Ford B-Max 2013 | Water Leak Detection Video

This Ford B-Max had wet carpets on the driver side floor, and so it was brought to us for specialist leak detection, and repair.

We reviewed the car with the customer, who told us how they had discovered that the carpet was damp and so had taken it to another garage who had tested for leaks and then dried the car. It wasn't clear they had found or fixed the leaks, and the car was still wet. It was pointed out that the door rubbers on both sides were loose, which is definitely a potential source of water ingress, but we check the entire car because it is often the case that a car can spring several leaks, and you have to get them all otherwise it isn't worth drying the car.

Wet footwells

After our comprehensive leak inspection, we discovered that a rear door was leaking. The water should run down inside the door and find it's way out of drainage holes in the bottom. If, however, the door membrane is compromised, water can find its way inside the car if it runs down the back of the interior door car. This seemed to be the case. Once the door card was removed, we didn't find the usual plastic membrane, but instead some screwed in panels, one of which was leaking. We resealed the leaking one, plus the matching one of the other door, as well as applying copper grease to all the fixture and fitting holes.

Water leaking into boot

The rear air vents were leaking, which is a very common problem on cars of this age. The vents are a folding plastic one-way valve and as they age, the plastic weakens and doesn't spring closed properly. The surrounding seal can also perish, so the best way to resolve the issue is to replace the vents with new ones and seal them in properly. You can see photos of rear vents we replaced on a Ford Fiesta.

These vents and a hole next to them which Ford usually seals with sticky paper can allow to leak into the boot area, but from here it runs down the box section towards the front of the car filling up the footwells. Water in the spare wheel area or boot proper is usually caused by the rubbers on the tailgate or welding cracks around the hinges.

The seat was removed, so we could lift the carpet, suck up the water, decontaminate the area so mould and mildew doesn't form, and then we dry the car before putting it all back together.

This customer may want to have the car polished up and coated, but that might be a story for another day.

Bring your leaky car to the UK's #1 water leak specialist