Hi,

I have just bought a Ford Ka Mk2 but as its pretty much the same shell as a 500 i'm hoping someone can help with the following;

basically i have a water leak in heavy rain where water gathers in an pool on the boot floor directly below the drivers tail light!

I thought it was the rubber grommet for the tail light leaking but yesterday i put a hose around this area and nothing. Then i moved the hose above the tailgate beside the hinge and ran it for a while...now it leaks and the water is dribbling down inside the body panels before dropping out of the recess under the taillight (the bit where you can see the bumper bracket rivet through).

Tomorrow i'm going to drop the headlining for a look but is this a known problem?

Is it likely to be the hinge not sealed and water getting in there, or somehow getting in under the tailgate rubber and in that way?

Does the Ka have a roof aerial? I had that on a 500 water got under the aerial, ran down the roof lining and down the rear quarter panel collecting in the spare wheel well.

Yes but its at the front beside the windscreen on the ka unfortunately.

I'm hoping its the bolt of the tailgate...maybe just loosen it a bit to prise it up and squirt some sealant in there.

Will keep you posted!

Turns out it was the rubber grommit for the light after all - if you leave water running over it it starts seeping through.

Guess its maybe gone hard after 8 years.

I've just smeared it with silicone bath sealant as nobodys ever going to see it unless changing a bulb;



Dunno how well the sealant will hold up outside so might need to redo it very year or so.

Silicone sealant doesn't like freezing temperature but it's not too different from the other silicone-based sealants, so it should survive unless you move to Siberia.


Ralf S.

Thanks for reply.

There actually was more to the story...although i thought i'd fixed it i went out on Sunday morning and there was more water! So q another couple hours trying to find the leak with the hose...

At first i thought it was the locating grommits for the rear lights being loose and water squeezing in there so i siliconed those...but no, still happening.

I then took all the interior out and found water coming down from the roof inside the rear quarter panel...eventually traced it to the roof where the rubber roof rail strips that go front to back sit. I don't know if the 500s have these but on the ka they are held down with sticky tape...well on mine the tape seems to have lifted the paintwork and corrosion has formed around the seam between panels there. I guess there is a small gap/crack and water getting in there.

Anyway I have covered it temporarily with more silicone and am waiting for some tiger seal to turn up to fix it permanently. Luckily my car is white and since i can get white tiger seal it won't be too obvious and hidden by the rubber strips as well.

Annoying!

I siliconed my light grommets she I was trying to locate my aerial base leak.

Tiger seal cured it..no leaks now so happy days!

Ive got exactly the same issue on my daugters 500. Drivers side boot, you can see it dripping from behind the cut outs in the panels at the right side back of the boot boot i cant figure out how its getting there. Sealed the antenna, light cable grommits, bumper brackets but tiday full of water again. So is it those black stripson mine I wonder. are they just stuck down?

Hi,

Well mine is a ka so it might be different to the 500 (though probably not!) but the rubber strips were stuck down with doubled sided tape at each end, plus the tension of the rubber being hard tight against the metal inside the gutter.

When i lifted them out the adhesive had pulled the paint off under the sticker and this was where the hole was...it literally just a pin hole that you could barely see (although the metal was black/green with moss and crud around that area).

If you held a hose up to it you'd see water coming in down the rear cuts outs...first at the cut out beside the seat belt (the ka has a locating lug for the rear light here) and then it collected at the other 2 cuts outs that face backwards - directly below the tail light wiring grommit and the larger one further down.

As i said i covered mine up with tiger seal after giving the area a good clean underneith and its been fine since. I also used some number plate tape, cut to size, as a replacement for the rubber strip stick.

Best thing to do it get the hose out and test that way to be sure...it took me 2 days to find mine.

When i read up about it I beleive the 500 is also known for the rear window seal leaking, so that might be something else to look at in your case.

Best of luck!

Thanks for this very useful. Gonna attempt this on friday weather permitting. As it stands I think storm Christoph is actually in the boot if my 500. I'll report back my results

No worries - let us know how it goes

Still no luck, whole day out in the cold. So the observations and tests:

Removed the roof strips, all solid underneath with a very good seal by the looks.

Strips everything out of the back for ease and sat in the boot with the Mrs holding the hose over it.

Nothing coming in under the antenna which I sealed last week

Wiring grommet for lights is sound.

Using and endoscope I could see that there was a leak from the op black grommet where the light pegs sit in. So taped that off with duck tape to test and it didnt leak.

Stood back to admirer my brilliance with a cuppa. One last look before calling it a day and as soon as I opened the boot it ran straight out from the same place again! OMG

So is it the seal round the rear quarter light window. But a complication is I cant understand why there is so much condensation up above the roof lining, I mean dripping!

But stand there with the hose all day and cant replicate it

I broke a car that had no damp in it but when I took the roof lining out that too was dripping with condensation.

typecastboy said:

I broke a car that had no damp in it but when I took the roof lining out that too was dripping with condensation.

Click to expand...

O think all cars are like that
Helped a family member with a 500l tighten there aerial up
The roof on that was covered in condensation

Pembs steve said:

Still no luck, whole day out in the cold. So the observations and tests:

Removed the roof strips, all solid underneath with a very good seal by the looks.

Strips everything out of the back for ease and sat in the boot with the Mrs holding the hose over it.

Nothing coming in under the antenna which I sealed last week

Wiring grommet for lights is sound.

Using and endoscope I could see that there was a leak from the op black grommet where the light pegs sit in. So taped that off with duck tape to test and it didnt leak.

Stood back to admirer my brilliance with a cuppa. One last look before calling it a day and as soon as I opened the boot it ran straight out from the same place again! OMG

So is it the seal round the rear quarter light window. But a complication is I cant understand why there is so much condensation up above the roof lining, I mean dripping!

But stand there with the hose all day and cant replicate it

Click to expand...

I feel your pain after the days of hassle i had!

Window sounds like it might be worth a look though, it doens't sound like it could be much else in your case now.

u33db said:

Thanks for reply.

There actually was more to the story...although i thought i'd fixed it i went out on Sunday morning and there was more water! So q another couple hours trying to find the leak with the hose...

At first i thought it was the locating grommits for the rear lights being loose and water squeezing in there so i siliconed those...but no, still happening.

I then took all the interior out and found water coming down from the roof inside the rear quarter panel...eventually traced it to the roof where the rubber roof rail strips that go front to back sit. I don't know if the 500s have these but on the ka they are held down with sticky tape...well on mine the tape seems to have lifted the paintwork and corrosion has formed around the seam between panels there. I guess there is a small gap/crack and water getting in there.

Anyway I have covered it temporarily with more silicone and am waiting for some tiger seal to turn up to fix it permanently. Luckily my car is white and since i can get white tiger seal it won't be too obvious and hidden by the rubber strips as well.

Annoying!

Click to expand...

greetings, can you post pictures of how you sealed it and where?