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Water Leak Inside

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bluesnake01

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Quite a bit issue on a 25k, 2 year old Explorer Platinum. Currently, in Cali we experiencing "hard rain". Luckily for me, I happen to notice water was leaking on the rear by the hatch/3rd row seat last night.


I'm guessing it is due to assembly missing the infamous sun/moon roof water tube. We've had rain in the past and I have taken it to car washes before in the 1.6 years of owning it but never seen water leaking, or maybe never paid attention?

Anyways, it's never smelled like mold, so hopefully it's not a huge issue. We also never had strong rain, we been in a "drought" for a couple of years now.

My issue however is, keeping it depending what Ford/Dealer tells me. It's a 2020 Explorer Platinum fully loaded with practically every single item that current Explorers lack now, 2 bolt rear and also was bought for under 54k new. Usually I have seen Ford doing a buyback from other people or keeping it. What would most of you suggest? I really want to keep it, but something about possibly getting big water damage and having everything being replaced with possibility missed items and/or rattles wouldn't be great. Also, fact of the matter that newer Explorer's cost "more" vs what I paid for mine.
 

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Blue Beast

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I had a leak back in the same area and it was the moon roof drain hose. Dealer fixed it no problem since.
 

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bluesnake01

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Blue Beast said:
I had a leak back in the same area and it was the moon roof drain hose. Dealer fixed it no problem since.
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Great to hear that! I have seen some people post on other sites where they had to gut down the whole interior as there was water in the 2nd row as well.

The leak on mine actually started showing on the roof from the end of the 2nd row but the actual leaking was on the 3rd row. There was some water also on the 3rd seats. Just wondering what exactly would be replaced, if anything
 

GearHead_1

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Just out of curiosity, have you checked the spare tire well? I wish I could remember where I had read the different reports but I've heard reports of the moon roof drain, a seal leaking around the back side window, and the rear hatch seal all causing problems. I hope yours is an easy fix.
 

mharris1984

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I'll have to check mine! It's been raining for the past 4 days here in Phoenix too. Less then 1k miles on my '22. I'll go out and look at my sun/moon roof. With the drain clogging, what causes that? Debris from parking under a tree or something?
 

PlatinumST

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bluesnake01 said:
It's a 2020 Explorer Platinum fully loaded with practically every single item that current Explorers lack now, 2 bolt rear and also was bought for under 54k new. Usually I have seen Ford doing a buyback from other people or keeping it. What would most of you suggest? I really want to keep it, but something about possibly getting big water damage and having everything being replaced with possibility missed items and/or rattles wouldn't be great. Also, fact of the matter that newer Explorer's cost "more" vs what I paid for mine.
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If I were in your shoes I'd probably lean towards keeping it depending on how Ford takes care of the issue. I've got the '22 and there are quite a few things I wish I had from the '20 which will cost a few thousand to retrofit. If it proves to be a simple fix, and they're able to property dry everything out, I wouldn't think it would cause any future problems. Just my two cents worth with the limited info I have. Sorry for your luck at any rate :confused: Hope you're able to get everything resolved quickly!
 

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bluesnake01

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GearHead_1 said:
Just out of curiosity, have you checked the spare tire well? I wish I could remember where I had read the different reports but I've heard reports of the moon roof drain, a seal leaking around the back side window, and the rear hatch seal all causing problems. I hope yours is an easy fix.
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No water in the spare tire, I did have a kids blanket that got soaked but that was due to the leak from the top. I did see that post, I believe they had to remove the rear bumper to add the seal.

mharris1984 said:
I'll have to check mine! It's been raining for the past 4 days here in Phoenix too. Less then 1k miles on my '22. I'll go out and look at my sun/moon roof. With the drain clogging, what causes that? Debris from parking under a tree or something?
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Never really parked under a tree, no debris was on top either. More than likely was missing the water tube on top. Just never had a ton of rain till recently to actually notice the water dripping.
 

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willh876

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I just brought my car into the dealer. 2021 ST and I am having water leak into the rear compartment tire well. I Will give an update when I know what it is.
 

Dgoebel57

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I had the issue on my '20 ST, was rear moonroof drain hose kinked inside that pillar.
 

Kirk ST

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I've got a '20 with 36k on it. Thanks for these other posts. Not sure which of the above issues I have, but wanted to post photos of where water has been leaking in over the top right of the rear. Car has smelled musty lately and I had a tech look at this last visit ('couldn't find anything....') Big rain last night. When this happens, it usually pools in the rubber rear mat I have so it isn't getting into anything further down in to the car. Wanted to post these pix for others that could use them. I've got a service appt in 2 weeks, so I'll have them look deeper into this then. Any DIY suggestions are welcome. (will look up cleaning moonroof drains, but would be surprised if that's the issue on this mostly garaged car.)
 

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SFD295

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I have similar issues in my 20. First was water in the spare tire well. I fixed that one. Next was water in the Headliner. That's mostly fixed (sunroof drains clogged). Now it's in the driver and passenger footwells. This is the one that gets me. I can't find where it's coming from. It began shortly after a windshield replacement by safelite, so I'm leaning towards that. The odd thing is that sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. No rhyme or reason. When I look it's only in the foot wells, nowhere else. I've gone out in the pouring rain. No drips under the dash. So it must be coming in under the carpet or behind panels? Anyone know of a UV dye I could use to try to trace this down? I know they use them extensively in the HVAC world to find refrigerant leaks, though gas detectors are becoming more widely used now. I'm concerned about it damaging paint or being permanent.
 

Blue Beast

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I had the same problem that DgoebeI57 had in post #9. Rear roof drain kinked. Dealer repaired no problem since then.
 

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Tracked

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SFD295 said:
I have similar issues in my 20. First was water in the spare tire well. I fixed that one. Next was water in the Headliner. That's mostly fixed (sunroof drains clogged). Now it's in the driver and passenger footwells. This is the one that gets me. I can't find where it's coming from. It began shortly after a windshield replacement by safelite, so I'm leaning towards that. The odd thing is that sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. No rhyme or reason. When I look it's only in the foot wells, nowhere else. I've gone out in the pouring rain. No drips under the dash. So it must be coming in under the carpet or behind panels? Anyone know of a UV dye I could use to try to trace this down? I know they use them extensively in the HVAC world to find refrigerant leaks, though gas detectors are becoming more widely used now. I'm concerned about it damaging paint or being permanent.
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Check where the engine cowl is supposed to snap into the base of the windshield. I bet that was taken apart when your windshield was replaced and wasn't snapped back into place as you really need to push on it. That's where many of us, myself included, have had water leak into the front footwells.

Read this thread to confirm if your cowling is good or not - - https://www.explorerst.org/threads/water-leak-passenger-side-carpet-wet-2020-st.6040/
 

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Drayday55

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SFD295 said:
I have similar issues in my 20. First was water in the spare tire well. I fixed that one. Next was water in the Headliner. That's mostly fixed (sunroof drains clogged). Now it's in the driver and passenger footwells. This is the one that gets me. I can't find where it's coming from. It began shortly after a windshield replacement by safelite, so I'm leaning towards that. The odd thing is that sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. No rhyme or reason. When I look it's only in the foot wells, nowhere else. I've gone out in the pouring rain. No drips under the dash. So it must be coming in under the carpet or behind panels? Anyone know of a UV dye I could use to try to trace this down? I know they use them extensively in the HVAC world to find refrigerant leaks, though gas detectors are becoming more widely used now. I'm concerned about it damaging paint or being permanent.
Click to expand...
I do construction defect / water intrusion investigation in socal. I just found a leak at my driver side foot well. I looked at the cowel and everything looked tight. Passenger and rear carpet all dry. I have a dehumidifier in the car tonight. I'll do a water test tomorrow starting from the bottom up. I'll see what I can find out.
 

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