Fed up with Water Intrusion

[77Highboy77]

I've been struggling with my 2018 Ecoboost for about 6 months now with water coming in and soaking the BCM in the passenger footwell. I've searched extensively and checked all possibilities that I've read about. The water isn't coming from the stickers in the door jam (I've put plugs in and siliconed them shut), there's no water coming in from the windshield area as far as I can see without removing the dash, and the drain under the battery is clear and draining correctly.

I've tried pouring water all over the car to see where it might be coming in and nothing ever enters when I'm doing this. It seems to be completely random when the water comes in, sometimes it's after I drive in the rain, sometimes it's after it's been sitting in the rain, this last time it went 2 months of sitting and driving in the rain with nothing until yesterday morning when there was water sitting on top of the BCM.

What am I missing here with this? Living in the Seattle area and having a car that can't handle rain anymore is pushing me to want to get rid of it, which I would rather not. I've owned it since brand new, it's never been in a wreck and the windshield is still the original, so I'm struggling at this point.

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[NGOT8R]

Possible bad heater core leaking into the passenger compartment?

 

[77Highboy77]

Hmm, something to double check, but it's aways been what looks like straight water and the coolant level hasn't been noticeably dropping.

 

[luc]

Drain tube for the a/c ?

 

[77Highboy77]

I'll check that out, I don't think I've checked that one.

 

[Oakley]

if the water doesn't contain coolant its coming from outside.
what you could do is use UV dye to test for the source.
I'd check for possible clogs in drain paths.

 

[77Highboy77]

The UV dye is a good idea, thanks, I have some of that sitting around.

 

[Snakebyte]

Numerous folks had issues with the hole cover inside the front door jamb. It is only a PSA backed "decal", and can degrade/dislodge over time. Open your door, and look between the door and the front fender about 2/3 of the way up the jamb.

Edit: I thought I'd take a better pic and learned in the process that there are 2 plugs/patches. A smaller plug/patch/decal is forward and above the first one mentioned previously. See updated pic below:

 

[VBWRRVBWRR]

I've read if the drain hole for the battery box is clogged, water will infiltrate the interior of the car. Just something else you can easily investigate.

 

[Crew4991]

If the windshield is original, is it possible the glue surround has failed somewhere causing the rain to seep into part of the dash and down into the passenger footwell?
This would be one annoying issue for sure!

 

[77Highboy77]

The stickers have already been taken care of (twice just in case).

Hopefully it's not the seal on the windshield having gone bad, I didn't see any water coming from there, but you never know. I've always had bad luck with windshields getting getting replaced and then leaking afterward.

 

[Paddles]

The stickers have already been taken care of (twice just in case).

Hopefully it's not the seal on the windshield having gone bad, I didn't see any water coming from there, but you never know. I've always had bad luck with windshields getting getting replaced and then leaking afterward.

Maybe tiny holes or cracks in the seams where the little rain channels on the roof meet the windshield? Sorry I don't know the technical name of that area. I think the seam welds on all four corners of the roof have a risk of hairline cracks that can leak.

 

[77Highboy77]

Maybe tiny holes or cracks in the seams where the little rain channels on the roof meet the windshield? Sorry I don't know the technical name of that area. I think the seam welds on all four corners of the roof have a risk of hairline cracks that can leak.

I've checked for that before and didn't see anything, but I'll try again today. There's a good layer of hail covering the car this morning, so hopefully it'll melt slowly so I can check everything over again.

 

[Snakebyte]

Hope you find the source of your issue soon. Water issues are very annoying.

 

[Doc Dee]

If the windshield was to sustain a crack of some sort, your insurance company should replace the windshield for free…
Hope you figure it out soon… Good luck!

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