Leaking Sunroof, More Ford Woes

Passport1

Passport1

Joined
Sep 17, 2012
Messages
3,575
Location
A Barrier Island
Well my son's 2020 Ford Explorer seems determined to self-delete. The engine had a major overhaul three months ago to replace bad cam phasers. Now it wants to drown itself. After heavy rains last month it flooded. 1.5" water on front and back floor. I cleaned out the front drains with stiff string trimmer and both sides were patent. Next time it rained hard the same thing happened.

Ford dealer inspected the sunroof today and it seems the seal at the rear of the glass panel has detached and 'fallen down' according to the service advisor. Of course his extended warranty won't cover 'trim' repairs and they want almost $2500 to replace the entire glass assembly with seal. Apparently the seal is a part of the glass and cannot be secured separately. I haven't looked at it yet but it seems to me extreme not to be able to fix this w/o such an involved repair.

Sunroofs are the most infrequently used feature of a car and I would not buy another car with one. The fix this time might just be a big hunk of Gorilla Tape and park the car in the garage.

Click 'n Clack used to call this 'bogus'. I do too.

sunroof.jpg
courtesy Diehl Auto
 
For all the times I've been derided for buying "boring" Japanese imports, $2500 sunroof seals, inches of water in the passenger compartment, and major engine overhauls to replace 3 year old cam phasers are not the kind of fun I'd like to be having.
I've had 3 or 4 Honda and Toyota products with sunroofs over the years and I've never had a problem with any of them.

Cam phasers and sunroofs are not new technology. I can't imagine how a consumer would justify buying one of these.
The notion that Ford would design the glass seal interface to only be replaceable as an assembly should be criminal.

Good luck!
 
Difficult to believe that this doesn't come under the 3year/36,000-mile warranty. I would press the manufacture starting with the dealer, then district manager, the factory complaint department listed in your owner's manual. This type of poor quality is unacceptable. I've had 5 new sunroof vehicles over the last 30 years and used often and never a leak. . Ed
 
That's not a great repair record for a vehicle that is only three years old. $2500 is nuts to fix something like that. I open the sunroof on the '07 Accord when I'm parked in warm weather and waiting for my wife, helps to cool the interior. But otherwise it's kind of useless to me. Thankfully no leaks though.
 
Other than the t-top panels on the Camaro, the only sun/moon roof panels I had ever had issues with were all aftermarket (like Sky-Top), third party installed.

I hope you can either get satisfaction from Ford or in some other way.
 
Seal it off with silicone or some of that magic can of rubber waterproof sealer in a can that is sold on TV. Ain't no one going to see the top of the car for the most part.
 
I’ve never had a leaking sunroof either but doing some quick searching it seems that Ford has had a lot of issues with theirs.

This leak is on the rear portion of the glass roof? I’m guessing that is fixed in place while the front portion opens and closes.

I would escalate this up the chain with Ford.
 
My 2010 Escape clogged the sunroof drains every year. I had to blow it out with an air compressor each time. You’d think they would figure it out by now.
 
Eddie said:
Difficult to believe that this doesn't come under the 3year/36,000-mile warranty. I would press the manufacture starting with the dealer, then district manager, the factory complaint department listed in your owner's manual. This type of poor quality is unacceptable. I've had 5 new sunroof vehicles over the last 30 years and used often and never a leak. . Ed
Click to expand...

Details not included here but in the other info on the engine repair is the that it had over 76k miles on it at that time. The 3/36 coverage i long gone, as is the 5yr/60k powertrain for the last warranty item.
 
This breaks my heart. Why Ford, why? Started the Model T in like 1903, right? Henry Ford was the champion of continuous quick fixes and improvements.
 
I cringe every time I see such a gigantic sunroof in any car / truck / suv.
Hopefully he can somehow resolve this issue.

Bad cam phasers on which engine ?
 
I had the sunroof start leaking on my 2010 F-150. I wasn't going to pay $700 to get it replaced, so I took it to a body shop and had it permanently sealed for $75. It's held up now for about 5 years. Like you, I'll never buy another vehicle with a sunroof if I can help it.
 
Wow...over the past 20 years I've had 10 vehicles from 7 different manufactures with sunroofs and not one ever leaked (none were Fords)...
 
PWMDMD said:
Wow...over the past 20 years I've had 10 vehicles from 7 different manufactures with sunroofs and not one ever leaked (none were Fords)...
Click to expand...

I’ve had a few Hondas in some Florida hurricanes and not 1 drop of water inside. But Hondas have a small sunroof in a Civic & Accord.
 
Between my son and I we've had maybe seven or eight Fords. Most have been very good. a few not but the trend seems to be going one way. Ford Racing is nonpareil and I'm a fan. 'Win on Sunday, sell on Monday' but I'm done. Their products are cavalierly engineered and apparently slapped together with third world manufacturing charm. The OEM replacement parts are astronomical. Of course some of the Ford enthusiasts here will have their own experiences and that's fair. I don't know what my son will do but he's soured on Fords. So maybe no more blue ovals will be parked our garages after these are gone.
Ford.jpg
courtesy Forbes
 
Last edited:
jhs914 said:
Sunroofs are useless to me. Unfortunately most every car I've bought new had one standard. I've never had one leak though. The other useless thing is a sliding rear window in a pickup truck. I have had them leak.
Click to expand...
If you don't open them-there really isn't a way for the drains to get clogged-I would think. Therefore-no leaks due to clogged drains-probably the number one source of leaks.
 
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