Poor Build Quality Causes Interior Leaks?

[TerminatorCobraJP]

Recently my 03 Cobra vert was rained on and the area behind the rear seats had water in it, the trunk had water in it, and my floor boards in between the front and rear seats were wet. So I did some research and came across some videos of a guy saying that Ford did not use enough sealant for the drain channels and so water can seep right through and into your interior. Does anyone have more info on this or can confirm if it is true or not? I'm sure the trunk flooding is just a vert only problem but what about the interior flooding? He said there are drain channels that run from the cowl in between the windshield and hood, down under the doors, then dump out near the rear tire. I'd think that would be a problem for both coupes and verts, causing your interior to flood in heavy rain. How would you go about fixing these seals to stop the water from seeping through?
I pulled my rear seats real quick to check and sure enough, it was damp under my rear seats, didn't pull the carpet to check under there yet though.

Here is a link to the video showing what I'm talking about.

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[2003RedfireVert]

My 2001 GT did this badly. I added my own drain lines in each corner of the area behind the rear seats and it solved everything. I think the actual cause was the seal between the top and body and/or the rear window sealing. I never changed out the window or the top on that car and drove 50k miles over 7-8 years. Once I added those drains I never had a problem.

 

[TerminatorCobraJP]

My 2001 GT did this badly. I added my own drain lines in each corner of the area behind the rear seats and it solved everything. I think the actual cause was the seal between the top and body and/or the rear window sealing. I never changed out the window or the top on that car and drove 50k miles over 7-8 years. Once I added those drains I never had a problem.

You had water puddling up in the interior? That's the part that's very concerning to me. I don't want water getting trapped under the carpet and rusting out my floor boards.

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[Slow 99]

my window seals in my 04 coupe always leaked a little in heavy rain. Only learned it was happening after someone tried to hop in the back seat and told me my carpet was damp behind the drivers seat. It kinda fixed itself after I slammed the door shut and left the car alone for a month haha

 

[TerminatorCobraJP]

my window seals in my 04 coupe always leaked a little in heavy rain. Only learned it was happening after someone tried to hop in the back seat and told me my carpet was damp behind the drivers seat. It kinda fixed itself after I slammed the door shut and left the car alone for a month haha

I notice on my vert that some times when I shut the door it'll shut but the window doesn't meet the seal and has a large gap in between it that I can slide my hand through. When it does that I push on the glass directly and then it pops into place where it should be. I've always figured it might be caused by chassis flex making the door not align properly if the ground isn't perfectly flat and level. Wouldn't surprise me being a fox chassis and a vert.

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[2003RedfireVert]

You had water puddling up in the interior? That's the part that's very concerning to me. I don't want water getting trapped under the carpet and rusting out my floor boards.

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Yes, I had damp carpet. Never happened after I added my own drains to the convertible boot.

 

[TerminatorCobraJP]

Yes, I had damp carpet. Never happened after I added my own drains to the convertible boot.

Could share more info about how you did it? I'd be interested in doing it to my car.

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[2003RedfireVert]

Could share more info about how you did it? I'd be interested in doing it to my car.

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I drilled two small holes on either wheel well inside the trunk. I got some small clear hose (1/4 or 3/16 or something), I got some small brass fittings with a hose barb on one end (male and female ends to screw then together). I punctured small holes on both corners of the boot, used the female end inside the boot, screwed it into the male end (that had the hose barb on it) on the trunk side of the boot. Hooked up the hose to barb, cut it to length and had it go out of the hole I drilled in the wheel well so it drained out of the car.

Hard to explain. Here is an example of the male fitting I used…again, had a female end that I screwed together with it (the boot being between them so I could seal it).

No pics. I did this back in 2012 before I even had an iPhone ha

 

[2003RedfireVert]

The real solution is new seals between the top/window and the body. Also to ensure the OG drains aren’t clogged. I was poor (still am) so my solution worked great. Daily drove it like that for 8 years….it leaked but it always drained 95% of the water out.

 

[TerminatorCobraJP]

The real solution is new seals between the top/window and the body. Also to ensure the OG drains aren’t clogged. I was poor (still am) so my solution worked great. Daily drove it like that for 8 years….it leaked but it always drained 95% of the water out.

I see, thank you. I think I understand what you're telling me lol. I'll give it a try on my car and hopefully that takes care of it. Yesterday after pulling my rear seats I found a bunch of leaves and outside debris under there so I'll get that all cleaned out and keep an eye on it in the future.

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[Mustang5L5]

Ford designed the convertible top to drain into a cavity under the rear quarter windows. All the water that runs down the back of the top gets channeled around to the quarter windows and dumped literally inside the car. If you pull your interior trim off, you'll see that Ford went as far as to seal that area in with a plastic filler panel.

All that water then drains out these two tiny drain holes under the pocket.

Problem is leaves and dirt and other crud that falls into that channel on the top also washes around and gets wept into these pockets and clogs these holes up. When this happens, they are slow to drain and begin to fill up the rocker. That's when you start noticing water seeping into the interior. If the drains are flowing fast, the water shouldn't have a chance.

On my car after cleaning the drains, i get a STRONG stream out of these drains. There are other areas that water will drip along the rocker as well, as the bottom seam is not sealed, but how well it drips depends on how much dirt and dust and such is in there and has flowed into those narrow passageways and clogged them.

If you seam seal the seams, you still have to content with the LARGE window in the rocker near the front where the driver/passenger feet would be that you cannot seal. Typicall if the car is parked downhill this will fill up and spill over flooding the front passenger floorboard.

Long story short, clear these drains and keep them clean as part of your regular PM work.


These drains are present on the coupe, but not used, as no water should flow to this area as the back half of the car is sealed up due to it being a coupe.