so if you do not take it to a 3rd party, a dealer should be able to fix it pretty quickly for reasonable pricing.

 

[peterk9]

blwnsmoke is correct. If you look at the bottom of your ESP brochure where it mentions items not covered, you will see;

Generally Covered by Your Auto Insurance –
Examples include: fixed (non-moving) body parts, bumpers, glass, moldings,
ornamentation, paint, rust, sheet metal, structural underbody framework,
side and rear view mirrors (glass and housing), water leaks, wind noise,
weather strips, wheels, wheel studs, wheel covers, convertible top and bow.

Peter

 

[GaleK]

Ugh, add me to the list (and bringing this thread back to the top). Been a Ford driver all my life...now dealing with this frustrating leak.

Bought the wife a 2011 base model Explorer last week. Did not know about this forum or the leaky body until after we purchased. I've already sealed up a couple of sealant cracks under the top of the rear hatch. It's still leaking. I guess I'll attack the roof rack area next.

Is that where most of the folks are finding the problems?

I called a couple of Ford dealers around the local area (Seattle). "First they've heard of it." Really?

 

[blwnsmoke]

Usually it is the rear of the roof rack.. Seems to be more on the right side more then the left but has been seen on both sides.

 

[9svt8]

New to the forum, and joined specifically for this reason. I bought an 11 XLT 3 weeks ago for the wife. Last week we had a hard rain, and that's when I noticed the water on the seatbelts. I took it back to the dealer, and even though there's no warranty, they're going to cover it. I hope they get it right. I told and showed them this thread, and they said they have never seen or heard of that, which I don't believe. So hoping for good results.

 

[blwnsmoke]

New to the forum, and joined specifically for this reason. I bought an 11 XLT 3 weeks ago for the wife. Last week we had a hard rain, and that's when I noticed the water on the seatbelts. I took it back to the dealer, and even though there's no warranty, they're going to cover it. I hope they get it right. I told and showed them this thread, and they said they have never seen or heard of that, which I don't believe. So hoping for good results.

Welcome to the forum!! Depending on the size of the dealership, I can still believe that some small town dealers who do not see a lot of volume have not experienced this. Have to remember that people do exactly what you did.. when there is an issue, they google it and then post about it. When there are no issues, nobody posts about how wonderful their vehicle is just because (ok, not nobody, but it is rare).

But I fail to believe that most dealers have not experienced this at least once with the 750,000 Explorers that are out there. Most of the frustrations were more at the first MYs because not many have seen it and nobody knew exactly where to look. Now it is either a clogged or disconnected moonroof drain or the rear seals have cracked or worn out on the rear of the roof rack.

Here's hoping that the new roof racks on the 16+ don't experience the same issue.

Best of luck!!

 

[9svt8]

Thank you for the welcome. I can see your point about the small dealerships, never thought of it that way. He looked up on his computer the issue, which had nothing there about it, and he said if it was a known issue it would be here on Ford's website. I just find it funny that they would eat this, and give me a loaner car with no warranty. Again, not gonna complain too much, and hope they get it right for us. If they're nice enough to do it for free, I'm happy.

 

[blwnsmoke]

I don't believe there has ever been a TSB on this so it would not be in their computer unless a TSB has been created. I believe what they did was put your VIN in the system to check for TSB and nothing popped up.

 

[9svt8]

Dropped it off this morning, got a call an hour ago that it will be ready for pick up tomorrow. They said it was the seams, and they resealed them. I was very suprised to hear that it's done...especially after reading many people say they were without theirs for days. Let's hope it does the trick. I'll report back with an update after a good rain.

 

[blwnsmoke]

Dropped it off this morning, got a call an hour ago that it will be ready for pick up tomorrow. They said it was the seams, and they resealed them. I was very suprised to hear that it's done...especially after reading many people say they were without theirs for days. Let's hope it does the trick. I'll report back with an update after a good rain.

Obviously you have read through this thread but I will just state to make sure you get up high enough to check their work. Some have reported dealers have just applied a bunch of sealant that looked like piles of goop rather then nice beads of sealant around the areas.

Just don't want them to do a sloppy job for you but if done properly, you should be good to go.

Glad to hear though they found it quickly.. kind of ironic that they have never heard/seen this before yet were able to find the problem pretty quickly and take care of it.. Hmmmm...

 

[9svt8]

Yup...exactly why I wasn't buying that line of "never seen or heard of that issue before"

 

[peterk9]

Obviously you have read through this thread but I will just state to make sure you get up high enough to check their work. Some have reported dealers have just applied a bunch of sealant that looked like piles of goop rather then nice beads of sealant around the areas.

Just don't want them to do a sloppy job for you but if done properly, you should be good to go.

Glad to hear though they found it quickly.. kind of ironic that they have never heard/seen this before yet were able to find the problem pretty quickly and take care of it.. Hmmmm...

They could have checked with other dealers to see if they had seen this before.

Peter