Have been fighting the center area of outside cowl for a long time with 2007 F-150. Ended up putting a screw underneath both sections and it's not perfect, but at least one side doesn't rise up high. On this truck, there are two wings out further that tend to get ripped off with windshield replacement. Made a bunch of noise before finally looked at them and realized they were about to fly off. Replaced with E-Bay parts and got an extra repair for next windshield. Very poor design in my mind.

So far, not a problem with 2013 or 2019. I do keep an eye on them based on past experience.

 

Looking at it, IMO it isn't needed. It does nothing, serves no purpose. Looks a hell of a lot better with it gone and certainly no adverse effects with it's removal.

I'd be willing to bet it's supposed to be removed.

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This is mine as well. Hasn't caught my eye since day one..

 

Drove through the dealer today, and the new trucks have the same parts, but they are nice and level, and the gap between the 2 sides is about 1/2" like ^that^ picture. There was nothing in the gap like that foam whateveritis, so it has to be under the top lip, no idea how they'd get in there to remove it if that is true. Weird. I think it's a snapped clip, then water and ice gets in there, blows the adhesive on the isolator, and it peels out. It's trimmed out like an '83 Escort.

 

Reviving this thread because I was actually going to make one today when I noticed the problem as well. Does anybody know the real reason it's there or is it a gap between the two pieces? I tried to pull mine together this morning but they won't budge...

 

Link is on the 2nd page. It's not a 100% fix

 

​​​​​​Those just look like clips though?

When looking at the pieces here they look like the right side has to slide over the left one.

 

Correct. There is a clip underneath. Mine broke when I had the windshield replaced. There will always be a gap between the two cowl parts. The clips underneath keep them from popping up

 

Oh ok. Mine doesn't look like it's popping up per se... Just the gap I was worried about.

 

I haven't scrutinize my truck, since it's not lifted. But by the clip comments, my guess is another great Ford build quality 'feature', where the clips (or the plastic part, rather), don't align how they should. So no matter how hard you pull, there's not enough give where the clips are inserted. And then, maybe the part is overall too short, meaning if you were able to pull it next to the other mating part, it'd pull from the A pillar side, no? That's why I left mine alone. It's right at the limit where the mating tab barely reaches the other part, so there's no 'hole' between them. The last picture above is a bit worse than mine, and you can see a little bit of light between the 2 parts. That would probably bother me enough too to maybe look into it .

What has been bothering me much more is the ridiculous rattling of the wastegates, so will look to quiet them down with springs, since no way I want the turbos replaced just for that, and like many others, get stranded due to oil and/or coolant leaks, and other crap. The turbos might last a bit less than tight ones, but it should be well after I get rid of the POS . I use the truck to travel a lot, and long trips, so can't afford to risk reliability for something trivial like that.