Dan302's new car

[Dan302]

Although mine is leaking into the vent area I think my sealing job was good and the water is getting into the cavity from higher up (I assume behind the lights) I've bought a sheet of neoprene to try to fashion some small gaskets as sealing the light unit down would mean I couldn't get the light off again to fit bulbs

 

[mrbenn]

Sounds like a plan.

I've just ordered a tube of fancy looking sealant so will start throwing that around as soon as it arrives!

[Dan302]

43 minutes ago, mrbenn said:

Sounds like a plan.

I've just ordered a tube of fancy looking sealant so will start throwing that around as soon as it arrives!

Hopefully you will have more luck than I'm having so far!

[Dan302]

I still haven't got round to taking the light off in order to bodge a gasket. Also while filling with fuel I wondered where the little drain hole inside the petrol cap housing drains too? I'm assuming that wouldn't be the cause of my leak?? Would it??

[Dan302]

Hopefully I will have a bit of time (and dry weather) over the weekend to investigate further.

[Andyrew]

Are the gaskets on the lights that foam rubbish or rubber?

 

[Dan302]

There's only a little opening for the wires to go through with a rubber grommet (which I doused in tiger seal last time I had the light off)

Here's a still from a YouTube video to show what I mean.

[Dan302]

Well I'm on rest days now so thought I'd have a look at fixing the leak, so obviously it's started chucking it down ?

[mrbenn]

Good luck!

Was going to look at mine today as the sealant arrived yesterday but weather is similar.

[Dan302]

I'm now not even convinced the light is letting the water in as that would would leak straight into the boot not into the area near the vent, the vent itself seems fine (it's shouldn't be the amount of tiger seal it received, I'm now wondering if it's the seam itself in there which will be a PITA to clean up and seal from the inside (and I'm not sure I can be arsed to drop the bumper again to try from the outside)

[MikeR]

check the lower arms for cracks , they can snap where the anti roll ball fits

 

and check the top of the shock mounts in the rear wings , they let in water .... mine has

[Dan302]

18 minutes ago, MikeR said:

check the lower arms for cracks , they can snap where the anti roll ball fits

 

and check the top of the shock mounts in the rear wings , they let in water .... mine has

Cheers man I'll take a look 

[Dan302]

I fixed a leak on my boys mums Jazz, it was the seam sealer where the roof and side panel meet (end of the gutter near the boot hinges) I might check the focus in that area too.

[MikeR]

and there is always the washer pipe , that can fall off or leak !

[Dan302]

1 hour ago, MikeR said:

and there is always the washer pipe , that can fall off or leak !

It's definitely rain water and lots of it! It's quite a recent thing so it's not caused any rust issues yet but I'm sick of constantly washing and drying towels!

[MikeR]

when mine leaked ( and it did !! )   I redid all the hatch rubber ,  off , cleaned , put back and sealed the rubber  to the bodywork

the light clusters , taken off , cleaned , resealed

sealed the back bumper to the body were it is under the hatch .it stops the water running down to the seams below , leave the middle open for drainage

sealed  up some holes around the wheel arch near the back of the rear seat .

and just in case ,  cut a hole in the rubber bung at the bottom of the wheel well .

and did the same to my wifes C1 ......

dont use silicon , it creeps off  , use some of that sealer stuff for house windows, gutters  etc

 

[mrbenn]

Check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiQeDeMtWTU

I don't speak Spanish so can't follow it fully, but the idea of sealing between the bumper and bodywork is an interesting one.

[Dan302]

I'll give that video a watch thanks

I'll look at sealing the bumper, do you have any photos so I can see how you did it? I've got some tiger seal I've heard good things about it.

[mrbenn]

58 minutes ago, Dan302 said:

I'll give that video a watch thanks

I'll look at sealing the bumper, do you have any photos so I can see how you did it? I've got some tiger seal I've heard good things about it.

 

Not something I've done, I'm afraid. Looks like the chap on the vid sealed along the join from bumper to bodywork, and seemed to be paying attention to a bodywork seam that had presumably been leaking. Can't hurt to run a bead of the tiger seal in that area if you're still having issues ?

[Dan302]

7 hours ago, mrbenn said:

Check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiQeDeMtWTU

I don't speak Spanish so can't follow it fully, but the idea of sealing between the bumper and bodywork is an interesting one.

I think that's what MikeR is describing above, I'll give that a go as it looks an easy fix so even if it doesn't work I've not lost anything.

[mrbenn]

Ah yes, think Mike and I must have posted at around the same time as I didn't see his before I posted my reply.

Good info there.

[egg]

I feel your pain with leaky ole' Fords, my Mondeo doing the same thing.

[Tenmil Socket]

My MK1 Focus does it... I've drilled a hole in the lower bung of the wheel well because I'm lazy and it's now sorn. I've put a damp trap in there too. I will investigate further next year.

Funnily enough the 2014 Audi A4 I bought 2 weeks ago is doing the same thing ?

[Dan302]

7 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

My MK1 Focus does it... I've drilled a hole in the lower bung of the wheel well because I'm lazy and it's now sorn. I've put a damp trap in there too. I will investigate further next year.

Funnily enough the 2014 Audi A4 I bought 2 weeks ago is doing the same thing ?

I'm trying to resist drilling the bung but it may happen if I don't fix it! My MK4 Golf used to leak into the boot and it was the seals around the boot vents which is why I fixed them first on the Focus......but no joy.

I'm going to seal the bumper as suggested above and see if that improves things.

[Tenmil Socket]

I'm interested to see if this gets resolved. As for the A4 I've contacted the Audi dealer...

[mrbenn]

I took the opportunity of some dry weather today and removed the bumper of my Focus to get some sealant behind.

I did a few seams, put some behind the tailgate rubber seal and also sealed the bumper to the body as discussed above. Also did the vents on each side but I don't think they're the problem tbh.

Now need some rain to see if there is any improvement, or whether I need to look elsewhere.

[Dan302]

7 hours ago, mrbenn said:

I took the opportunity of some dry weather today and removed the bumper of my Focus to get some sealant behind.

I did a few seams, put some behind the tailgate rubber seal and also sealed the bumper to the body as discussed above. Also did the vents on each side but I don't think they're the problem tbh.

Now need some rain to see if there is any improvement, or whether I need to look elsewhere.

Good work mrbenn! I wish I'd done the various seams while I had the bumper off sealing the vents, I'm not sure I can be arsed dropping the bumper again, please let me know how you get on with it when it rains.

[Tenmil Socket]

Whilst the interior trim/plastics/carpets are removed would it be worth sitting in the back whilst someone sprays a hose over the car and look for any ingress?

[mrbenn]

4 hours ago, Dan302 said:

Good work mrbenn! I wish I'd done the various seams while I had the bumper off sealing the vents, I'm not sure I can be arsed dropping the bumper again, please let me know how you get on with it when it rains.

Thanks Dan. Bit of light rain overnight. All dry so far but think we probably need something heavier/prolonged. Sure we won't have to wait long...

[mrbenn]

31 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Whilstthe  interior trim/plastics/carpets are removed would it be worth sitting in the back whilst someone sprays a hose over the car and look for any ingress?

I might do this rather than wait for rain!