Hi all,

My GF’s 2012 Mk3 Focus Ecoboost has serious damp problems!

Seems to be getting in through the boot and running off under the carpet and collecting in the rear passenger footwell.

Literally a puddle!

Checked the threads on here first.

Hinge seals seem fine. She had a whole light replaced by Ford (wished she’d asked me first) which didn’t work.

Where the hell is it getting in?

I fixed a similar problem on my older Mk2 Focus by sealing up the boot hinges, but the Mk3 is different so not sure where to apply sealant?

Could there be a hole underneath or should I try sealing all the screws round the lights and bumper?

The whole car is damp and mouldy now!

Thanks in advance everyone.

Stu

 

I did a mates ones that was the air vents under the rear bumper. There’s two rubber grommets one each side behind the rear wheels in the boot floor remove them and it’s like turning a tap on. Seriously bad build quality. Sadly it’s a bumper off job and glue the vents to the body with tiger seal or a body sealer

 

Hey thanks ajamesc😎🚙

Sounds like it’s worth checking that out.

Will see if I can do that myself (depending on tools needed) or ask a man who can.

Thank you👍🏻

 

Have a look here. I did mine the other day as a preventative measure. Although I had no water ingress yet, one of the pockets was very wet!

 

What are these three plugs in the boot as they all had pools of water in them after the car sat parked up in the rain for one day?

 

OK, so, I folded the seats down, got in the boot and watched for leaks whilst someone put the hose on the back of the car for ages.

I couldn’t see or hear water coming an anywhere and the boot didn’t get any wetter?

Before I got in the boot I emptied it including the spare wheel etc and the towel that my GF keeps in there was soaking wet.

The car hasn’t been driven on wet roads.

Any other ideas before I remove the bumper as that’s a big job for useless olde me if it’s not that?

A mechanic friend suggested trying a smoke machine in the boot (used for engine bays usually) to see where the smoke escaped to?

 

Upon further inspection I’ve discovered it’s mostly wet along the left side of the boot and it looks like it’s been coming in through a massive hole with a rubber bung in it. The bung was saturated as is the felt all down that edge. Damp on the right but not nearly as much as the bung is better for that side as it has wires going through. See pics

 

Will be vents under the rear bumper. Once you have the bumper off and remove the vents your see the foam liner inside will be ringing wet

 

You could be right thank you. I just thought I’d give this a go first before attempting a ‘bumper off’ job.

Will report back once solved; one way or another.

Thanks again😎👍🏻

 

It’s easy to remove the bumper really easy. Your wasting your time with anything else. It’s a large void either side that fills up like a water tank totally stupid design. As it shows in that video and as I said in my first post. Under the car is 2 grommets remove them and water should flow out. But it is dry at the moment but either way the foam will be wet in there

 

Did you watch that video I posted above? Took me less than an hour to do mine.

 

Thanks guys. The video was exactly what is happening so hopefully I can remove the bumper easily and get it sorted if I have the right tools.

Cheers😎👍🏻

 

I took the plunge and removed the bumper, rear lights and parking sensors and found the problem!

Boy did I find the problem!

Loose air ducts into boot letting in water into rear quarter panel corners. There was a few pints on each side! This was being soaked up by sound proofing foam.

I removed four ducts, jammed them up with sealant and put it all back together once dried.

Fingers crossed. I can’t believe I actually did it with no problems! Check out these pics! My GF is well impressed!

Feeling pretty pleased with myself too as I’m usually crap at this kind of thing.

Thanks guys😎👍🏻

 

Standard problem such a shit design

 

Hi I think you will find its the tailgate hinges they have a paper thin gasket that perish over time, I had same problem on my 2012 ecoboost estate travelling down the "C" Pillar tried sealing but did not work! so made some gaskets out of 1mm strips of rubber worked a charm.

,

 

Thanks but I’m almost 200% sure the problem was the loose air ducts behind the bumper. There was SO much water trapped in the rear quarter panels; I mean, pints and pints!

If by some slim chance that ain’t fixed it I’ll look at the tailgate hinges, although I did check those before doing this as this was the fox for my older 2008 Focus (which worked for that). Hinges are different on Mk2 and Mk3.

This post was for my GF’s Mk3.

Thanks for the extra info though😎👍🏻🚙

 

That’s a problem on mk2 focus’s lol I had it on mine. Focus’s are generally like sieves lol

 

I am having the exact same problem including same side (left) did you diagnose the cause and if so have you been able to find a solution. I have removed the bungs from underside and the material inside is completely dry on the left where I'm having the problem

 

SOLUTION: I took the whole reset bumper off and the lights, then removed the air duct covers in the bumper (2 on each side). One duct on both sides was loose and had no seal round them. I found pints and pints of water trapped inside the cavity behind these corner ducts! Pulled the drain plug, dried them out, replaced the ducts and added a good helping of waterproof sealant round all four ducts.

I can confirm, months later and after plenty of heavy rain and driving in the wet, that it was a complete SUCCESS!👍🏻

 

thanks for your reply. However As I say the material in the left cavity is dry if this was then this should surely be soaked and water would escape when the plug is out. I'm at a loss tbh

 

Hi All

I am posting as I have had a problem much like this one but am not sure if in fact I have more than one issue.

I found my 2012 Focus 5 door (UK) was fogging up and getting bad condensation. Eventually, I found the boot full of water and followed the investigation and process around the rear air vents. The passenger side compartment was soaking wet. The vents have now been sealed both sides though the driver's side seemed fine.

However, I've also found water in the rear and front footwell on the passenger side. It is worse towards the rear, so wet it showed through the carpets with a bit of a squeeze. But I just took the front seat out and it's wet all the way along to the front passenger footwell.

I'm wondering how likely it is this is just the same problem and the water has somehow run into these spaces or could it be another leak somewhere? I've seen posts about the aircon and other problems that might be relevant?

If it's a further problem, is it best to just get the dealer on the job or is it a reasonable DIY job?

Thanks in advance for all help.

 

Once I’d removed the bumper and lights and dried out all the water, I sealed all four vents proper good and reassembled it.

The water was running from the boot under the carpet and soaking the footwell behind all the seats!

I spent hours soaking up all the damp with towels and then left a dehumidifier inside the car on a sunny day to dry it all out.

It worked! There’s no damp and no smell of damp either and the problem has it returned even with heavy rain and driving through the wet. My GF is super pleased and I was quite chuffed all my time and effort paid off.

Follow my guide and the above advice and you should have the same results. Good luck

 

Thanks for such a quick response. Hopefully you're right and I have a bit more info for this one for anyone else with the problem...

My problem seems very localised to the flat surfaces of the floor-pan. There's no sign of damp on the vertical parts e.g. up to the doors or the sloping part in the front foot well. They all seem dry. I can only imagine there's either some hidden route for the water to run or it slops about when you brake and stuff.

The yellowish foam they seem use under the carpet seems top-drawer at retaining water and of course, it's February and chilly. So I've been using a wet-vac to suck water out of it but it's still pretty wet. I tried those bed mats for kids but I'm sure towels would do as well. I saw another thread and that gave me the idea to use bungee ropes looped round the passenger handles to hold up the carpet and dry it out.

Finally, I found I needed a T40 and a T45 socket (star?spline) to get the the front and back seats out to lift the carpet. The numbers aren't "linear", a T45 is a little bit bigger than T40. Be aware of electrical plugs under the passenger seat. You need a small socket to undo the bolt that holds the plug in place.

 

Last time I messed around removing bits from cars was about 15 years back & am reluctant to do so now....remove interior panels, lights, bumper etc....then re-seal the vents
What will happen if I just remove the void's drain plug & not replace it?

 

removing the bungs from either side will stop water getting all the way in from vents but all the material that absorbs the water will be like a wet sponge and and unless removed will make that area rust on either side. leaving the bungs out 24/7 can cause dampness but nowhere near as bad as before