Leak Issue Above Headliner

[Rhys84]

Hello all,

I took my 2021 Ranger SuperCrew in to get detailed yesterday and they pointed out to me that I have a leak. I spent yesterday evening and today trying to figure out where it could be coming from with no luck. I even attempted to drop the back half of the headliner to see what I could see and didn’t find any clues.

I don’t think it would be the 3rd brake light unless there are multiple leaks because the water shouldn’t travel that far forward. The shark fin appears to be pretty well sealed… I thought maybe the rear drip rail connection points, but those are a bit farther back that the watermarks above the windows and seemed like the water would travel that way either… I don’t recall ever leaving my windows open in the rain either.

Ideas about that could be producing this leak pattern? It is on both back corners and above both back windows…

Any help is appreciated! I am 1k out of warranty.

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[RangerBill]

I would remove the third brake light and look to see if there are any water stains on the inside of the headliner.

 

[airline tech]

It could be either, my hunch is the antenna as the leading edge aligns with the grab handles and then as you drive momentum pushes it back to the window pillars.

 

[Rockhound]

I had the same issue. Drivers side, back corner. Water stain. Twice to the dealer. First time they replaced the black roof rail. Second time they replaced both roof rails, and resealed the third brake light. I got my truck back with black sealant on the finish, small dents in the roof and coat hooks destroyed. I cleaned the sealant off, couldn't prove the dents weren't already there, ( although it's pretty obvious the tech pryed the rails off right there!), they replaced the coat hooks.
Next car wash, still leaking. I wound up using clear silicone to seal the black roof rails. So far, no leaking.

 

[Rhys84]

I had the same issue. Drivers side, back corner. Water stain. Twice to the dealer. First time they replaced the black roof rail. Second time they replaced both roof rails, and resealed the third brake light. I got my truck back with black sealant on the finish, small dents in the roof and coat hooks destroyed. I cleaned the sealant off, couldn't prove the dents weren't already there, ( although it's pretty obvious the tech pryed the rails off right there!), they replaced the coat hooks.
Next car wash, still leaking. I wound up using clear silicone to seal the black roof rails. So far, no leaking.

Ugh, that is awful. I figure if I take it in, it’ll cost a fortune and they’ll probably either not fix it or break something else. I put silicone around the fin and across the top of the brake light for now. I’ll probably silicone the rails next if that doesn’t fix it. I feel like it would be pretty crazy for the rails to fail on BOTH sides. My hope is that it is either the fin or the brake light and it’s traveling in a channel to both sides.

 

[Rhys84]

Just to follow up in case this happens to someone else…

I am 98% sure it was the 3rd brake light seal. I took it off to replace the seal and there was a tiny bit of algae growing just inside the seal, so I know moisture was getting in. The reason I say 98% sure is because the leak doesn’t start immediately with rain or hose water. I can’t even replicate it with the hose.
I think what was happening is after so many days of rain, the water gets high enough to crest the opening that leads to the inside and then it slowly fills the channel. The side of the channel is runs down is dependent on the angle the truck is parked at (this is why both corners had water marks). After it makes it to the headliner, any more water that comes in is a steady drip onto the headliner. So, it is slow to get there, but once it makes it, it is a big problem.

The new seal was hard to find. I ended up finding one on Amazon that was listed as being for F-150 (2015+ I think?). It fit fine, maybe a little thin though.

It’s been about a month since I replaced the seal and we’ve had a decent amount of rain. So far, no more leaking. If that changes, I’ll update here again.

Edit: the other thing I’ll add is that the seal was clearly shrunken where the heat from the brake lights hit along the bottom. That is where the moisture ended up getting in. I’m going to assume that unless Ford changed the material they use for the seal, lots of people will eventually have the same problem. Hopefully, the new seal I found is a better material. If not, this will be a recurring problem.

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