Water ingress problem - MAJOR problem

2009 Ford KA
Car: Ford KA
Year: 2009
Categories: Leaks & Noises

I had my car serviced by the ford garage I bought my car from in Jan this year. The car was registered in Jan 10 and has at this moment done 13000 miles. During my service they replaced an engine hose. 1 week later my electric's started going haywire turning on by themselves, my engine light went on and my car was telling me I had a fuel shut off. I called the garage and they asked me to take the car in but when i tried to start it the engine wouldnt even turn over. I had to get the AA out who told me there was a problem with my electrics - But my ford dealer decided after checking my car that there was water in the fuse box and this wasnt covered within my warranty. I called ford who agreed to cover this cost. 1 week after getting my car back again and the exact same electrical problems started. My ford garage are now telling me my fuse box is dry but the whole inside of my dash, electrical system and harness are totally soaked. They didn't think to check these parts the 1st time round and as its water again it;s not covered under warranty. I apparently now have a car which needs completely stripped and parts to the value of atleast £1300 excluding VAT and Labour. I am getting the run around from both the ford garage and ford themselves as to how they intend to fix this problem. My car has now been with the garage for 17 days without any work being carried out. They can't tell me the eventual cost or how long my car will take to fix but want me to agree to pay the bill - with poss 50% contribution from ford. After reading other posts this seems like a common KA problem and I wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction??
Thanks in Advance :)
Problem added: Dec 28, 2011 (12 years ago)
I would get back on to Ford and voice your concerns that the garage should have found and rectified the faults with water in dash / wiring harness and electrics whilst replacing fuse box as it is now got the exact same electrical problems it was in for previously .Also the water leak should be located and rectified at the same time provide it is not blocked drains at bulkhead .
Answered Dec 28, 2011 (12 years ago)
Hi Wendy,

I'm currently having the same problem!
A few nights ago my hazard lights were flashing for no reason so, thinking nothing of it, I tried unlocking then locking the car again but they kept flashing. I went inside and tied to switch them off but the rear wiper kept coming on and I had "airbag failure" and "fuel cut-off" on the dash!
I switched off the ignition and back on a few times and started the car but the same thing happened. Finally it stopped and I took a drive round the block but wiper and indicator started coming on by themselves and the 2 warning messages appeared again on the dash display, I was seriously worried now. I parked up and went into glove box to check manual and found the box to be wet! I sprayed WD40 in it to dry and displace the water and left the car only to find the hazard lights in again 20mins later and I couldn't get them to stop. I thought about disconnecting the battery since it would surely run down if this continued all night but eventually they stopped.
Next morning I went to start it again (it hadn't rained during the night) but this time the screen washers came on and the wypers went nuts and there was water spilling out of the fuse box!!. I couldn't see out of the windscreen as the jets stayed on permanently until they ran dry (its lucky I wasn't driving the car at the time as this could have been fatal!) it stopped after a while and I called Ford recovery who came and collected the car and dropped it at the Arnold Clark garage I bought it from and who had serviced it 2 months previously. I explained the car was still under warranty but the were quick to tell me that water ingress wasn't covered after the 1st year! Does this mean that Ford find it acceptable for a car to leak when its over 12 months old?? My KA is 09 plate with 18.5K miles on it.
I personally think this is a design flaw and these cars need to be recalled! The fuse box doesn't even have a rubber seal on it!
Ford currently have it but haven't began work on it I will be contacting Ford directly regarding this.
Can you tell me how you went about contacting them and what their reaction was?
Many thanks.
Answered Jan 21, 2012 (12 years ago)
the problem is a blokage. remove both wiper arms then remove the plastic cover at bottom of windscreen. you can see the wiper mechanism infrot of you. at the back at the bottom you will see 2 long elongated holes. there will probabley be water in here. inside the holes are 2 plastic oval bungs. pull them out and clean them. the hole in the bung is not big enough so cut it bigger with scissors then replace them. i cleaned all surrounding areas then wax oiled it all then put it all back together again. problem solved.
Answered Mar 18, 2012 (12 years ago)

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