bascho

As a Ford employee for FCSD I have access to the FMCDealer.com message boards and none of the dealer techs have brought up this water entry issue. If the dealers are not aware of the problem then Ford will not be aware of the problem. For those having this issue, please get your cars into the dealers so that they can begin the process of finding a solution.

Contrary to what many of you believe, Ford DOES care about it's customers and wants to fix the 'known issues'. Ford cannot fix what it does not know about. I am going to check my carpeting tonight and if I have a problem I'll be calling my dealer to make an appointment.

BTW, the only issue being discussed on the tech message board regarding the S197 is the noise made at the RH front wheel when going over a small bump in the road.

mail906

That's really the point. Hopefully the leak issue is nothing but isolated incidents. That is all the more reason why somone - presumably Ford - should be able to figure it out and tell us what to check for on our vehicles.

oldschoolera

This information is really helpful. I have an 06 GT, garaged most of the time but did drive in the rain for the first time yesterday. I will keep checking after rain and washing for leaks.

After reading the comments on this thread, I am beginning to think that my wife's 03 Lincoln Aviator (built on a Ford Explorer chasis) may have similar issues rather than the BS the dealer continues to feed me over and over about the musty smell coming from the a/c unit. We bought the vehicle brand new and have on 22,000 miles on it. About a year after we purchased that vehicle we started noticing a constant musty smell, to the point of being sickening at times. The Lincoln dealership insists that the problem is moisture build up in the a/c unit vents and the only way to resolve it is to turn on the heat to clear up the smell.

Thanks again for this thread.

imyy4u

hmm...i have never noticed a problem in my car, but then again i have black interior and i'm a smoker, so it's kinda hard to notice. will check today, though. i do believe i know where the water is coming from.

i suspect the water is coming from near the wheel-well, on the inside of the engine compartment. if you look on the passenger side of the engine compartment, in the very back by the dash, there is an air filter right there, and if it gets wet water will drip down into that passenger smartbox and soak the carpet. if you don't believe me squirt some water at that filter in the back of the engine compartment on the passenger side and then check inside...lo and behold, there is water. now i know that's not what is supposed to happen, obviously the air filter should not be connected to the smartbox, but it seems to be the case. also i have yet to check this out but if you get TONS of water in the cowl (right by the wiper blades) in those "holes" the smartbox can get wet, too, since that also links to the air filter (according to a friend but i personally have not confirmed this).

celenztah

As I mentioned above, I do NOT want to be part of the "experimentation stage" that helps bring about a TSB. This could involve multiple trial and error trips to the dealership, renting cars and/or borrowing my fiance's car and taking her to and from work, etc., etc. Too much hassle after what I've already dealt with in terms of TSB fixing at dealerships. No... I will call Ford Customer Care Center (or whatever the hoo it is called) and at least report it though. And since the issue with my car is at least somewhat rare (but there none the less), I think I can afford to wait around until a systematic fix is discovered and the knowledge thereof is spread to dealerships.

If Ford Corp gets enough calls, sheez.. and DOES care enough..... surely Ford can handle assigning a few techs to research the issue with water hoses, high pressure hoses or what have you and a few production line cars, showroom cars or used cars on lots.

Again, I will call, but sorry... an issue like this truly should not exist just like the very dangerous hesitation after a long cruise upon acceleration issue that I had to have fixed at much inconvenience to myself... outside of calling, I will wait as long as I can to avoid the "multiple guinea pig" trips to the dealership.



Thought???? Admin or Mod of this site email a link to this and any other leak related thread to Ford Corp?

celenztah

Ford Motor Company
Customer Relationship Center
P.O.Box 6248
Dearborn, Michigan 48126
1-800-392-3673(FORD)
TDD for the hearing impaired:1-800-232-5952
Monday - Friday 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM local time

hammeron

Felt around near the passenger side panel and all is dry....
-
Here is a pic of the passenger side firewall area, the black
boot is where water drains down from the windsheild wiper
hole(s) in the cowl. The hole shown in the pic is some crazy
shiz....not sure why Ford would allow water to drain into
that area of the body.....

celenztah

Woah! Looks pluggable in a do-it-yourself kind of way though. Should NOT be there though!

I'm going to keep watching this and a couple other threads in here on the issue. Maybe some of the more mechanically inquisitive will investigate (like this photo) or sniff out some basically simple fixes so we don't have to leave our cars overnight or for days on end with the dealsership.

Thanks for that pic!

sst06vert

how can you reach into the pads from the picture encircled?

Juntech

Damn! Any owners out there who don't have this problem? [:-]