Should I be worried - interior windscreen condensation (again!)?

[Manders Mustang]

Ohhhhh i see. Misunderstood your comment...i may see you there! I’ve been invited in to see mine completely stripped, if that’s Thursday i’ll try to swing by the same day.

And make sure they don’t give yours too much attention

I'm sure they'll be having a rev off drawing penises on both the bonnets, wouldn't want you to feel like you had been treated differently by another ford dealer now would we !

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[Kristian87]

Well my weekend got off to a great start...casually emailed the dealership to check in (knowing they’re all set to go on Monday), got this as a response;

“Hi Kristian,

The Mustang is in the shop ready for Monday. Paul will make a start with it tonight/tomorrow and then the bulk of the work on Monday.”

Next week should be full of excitement! By “bulk of the work” he means “strip what they need to of the interior and find/fix the water leak”.

 

[slowhand99]

Well my weekend got off to a great start...casually emailed the dealership to check in (knowing they’re all set to go on Monday), got this as a response;

“Hi Kristian,

The Mustang is in the shop ready for Monday. Paul will make a start with it tonight/tomorrow and then the bulk of the work on Monday.”

Next week should be full of excitement! By “bulk of the work” he means “strip what they need to of the interior and find/fix the water leak”.

Brilliant.
They really are a good bunch. Did my third service and first MoT on Thursday. Friendly, efficient and knowledgeable. Your car is in good hands with Paul. No problem with the car just an advisory that the rear tyres are shagged . They are sorting out my ‘tonneau’ cover warranty issue, information they offered up unprompted last time I was there.

 

[Kristian87]

Well, as expected - i was updated by the team late in the day...

“The car is totally stripped & it looks like it is coming in through the grommet that we sealed as directed by the Mustang engineer. I was just discussing with Paul about the best fix to reseal it”

Whilst that outcome doesn’t fill me with confidence, it does make some sense. We all store our Mustangs differently, so some of us may be more susceptible to water ingress issues than others. Maybe i’ve got a duff grommet, and combined with storing my car outside - sometimes sat for several days in the elements, and also the fact i wash it frequently - gets 2-3 passes from the pressure washer, this just helped to highlight my particular issue. Over time as well, a fair amount of water gets in.

I won’t go in to my frustrations about bringing this grommet issue up with Guildford over a year ago, that will be a conversation for Ford.

Anyway...heading over there tomorrow to have a good look and chat with the team, more to follow...

 

[Eclipsar]

Well, as expected - i was updated by the team late in the day...

“The car is totally stripped & it looks like it is coming in through the grommet that we sealed as directed by the Mustang engineer. I was just discussing with Paul about the best fix to reseal it”

Whilst that outcome doesn’t fill me with confidence, it does make some sense. We all store our Mustangs differently, so some of us may be more susceptible to water ingress issues than others. Maybe i’ve got a duff grommet, and combined with storing my car outside - sometimes sat for several days in the elements, and also the fact i wash it frequently - gets 2-3 passes from the pressure washer, this just helped to highlight my particular issue. Over time as well, a fair amount of water gets in.

I won’t go in to my frustrations about bringing this grommet issue up with Guildford over a year ago, that will be a conversation for Ford.

Anyway...heading over there tomorrow to have a good look and chat with the team, more to follow...

Why not get them to fit a watertight grommet to the bulkhead, as they are pulling the looms and could fit one in its place

 

[Supersolo]

Anyway...heading over there tomorrow to have a good look and chat with the team, more to follow...

Glad for you, so far as your car appears to be in good hands, with Technicians who seem to be doing a thorough job.

If you could post a picture of the offending grommet, in-situ.
I'd be grateful.

Hope you're back on the road, asap.

 

[Kristian87]

I'm off over there later this morning. Got another message this morning;

"it is on water test now and will be left on until you get here. We can then show you the car and it will be easier to show you where it is coming and how it has effected the looms with water."

This is great because I'm dying to know how one small little hole caused so much chaos! I'll be sure to take photos & come back with more info on how they plan to address it

 

[Kristian87]

Today was a good day. Status = leak is fixed.

I've said it before but these guys in Hungerford are brilliant. I really experienced that in full today - they've done an outstanding job so far, couldn't be happier - all things considered!

To sum up the fault here - it's that "known issue" of that crappy firewall grommet. Only through some "extreme water testing" (as they put it), could they see the water come in through a tiny gap - basically poor design. For me, as I say in a previous post - the extended period of time combined with outside storage & plenty of washing, a little drip here and there amounts to a decent amount of water getting in. The biggest issue that caused me was obviously the wiring loom damage, but secondly - as I learnt today, the sound deadening behind that dash was essentially holding on to whatever water did get in, hence my consistent condensation. All makes sense, and was a weight of my shoulders to see it for myself.

The sound deadening & carpets are still soggy, so they are drying at the moment. The next step is to replace the damaged wiring looms, ensure everything is 110% dry before it goes back in, then reassemble the entire car! One concern is the surface rust on the structural bar that the dash assembly is attached to. That needs to come apart to replace the wiring loom so I've asked that they attend to that. As I said to them - it would make me uncomfortable knowing the metal is in that state once the car goes back together. So still a large amount of work to do but I'm glad it's on the way to going back together now.

Ford have a lot to answer for on this...

Anyway...of course I took some pics!

Close up of the now sealed grommet (tiger seal on both sides - a few layers). This was done last night, and since then - no more water coming in.

A wider shot - grommet towards the top right hand corner. If you look at the purple terminal connector for the wiring loom - you can just about see the corrosion.

The bare interior! Pretty much the headliner and gear knob was all that remained

Surface rust on the dash assembly

Dash on the floor, with the rest of the interior

 

[Stuart0202]

Delighted that they've sorted the leak!
Now I'm just hoping you get some unbelievable compensation for this mess!

 

[Kristian87]

Delighted that they've sorted the leak!
Now I'm just hoping you get some unbelievable compensation for this mess!

Yea, seeing the whole car in that state today and understanding just how big of a job it has been so far, really made it hit home about how significant the whole thing is. All preventable as far as I'm concerned which Ford will have to answer for! Look forward to the phone call I'm expecting tomorrow from head office.

 

[COLD27]

Its taken a long time but glad you have finally got somewhere with this! As horrible as it must be to see your car like that, at least you can see things are being done properly. Fingers crossed for some proper compensation.

These pictures could be invaluable for anybody who suffers similar problems in the future. I have to admit this is the first time I have really understood the location of that grommet. Out of interest, whats on the other side of it that would make additional cleaning an issue?

 

[Kristian87]

These pictures could be invaluable for anybody who suffers similar problems in the future. I have to admit this is the first time I have really understood the location of that grommet. Out of interest, whats on the other side of it that would make additional cleaning an issue?

Exactly why I'm keen - and happy to share it all. I drove myself crazy trying to find similar stuff online when I didn't quite know why I was still having issues, so I'm hoping this will be of use to someone. Other side? Meaning the engine side? I didn't see it but I think it was just a case of sealing it as best as possible, short of welding a piece of metal on there!

 

[Splash]

@Kristian87 those are really informative pictures. Fascinating to see what's in front of me when I drive. I think the truth we all know, but don't really admit, is that the car is built to a price and pretty cheaply. Even though the price of the facelifted model is not cheap at all.

I hope that you experience what I did, my interior has been out twice, once fully and once partially and it's much better put back together now than when it left the factory. Everything is much more solid.

 

[Kristian87]

@Kristian87 those are really informative pictures. Fascinating to see what's in front of me when I drive. I think the truth we all know, but don't really admit, is that the car is built to a price and pretty cheaply. Even though the price of the facelifted model is not cheap at all.

I hope that you experience what I did, my interior has been out twice, once fully and once partially and it's much better put back together now than when it left the factory. Everything is much more solid.

In fairness, I think they are well put together from what I've seen. Yea the grommet thing is poor, but overall it's pretty solid. The technician even commented today that these are well made. I just suffered some incompetence when it came to addressing a simple issue!

I've got confidence that it will be put back together with great care, and will no doubt feel a lot better to me now that I've seen it all with my own eyes. Genuinely forgot all about the exhaust going on until it came up in our conversation today lol. Got that to be excited about too!

 

[Splash]

@Kristian87 I don't think it's as well built as my German built FoST which was pretty much perfect for the 27k I did. Prior to the refit I had interior trim that was misaligned and in some places sticking out. I had leveling issues with the boot and the drivers door (they were fixed by the dealer). The quality of the finish on the wheels is poor (I've never had wheels that get as easily damaged). The GPS failed leading to a major repair.

All of that said I've never been as happy in a car, I can over look all of that.

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