Taped over Door Weep Holes

[Saleengene]

Does anybody know the reasoning behind the tape over the front weep holes on all four doors on the 2004 Marauder? The tape does have a small rectangular opening to let the water out. I was applying wax on the door jambs and the inside door edges and noted the tape over the front weep holes. On the front door the tape was retaining visible water. Any thoughts?

Gene

[Logan]

First thought, remove tape. ;) You'll find the factory tends to leave stuff like that and rubber bands left clingin' to stuff is common too.

[Rollin'Thunder]

Hi Saleengene!
I have a 2003 300B model. Mine also had the tape over the weep holes. I removed it and let the water out. Don't know the purpose of it unless it was put there to keep it from being plugged up while painting the doors. Hope I did the right thing by taking it off!
Bill

[jgc61sr2002]

I also removed mine. Tape is only temporary. IMO

[03SILVERSTREAK]

What logan said http://smilies.sofrayt.com/1/r/hyper.gif...

[Bigdogjim]

Yeah, just remove it. Somebody missed it.

[Agent M79]

See Agent. See MM door. See Agent scratch head. See Agent remove tape. See Agent struggle to remove tape from Agent. See people point and laugh at Agent.

[marauder307]

Not to sound like an idiot but....where are these weep holes? I've never really looked at my doors (other than to open them), so I could use this info...!

[Agent M79]

307,

For me, the tape was over the holes at the front inside edge of both of my rear doors. The holes are actually oblong with rounded edges about 1.5 inches long and .25 high.

If you have the tape, it will be obvious. Looks like scotch tape over the holes.

[Bigdogjim]

In my case the their was no tape? Holes were painted over? When I open the door after a warsh or rain storm water just dumped out! Lots of it! Dealer did find the problem and fix it.:)

[gilby04]

Agent,
You're a kick, See ! You're too much, See !

[RCSignals]

I think the tape is there on purpose. it was obviously added after paint, as it isn't painted over, and it is quite heavy gauge, like it's supposed to last.
What the purpose is I don't know, other than to reduce the size of the weep hole.
Taking it off shouldn't hurt anything

[RedMM]

I think the tape is supposed to be left in place. The rear holes on all doors is left uncovered and the fronts are all taped over. Anyone who has ever owned a Crn Vic or GR Marquis has noticed how a ton of water dumps out when door is opened after wash or rain(held there by weatherstripping on bottom of door) and I think this was an attempt to direct water out the rear holes away from the weatherstripping. Just a guess. With the thickness of the tape and with it being on all 4 of the doors and clearly put there after painting, I think it's supposed to be there. My MM also does not dump all the water after washing(I do this often!) so maybe it helps?!?! Thanks, RedMM

[CRUZTAKER]

^^^Hello Red MM!^^^

My 300a had plastic plugs on the lower door drain holes. I left them in after waxing as the fit provides enough clearance to let water out. The slit on the passenger door upper near rear of door handle is covered with tape because this is where a clip would be had we had a door lock assy, it holds the lock in place. See drivers door area for comparison.

Odd that you have tape. If the tape covers the drain holes I would definately remove it.

-Barry

[Blue03]

Thanks, I removed one piece of tape with small oval hole from forward drain holes on both front doors. Back doors had no tape.

[marauder307]

Okay...after reading Agent's post I went back this morning and looked at my doors. I didn't have any tape, but there were little black plastic plugs in place in two small holes along the bottom edges of all four doors. I went ahead and popped the plugs out; I've got 'em saved in a drawer.

Something else disturbing tho...the weatherstripping along all four doors has weep holes in it. Only in the passenger side rear door, it musta not wept too well, because when I looked down there, there was water left over from my washing efforts yesterday. I tweaked the stripping around a little, and got spritzed for my efforts...'bout two tablespoons of water promptly ran out onto my hand. Found this to be the case with the driver's side rear as well. The fronts seemed to be okay. Does this sound right to anybody?

[marauder307]

Y'know...I feel really stupid now. I just searched this subject on the Forums and realized that I'd already posted elsewhere...D'Oh!:shake:

[jgc61sr2002]

Marauder307 - I believe the holes in the weatherstrip alow air to escape when the door is closed, thus giving a tight seal.

[the fat bastid]

i was waxing my car and i noticed a small edge of tape hanging off of my bumper by the rear driver's side wheel. i thought it might a hole plug and ripped it off...i check the writing on this little tag and its my vin number...whoops.

[GordonB]

300B MM reporting in here and I too have the thick tape over each of the FRONT weep holes on each of the 4 doors. The tape was applied AFTER the car got painted and as part of the assembly completion process.
I'd love to know the FORD part line on this one.
Do any of our Ford Tech people have any insight?
GordonB

[Bowman9]

This problem/issue has been around for awhile and was never really solved.
Here is the previous thread.

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=338&highlight=water+leak

[GordonB]

Bowman9,
The TAPE thing seems to be a 2003 300B thingy.
The water issue appears to be common to all MMs.
GordonB

[jawz101]

bump- I noticed sloshing in my doors this wkend and when I'd open my door and pump the brakes in reverse water came pouring out of the rear weep holes. After seeing this thread I found 3 weep holes on the doors covered w/ plastic tape.

[blackf0rk]

I went out to look, and I couldn't find my doors...any help? :help:

[Hotrauder]

I received a call, actually a friendly heads-up from the mattress police this afternoon giving me time to get the tape replaced before the inspection in the morning. Dennis:rolleyes:

[the_pack_rat]

It took me months after buying mine & fighting with the dealer to get the issue resolved .....

But I finally got them to fill in those holes & repaint the doors under warranty. Holes in brand new doors was just un-acceptable to me.

On a totally UN-related note .....

I need some help.

Anyone know why my car is really sluggish whenever it rains or after going thru a carwash ?.

It's like I'm carrying around all kinds of dead weight or something ...... just can't seem to put my finger on the cause.


























































:lol:

[MENINBLK]

I went out and took a look today.
There is one big hole in my trunk.
I don't know if the dealer can fix this.

There is also one hole in each of the Meg's tips.
Those should be fixed under warranty, shouldn't they ?

[DEFYANT]

Bowman9,
The TAPE thing seems to be a 2003 300B thingy.
The water issue appears to be common to all MMs.
GordonB

Nope. My 2004 had the taped holes also. I removed them about two months after I bought the car.

I'd really like to know why this and the rubber bands were done!

[jawz101]

It took me months after buying mine & fighting with the dealer to get the issue resolved .....

But I finally got them to fill in those holes & repaint the doors under warranty. Holes in brand new doors was just un-acceptable to me.

On a totally UN-related note .....

I need some help.

Anyone know why my car is really sluggish whenever it rains or after going thru a carwash ?.

It's like I'm carrying around all kinds of dead weight or something ...... just can't seem to put my finger on the cause.
:lol:

Try opening the trunklid to let the water weight drip into into the trunk for faster takeoffs

[ahess77]

After much experience doing noise-vibration-harshness testing at Ford and other OEMs, I can tell you most likely why you have holes and why they were plugged.

This door is a wet door system like all Fords. In the design phase it is assumed there will be water in the door between the outer and inner sheetmetal. The belt molding, exterior mirror seals, and glass runs do not seal out water, they slow it down. It is expected that there will be water in the door. The slots along the bottom hem flange are to let it escape before it causes that moldy/mildew smell, or fills up the door enough to let water run in behind the door trim panel and run out onto your sill plate. (Customers don't like that.) So, holes let out the water = good.

But, the problem with the holes it that they also let out the air. When you're pushing through the air at 60+mph, the interior of the car is pressurized. Air escapes through any hole it can find. One way is to go out is through the door trim panel into the door and out those drain holes. Escaping air makes noise. To reduce the windnoise, engineers that didn't design the door put the little plugs into those drainholes to slow down the air but let the water escape.

So, the plugs that let water out and slow the air are good. But, the accounts don't like them because they're expensive. So, the engineers go back and say, OK let's add tape. It's cheaper than the plugs. But, since we need a drain hole, let's just tape one of the holes. OK, design gets changed to put tape on one drain hole.

Now, the manufacturing plant get it. They're used to putting in two plugs. They continue to put on two pieces of tape over both holes. Now, windnoise = good, water intrusion = bad.

This whole convoluted mess is typical operating procedure at OEMs.