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Water leak passenger side carpet wet. 2020 St.

Dough

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Sheboygan, WI, USA
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2020 Explorer ST
#1
Battery replaced cowling removed to get to Battery.
Dealer did not install the cowling right where the windshield meets the top of the cowling. Need to push the cowling onto the clips.
Water will fill the cabin filter and run over to the floor carpet.
 

DaveG ST

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#2
Thanks for the heads up. I plan on replacing mine myself when the time comes and will pay attention to this. We really should be getting 5-6 years out of our original batteries.
 

OP
D

Dough

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Sheboygan, WI, USA
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Thread Starter #3
Thanks for the heads up. I plan on replacing mine myself when the time comes and will pay attention to this. We really should be getting 5-6 years out of our original batteries.
Two years for Battary in AZ.
 

Dgoebel57

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Faribault, MN, USA
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2020 Rapid Red ST
#4
Wow, Just found my passenger front carpet wet and standing water in my Weathertech Thanks for the solve!
 

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United States
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Explorer ST
#5
This same thing happened to me last week and I haven't been able to pin down the cause. I assumed it was a clogged sunroof drain as that seems to be the most common issue with wet passenger floor boards.
 

Dgoebel57

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2020 Rapid Red ST
#6
So I did find the Battery cover not snapped in, snapped it in and added water and mine's still leaking. Inspected the windshield bottom edge and found that the factory seal was separated from the windshield by a 1/4 inch, even see debris inside the gap. Gonna clean it as best I can and try just sealing it. Next step would be to have glass shop pull the windshield, clean the edge, and reseat. (Out of warranty already).
 

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United States
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Explorer ST
#7
So I did find the Battery cover not snapped in, snapped it in and added water and mine's still leaking. Inspected the windshield bottom edge and found that the factory seal was separated from the windshield by a 1/4 inch, even see debris inside the gap. Gonna clean it as best I can and try just sealing it. Next step would be to have glass shop pull the windshield, clean the edge, and reseat. (Out of warranty already).
Is it leaking from where the windshield meets the cowl?
 

Dgoebel57

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Faribault, MN, USA
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2020 Rapid Red ST
#8
Turns out my passenger side cowl was just not fully seated. I opened the hood and just pushed back on the cowl piece and it snapped under the windshield. Tested with a 1/2 gallon of water, no leaks. Photos of before and after
2020 ST Passenger side Windshield cowl gap Before and After.jpg
 

I Bleed Ford Blue

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Ohio
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23 Rapid Red Explorer ST
#9
I had a windshield replaced and they didn't reinstall the cover correctly and I got standing water on the floor mat and my cabin filter was water logged.
 

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United States
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Explorer ST
#10
Turns out my passenger side cowl was just not fully seated. I opened the hood and just pushed back on the cowl piece and it snapped under the windshield. Tested with a 1/2 gallon of water, no leaks. Photos of before and after
View attachment 19979
I think this might have been my problem too. However, I can't seem to get the two cowl pieces to connect tightly together - the passenger side and the driver side pieces. Though they both seem to snap into the windshield. I'm hoping that's good enough to prevent interior leaks and water will fall in between the two cowl pieces and drain through the engine compartment...
 

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Location
TRF, MN
Vehicle
2023 Explorer ST
#11
Turns out my passenger side cowl was just not fully seated. I opened the hood and just pushed back on the cowl piece and it snapped under the windshield. Tested with a 1/2 gallon of water, no leaks. Photos of before and after
View attachment 19979
I checked ours and it is good. Nice Digi-Key ruler! I work right next door to them!
 

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Location
Houston, TX, USA
Vehicle
2022 Ford Explorer ST
#12
The water will get into the A/C filter if the cowling is not installed correctly.
 

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Dgoebel57

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#13
I think this might have been my problem too. However, I can't seem to get the two cowl pieces to connect tightly together - the passenger side and the driver side pieces. Though they both seem to snap into the windshield. I'm hoping that's good enough to prevent interior leaks and water will fall in between the two cowl pieces and drain through the engine compartment...
I've considered using some #22072 Permatex Hi Temp Ultra Black RTV Silicone along the bottom edge of the windshield before snapping the two cowl pieces back into the windshield. That would seal and hold that cowl on the bottom edge of the glass, but be able to be peeled away fairly easily.
Screenshot 2023-10-13 224222.png
 

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Location
NY
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2020 Explorer ST
#14
My 2020 Explorer ST also was flooding in the front driver and passenger sides, the driver side had 2" of water after a heavy rain. under the dash on the left driver and right passenger side there are 2 firewall gromets with drain tubes connected from the windshield cowl, the one on the driver side is just above the dead pedal and if you have big feet like me you can knock this out without knowing until it rains. was an easy fix to get it back in and connected. I don't know what the Ford engineers were thinking or not but this is the most idiotic design I have ever seen. Why would they run a drain tube inside the cabin and not in the fender well.
 

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Location
San Jose, CA
Vehicle
2020 Ford Explorer ST
#15
My 2020 ExST just started flooding on the passenger side. We just started getting rain in CA and last week I noticed the glovebox full of water. This week the glovebox and passenger floor have water pooling and I noticed last night it was coming down the pillar on the passenger side as well. I'm assuming this is the drain line being clogged but how do I get to it or what does it look like? I threw a tarp over it last night which seemed to help but now it's sitting out in the rain at work.
 

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Jimbo60666

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Chicagoland
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2022 Explorer ST
#16
My 2020 Explorer ST also was flooding in the front driver and passenger sides, the driver side had 2" of water after a heavy rain. under the dash on the left driver and right passenger side there are 2 firewall gromets with drain tubes connected from the windshield cowl, the one on the driver side is just above the dead pedal and if you have big feet like me you can knock this out without knowing until it rains. was an easy fix to get it back in and connected. I don't know what the Ford engineers were thinking or not but this is the most idiotic design I have ever seen. Why would they run a drain tube inside the cabin and not in the fender well.
Had a similar problem with my '22 ST. I think I have tracked it down to the rubber relief bladder mounted behind the driver side wheel well lining, on the engine side of the firewall, below the engine bay fuse box. On the liner, removed a pop pin, a small retaining screw, a nut-washer in order to deform and lift up the cloth-like lining to expose the small rubber bladder. Pulled bladder out and cleaned out LEAVES and popped it back in. I imagine that under heavy rain conditions the blocked bladder was unable to service the volume. I also ran a weedwacker nylon line down the drain line from the front driver side corner of the sunroof channel. Tested, clean flow now.
TWO notes. 1) I'm going to check out passenger side soon as I imagine that might be a future problem.
2) In both corners of the window cowl/wiper area, both drain to the outer edge where there is a gap that leaves can also accumulate and fall into the drain area with the bladder. Bad design!
 

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Location
Chicagoland
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2022 Explorer ST
#17
Had a similar problem with my '22 ST. I think I have tracked it down to the rubber relief bladder mounted behind the driver side wheel well lining, on the engine side of the firewall, below the engine bay fuse box. On the liner, removed a pop pin, a small retaining screw, a nut-washer in order to deform and lift up the cloth-like lining to expose the small rubber bladder. Pulled bladder out and cleaned out LEAVES and popped it back in. I imagine that under heavy rain conditions the blocked bladder was unable to service the volume. I also ran a weedwacker nylon line down the drain line from the front driver side corner of the sunroof channel. Tested, clean flow now.
TWO notes. 1) I'm going to check out passenger side soon as I imagine that might be a future problem.
2) In both corners of the window cowl/wiper area, both drain to the outer edge where there is a gap that leaves can also accumulate and fall into the drain area with the bladder. Bad design!
Post rain, CONFIRMED, issue resolved after cleaning out that rubber bladder behind the wheel well liner.
 

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Location
Houston, TX, USA
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2022 Ford Explorer ST
#18
I need to do this too.

Had some water on the driver floor board.
 



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